WSAI Transmitter Tour 1999 (Now WCKY... Again!)

A very short tour of what is now WCKY transmitter facility.

At the time of this taping, this transmitter facility was for WSAI. Sometime prior, the station was WCKY.
Then in 2005, the station reverted back to WCKY and another site north of Cincinnati was chosen for continued WSAI transmissions.

Please visit http://www.j-hawkins.com/wsai.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• WCKY
• WSAI
• Transmitter
• Tours
• BT-25-A

[BudWiser999]

WOW, the General Electric BT-25 is a BEAST!

[powertube5671]

Yep, it's definitely no iPhone!

I believe this is circa 1950 technology. We've come a long way in 60 years. My "Atomic" watch has more devices in it.

[JangleRadio365]

I really liked "real oldies" WSAI 1530. too bad it wasn't a ratings success. It was a great sounding station, fun DJ's. It came into east Texas fairly easy. I remember driving on Interstate 20 close to the Texas-Louisiana boarder with 1530 booming in right around sundown. I guess they were using the DX-50 by then.

[bratina501]

The then current transmitter looks about like I would have expected given the other equipment. The processor looked like an Orban Optimod 9100B and I saw a brief glimpse of what was most likely a Motorola C-QUAM exciter in the racks. Its not easy to run AM stereo on a tube transmitter. If it puts out PM components this can disrupt the sum/difference information necessary for multiplexing in the C-QUAM system and cause distortion on stereo receivers.

[powertube5671]

One more thing. In my previous reply, I was talking about AM antennas.

In the case of FM antennas, the tower is a supporting structure for the smaller, high frequency radiators (antennas) at the top.

[powertube5671]

The tower (cris cross of steel) IS the antenna.

Some towers are insulated from ground, whereby the transmitter power is fed to the bottom and the entire tower radiates the radio signal. Touch the bottom while standing on the ground and you're "toast."

Others are grounded at the bottom and are fed by surrounding vertical wires connected to the tower at some point part of the way up. That type is called a folded unipole.

Both are a type of vertical antenna.

[lavernesmom]

I thought you hated cats! Was that your "fake" or "real" personality that said that years ago?

[BudWiser999]

WPTR got their BT-25A in 1947 about the same time as WCKY. I am told it would probably still be in existence if the Pyranol was drained from the transformers and a state of the art non-hazardous liquid dielectric was used instead.