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Post by boise engineer on May 25, 2003 23:16:56 GMT -5
I belive the AM stereo equipment went away when they pulled the Continental 50 kW transmitter out.
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Post by Michaeljwyo on May 26, 2003 11:23:13 GMT -5
Which station are you referring to Boise? The only 50kw in the valley is KSL. If that's the one you mean then you may be right, although a valid point with KSL is that when they were stereo, they were on the Kahn system. When the FCC set the Motorola C-quam system as the standard, John Dehnel didn't want to make the conversion. He was a firm believer in the kahn system, so he just turned it off....and who knows....maybe he did uninstall the equipment. Other than that KSL was never c-quam stereo. This may be true for some of the others as well. I know 1490 in Ogden KJQN was also Kahn stereo. Tom Greenleigh was another firm believer in the Kahn system. Again, when the FCC scrapped the different systems and standardized motorola, KJQN turned it off and never made the conversion. I have airchecks of KUTR 1320 in Motorola stereo. It stayed stereo until the sports format came to be. I remember hearing KKDS in motorola as well. And 700 was motorola. I even recall that when I worked at 107.9 WKRP, the AM....1550 KZQQ was Kahn too. Gene Guthrie had gotten some kind of deal and actually put the Kahn exciter in. So yeah there were some stereos that didn't convert over to C-quam when it was standardized. This may have actually been true with 860 when KUTR LDS Format was there, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that 1280 was motorola stereo for a while, but it had been off for a while. I know that KSOP 1370 never was, they never had interest in stereo. Neither did Wooly Waldron with KLUB 570. I think Friend Lee can attest that KVNU 610 in Logan was all prepared to go Kahn stereo but it never happened, so they never were. KLO 1430 never was. Neither was KANN 1120. KALL definately was motorola. 800 KSOS never was. KSVN 730 never was. Neither was 1510. Whew! My memory is better than I thought! I think that covers them all!
So as you can see, yes, there were quite a few players in the AM Stereo ring, even after the Motorola system was standardized. I think that probably the biggest problem now is that so many of them opted to save money by dropping one of the phone lines to get the audio from studio to transmitter. Others like KALL or 1320 probably still have both STL transmitters in use to get the signal from point A to point B but just don't have the exciter in stereo mode. And since then many of them may have indeed actually taken the C-quam exciter out of service. Boise engineer.....I don't know if you know of or are familiar with, but I remember seeing a rant somewhere by a Boise engineer about KBOI in Boise and how he HATED C-quam and said he took the exciter out and beat it to pieces with a sledge hammer when Citadel bought it and changed from full service over to news/talk. Which was also a sad thing. I've got like 3 hours in air checks of KBOI in stereo. Sounded GOOD.
Michael n Wyo
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Post by x on May 27, 2003 5:20:49 GMT -5
50kw in the valley? True KSL is the only 50kw fulltime station in the valley, but there are other 50kw daytime facilities, like KALL 700, the new KUTR 820, and KIQN 1010.
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Post by Friend Lee on May 27, 2003 17:51:37 GMT -5
I visited the old KSL plant shortly before they moved from the old buliding to the new one. As I recall, they were going to move the 50 kW CCA (the then main xmtr) over to the new building as the auxillary and were putting a Nautel 50 kW rig on as the main. Unless there was some sort of retro-fit since then (about 1987), I don't believe KSL had a 50 kW Continental. I may be wrong, plesase correct me about the new plant if I am.
I remember seeing the Kanh-Hazeltine stereo exciter in the rack room there at the new plant, too. Best shielded room in the state at the time. Close the door and the radio on the countertop fell silent....now that's shielding!
I also remember the beautiful though hopelessly outdated 1939 Western Electric xmtr, too. Took some nice photos at the time but how do you adaquately describe a transmitter that takes up two floors of a building? And lets not forget the flooded apartment in the basement....
Friend Lee
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Post by Doh on May 28, 2003 14:15:11 GMT -5
I would be interested in seeing those pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D
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Post by Friend Lee on May 28, 2003 15:51:40 GMT -5
Let me see if I can remember where I put them....they are in a book of photos. Maybe in storage, maybe in my office here at work. Let me find them and then I can scan them...
Friend Lee
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Post by Doh on May 28, 2003 22:27:38 GMT -5
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Post by Friend Lee on May 29, 2003 0:15:07 GMT -5
We ought to get together and share pics.....you know, that could be a fun idea, have all of us get together at a city park for a bbq sometime this summer...sounds like a good topic for a new thread....
Dateline - Utah: Coming to a park near you.....the first annual Utah Radio Guide Local Celebrity Roast and Picnic!
Besides, our spouses/significant others would probably like to see that there are other people as looney as we all are!
Friend Lee
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CDJ16
Construction Permit
Posts: 8
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Post by CDJ16 on May 29, 2003 1:24:42 GMT -5
I think it would be cool if we could add a picture page to this site, various pics of studios, transmitters, towers, etc...
What do you guys think?
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Post by x on May 29, 2003 1:36:17 GMT -5
I totally agree. A picture page/site/something would be a great idea. I have no idea what kind of bandwidth URN has or can take, but I have an alternate I could help run if someone supplies the pictures.
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CDJ16
Construction Permit
Posts: 8
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Post by CDJ16 on May 29, 2003 5:52:20 GMT -5
I have a few pics of the Farnsworth Facility, Couple of the FM Transmitters, TV transmitters, Digital TV Transmitters and the towers
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Post by Doh on May 29, 2003 13:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by Friend Lee on May 29, 2003 16:53:04 GMT -5
Isn't that "the nice young men in their clean white coats"?
I'm afraid posting all of our pics would probably burn up DSPete's hand-cranked, shunt-fed, Armstrong-Hartley-Fessenden web server. But I like the idea...
...or the cookout idea works for me. That way it forces us out of our steam-powered caves into the daylight! What do you think DSPete?
Friend Lee
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Post by Boise Engineer on Jun 1, 2003 0:56:50 GMT -5
The 50kw Continental was at 860. Don't remember the date it was pulled out & they dropped the (day) power to 10 kw.
It was very listenable in stereo all the way up here when they were running 50 kw on a 4 foot loop into a modified for C_QUAM Pioneer tuner.
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Post by David on Jun 1, 2003 12:40:59 GMT -5
Good grief . . . I thought I was the only person on this forum with an interest in transmitters and antennas! Nice to see I have some company . . . I look forward to seeing the pictures posted on URN. ;D
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