Yeah, we have a TV or radio station bleeding through...

[N2CHX]

So I was doing my usual watching of weird YT videos yesterday and came across this gem. Already interesting enough, how this commuter jet hits a deer and then ends up with a fuel leak. But give a listen @ 4:30 and a couple of other places on this video. I found this quite... Amusing, and here's why: When I took the job as an engineer with the group of a few dozen radio stations (mostly religious) down south way back in 2000, one of the first things that I had to deal with was a call from the FAA in Roanoke, complaining that our gloriously maintained CCA transmitter was putting out a nice spur right on top of the main ground control frequency at the Roanoke Airport. Long story I won't get into now, but this wasn't the first time and I'm certain it wasn't the last. The other engineer had a long history of poor maintenance practices and neglecting things like preventative maintenance.

One time, one of our stations in TN had been having issues (as in, pretty much completely off the air--zero coverage). After he finally had given up on trying to figure out what was wrong for like a month and a half and conceded that I might actually be able to help, I walked into the building knowing exactly what was wrong and flipped the power switch off on the exciter. The transmitter kept happily putting out a few kilowatts with no exciter power, just like I knew it would, because the symptoms were obvious (at least to me)... Problem? The PA cavity hadn't been cleaned in probably 10 years, the screen around the tube socket clogged with an inch of filth, the socket was melted to shit, and half the fingerstock was burned off the plate ring. It was amusing to tune around and find all the different frequencies it was transmitting on.

Anyway, I do believe these same people have a transmitter right near where this plane was complaining of interference, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find out that the culprit is a poorly maintained grounded grid CCA transmitter. Oh, those radio days. Sometimes I do miss them. And then I don't. Enjoy a laugh with me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x04kRUIgXpQ&t=298s

[KG4CGC]

The religious broadcasters, back in the day, I remember hearing them on 3 or more spots on more than one occasion. WMUU was the worst. Bob Jones.
Never failed. Every kit radio I built as a kid, whether AM or FM, I could always hear WMUU on a few spots. They were on 94.5 FM. Sold now to Big Right Wing Radio Corporation of America but, I thought it was just kit building BS. When I got a decent home stereo as a teen, I could still hear WMUU on 3 spots on FM and scratchy sounding 3 spots on AM.

[W3WN]

During the two years I worked at WGMR-FM's State College studio, there was an on & off issue in the Production studio. Seems that whenever someone at the Penn State ARC station, K3CR, fired up the SB-220, the Production board picked it up & you could hear CW or SSB in the background of the spots. (Faint, and you'd have to know what it was, which of course I did)

The CE at the time, an otherwise very nice guy named Glen, threatened to "turn those damn kids in to the FCC for interference!"

I had to point out to Glen, though, that the board also picked up the State College cops, if they were transmitting when they drove past the building; local CB'ers; and even my 1 W FMH-2 HT.

The real cause? The board wasn't properly grounded. Easy enough to fix. And I did, at least 4 times. Why? Because Glen didn't believe in grounding and refused to believe that was the root cause. So when I fixed it, he'd turn around and unfix it.

Nice guy. He simply refused to believe that this (then) 20-something kid with a ham license could possibly know more than he did, since he had a First Phone.

[N8YX]

...Nice guy. He simply refused to believe that this (then) 20-something kid with a ham license could possibly know more than he did, since he had a First Phone.

This is commonly known as the "NIH" (Not Invented Here) Syndrome, and is the plague of good engineering practice everywhere. Regardless of discipline.

[ka8ncr]

One time, one of our stations in TN had been having issues (as in, pretty much completely off the air--zero coverage). After he finally had given up on trying to figure out what was wrong for like a month and a half and conceded that I might actually be able to help, I walked into the building knowing exactly what was wrong and flipped the power switch off on the exciter. The transmitter kept happily putting out a few kilowatts with no exciter power, just like I knew it would, because the symptoms were obvious (at least to me)... Problem? The PA cavity hadn't been cleaned in probably 10 years, the screen around the tube socket clogged with an inch of filth, the socket was melted to shit, and half the fingerstock was burned off the plate ring. It was amusing to tune around and find all the different frequencies it was transmitting on.

Anyway, I do believe these same people have a transmitter right near where this plane was complaining of interference, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find out that the culprit is a poorly maintained grounded grid CCA transmitter. Oh, those radio days. Sometimes I do miss them. And then I don't. Enjoy a laugh with me.


I wrestled with a CCA 20k and the OEM exciter that was the original WABX flamethrower in Detroit. As a kid, WABX was THE station so this transmitter was almost sacred. This thing was a tank, just as indestructable, and for a stand-by that was used a total of twice in the 8 years I maintained this FM, I sure did a lot of work on it.

The exciter would take 20 minutes to get on frequency, and one time while troubleshooting a problem with the IPA section, I saw this thing zipping across the FM band while transmitting into a dummy load. Down to 91MHz, then up to 105MHz, it would sweep around trying to get a lock all the while the PA would be completely oblivious. Absolutely no indication on the plate metering as you'd expect with such wide frequency swings. As wide as that thing clearly was, I see little reason not to believe your transmitter wasn't putting out spurs all over the place. These things probably could transmit FM video.

The other peculiarity I recall is that it didn't use the IOR rectifier blocks like Harris rigs, but instead banks of discrete diodes with equalizers. Over time, one or two would fail and that would eventually cause the entire stack to go out. I brewed up a jig to test sections of each stack because parts for that thing were impossible to find. DigiKey loved my order of 500 diodes at a time. I rebuilt the PA tune assembly with brass stock from a model railroad hobby shop down the road a ways from the transmitter site.

The last time it went on the air in Detroit was long after a new FM-25K was installed on a mux'd Alan Dick panel array (still operates there today). Somehow, it mysteriously went on the air by itself and for half a day no one noticed the absolutely horrible signal that having two FM transmitters on the air produces. I drove up there, shut down the plates, let it cool and pulled the breaker for the last time. About a month after that, it was picked up by a consignment dealer and I never saw it again. But a check came about nine months later and a few weeks after that, I received a call from a station in Honduras asking for help with the rectifier stacks. I happily shipped off the test jig and a whole box of spare parts and junk.

I sort of miss that kind of work, RF is fun and RF in TV was an incredible adventure for almost 15 years. But I don't miss broadcasting one bit.

[n2ize]

I sort of miss that kind of work, RF is fun and RF in TV was an incredible adventure for almost 15 years. But I don't miss broadcasting one bit.

Everyone I have ever met who ever did any broadcasting work says pretty much that same thing. It was fun, it was interesting, but they are glad its over and they don't miss it.