Thought I'd weigh-in on the very interesting discussion that currently occupies This Space.
Folks: Digital Radio is a fait accompli. It's comning, it's a done deal. What this means is - broadcast engineers all over the country have to deal with the remaining huge amount of analog broadcast equipment now in place ('in-service' or not), and I'm here to tell ya - the easiest solution is to hire a crew of laborers with a Bobcat and a roll-off construction-debris bin - 'problem' solved.
Not everyone associated with broadcast engineering cares the way we do about Legacy gear. I'd wager that the majority of engineers and consultants out there (and of course the soul-less conglomerates that dominate radio nowadays) would love to not to have to think about that old Collins Monstrosity that has to be maintained as a "back-up" - jeeez, it still has *tubes* in it...!
What I'm saying is - there's going to be a growing flood of transmitters and processing and monitoring gear of all kinds that can be had, in many cases, just for going and getting it. Those of us who can squeeze out the room and have the wherewithal - can 'do our part' to try and preserve and "hoard" this part of our communications history - because in a few years, the deed will have been done and there will be nought left but small beige cabinets with one or two LEDs - feeding kilowatts of pulsed data into the antennae, and talking over the Internet to the Central Engineering Control in Omaha or Mexico City or Bangalore.....
[ Ooooh - 'outsourced' transmitter engineering... " 'Allo Saar, dees ees "Fraaank", I am to be your maintenaance enju-neer for today's emergency. I am vary saary for de incon-wenience. Now, on de screen, vhat does de Error Dialouge say currently..." ]
It is not *that* big of a deal to get one of the smaller broadcast rigs home and restored and working - hell, if my buddy can drag a complete RCA BTA-5F back to his QTH (18' long, 10K pounds including power and mod iron) y'all can probably wrangle a smaller RCA or GE or Bauer or whatever....
And yes, (if the 'paperwork' ever gets done) I'll be providing a nice warm place in my shack for a newly-orphaned RCA BTA-1R1.
Anyway, just my 200 milliDollar for a Friday... Cheers John KB6SCO
