Topband: and KDKA

[HAROLD SMITH JR]

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.



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Topband Reflector