Hello Herb and all, In the early 70 I was on one of my many trips to DL land. My friend DL2VP, now SK, was an engineer at DW-TV and German Radio on 1584kHz. The final was 12kV at 80 Amps. 960kW input. The vacuum variables were bigger than trash cans. The power-supply took up a room about 12 X 15ft. They had yellow lines to stay within. I guess we could have put it on 160...
73 Price W0RI Thanks, Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ amps On 9/12/2013 5:05 PM, Donna Halper wrote: > I have heard a number of similar stories, some of which seem to be legends or > perhaps based on some kernel of truth that got exaggerated. I don't know for > sure about the one Herb mentioned, because I find no reporting on it in any > of the sources I've checked. We do know that in 1938, KDKA was one of 12 > stations that applied to be a super-power station, like WLW, which had > temporarily been allowed to use 500 kw. But KDKA withdrew its request in > mid-1938, and settled for operating at 50,000 watts. In fact, as of 1940, the > Pittsburgh AM station was one of the handful of stations broadcasting with > 50,000 w. In mid-1942, Westinghouse advertisements still stressed the 50,000 > watt transmitters in use by KDKA and other stations in the group. > > The only record I can find of high-powered broadcasting is on the > _short-waves_-- requests for super-power were received in 1941, and the FCC > permitted about 12 stations to utilize this high power. And in 1943, it was > widely reported that high-powered shortwave stations were beaming > pro-American news over to Europe, and Westinghouse stations were among the > high-powered broadcasters doing this-- but there was no mention of KDKA in > the list of shortwave stations involved; WBOS in Boston was one that did > receive some press for this activity. That doesn't mean the story is false-- > it just means that all of the sources to which I have access don't mention > it: I even looked for reports by well-known radio columnists who generally > wrote about such things. Perhaps someone with access to legal databases > (which I do not have) can check to see if a lawsuit was actually filed, or if > this is the stuff of legend. And just as an FYI, we also know there was a high-powered station with 250,000 watts as far back as 1925-- the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company put it on the air in Hialeah, Florida. _________________ Topband Reflector _________________ Topband Reflector
