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My Rhode Island client's AM station is on the air with a brand new transmitter, having moved from a former chicken coop (soon to become a fireworks factory) to a shipping container installed at the base of the station's tower.
This is the first time I've had dealings with this particular manufacturer. Their products seem well built, and their reputation is a good one, but I was less than impressed to find that the manual they supplied with the transmitter doesn't accurately describe its remote control interface, and even less impressed when the factory technician they put me in touch with couldn't speak English. But for that, a fourteen-hour day might have been a ten- or twelve-hour day.
I had to spend a couple of hours tuning the network at the base of the tower, as I was getting so much reflected power that the transmitter would barf if I tried to go much over 1,000 watts. Moreover, when the load on the transmitter changed so did the modulation, and I only noticed when I got in my car to listen and found the station sounding grossly distorted.
One thing about shipping containers is that they are almost perfect Faraday cages. There seemed to be remarkably little RF in there, even with the transmitter pumping out 1800 watts. It is a vast improvement over the chicken coop.
Now maybe the station can pick up some new listeners. I don't think AM radio is dead, but it needs some new programming ideas.
This is the first time I've had dealings with this particular manufacturer. Their products seem well built, and their reputation is a good one, but I was less than impressed to find that the manual they supplied with the transmitter doesn't accurately describe its remote control interface, and even less impressed when the factory technician they put me in touch with couldn't speak English. But for that, a fourteen-hour day might have been a ten- or twelve-hour day.
I had to spend a couple of hours tuning the network at the base of the tower, as I was getting so much reflected power that the transmitter would barf if I tried to go much over 1,000 watts. Moreover, when the load on the transmitter changed so did the modulation, and I only noticed when I got in my car to listen and found the station sounding grossly distorted.
One thing about shipping containers is that they are almost perfect Faraday cages. There seemed to be remarkably little RF in there, even with the transmitter pumping out 1800 watts. It is a vast improvement over the chicken coop.
Now maybe the station can pick up some new listeners. I don't think AM radio is dead, but it needs some new programming ideas.
