Topband: WLW

[Clay Melhorn]

I have been licensed 4o years and almost 6 months now Barry.
Just a kid and barely having a clue occasionally getting my dad to drive me over to the other side
of town for a meeting of the Joliet JARS and Gypsies. 
I truly miss hearing you speak with the authority and passion that you did back in the day.
I particularly remember the program you did a few years later on the then new "Minooka Special".My only wish is that I had come into the fold a little earlier in life.
Thanks for being such a willing and eager steward and teacher of amateur radio.
You and Joyce are very much remembered and missed.
73'

Clay Melhorn N9IO Bonfield, IL
Webmaster: KARS - Kankakee Area Radio Society - W9AZ http://www.w9az.com/
 
> From: W9UCW at aol.com
> Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:05:12 -0400
> To: topband at contesting.com
> Subject: Topband:  WLW
> 
> One Sunday at the close of the Dayton Hamvention about 40 years  ago, some 
> Cincinnati friends arranged for a tour of Gray's Radio  Museum, The Voice of 
> America installation and WLW, all in or near Mason,  Ohio. A bunch of us 
> got back to Illinois late that evening with  unforgettable memories... and 
> about 100 pictures.
>  
> I have told the stories of that wonderful day many times.  The wildest 
> stories were from the WLW-RCA 500 KW station. Our guide  was an expert on the 
> subject. The original control console was moved over to a  side wall, but it 
> was still powered up... likely for the entertainment of  visitors. The two 
> experimental calls issued to Crosley were emblazoned on some  controls. They 
> were W8XO & W8XAL as I remember. BTW, my long time friend  Dave, one of those 
> guys from Cincinnati now holds one of those calls. Ask  him about "when 
> Skip was in." 
>  
> As we walked along the elevated walkway in front of the stages of  the 
> transmitter, we were awed by the 6 foot diameter pi wound coupling  coils with 
> Farraday shields and we noticed that there were as many water guages  and 
> valves as there were meters and controls. Each of the three final  stages was 
> water cooled and a fountain in the center of a small lake outside  cooled the 
> water. 
>  
> Each final stage was about 8 feet wide and had a metal door you  could walk 
> through. Our guide stopped at that point in the tour as we gazed at a  huge 
> ammeter with a 150 amp full scale. "What's this," someone  asked.
>  
> He told us it was put in for Crosley who got a bug in his butt to  see what 
> the rig would really do. The meter showed the total current on the  three 
> finals. One night he cranked it up as far as it would go. Keep in mind,  the 
> voltage on the finals was 17,500 volts, as I remember. He got that meter up  
> to 100 amps. Do the math. He burnt up some local fences that  night.
>  
> Of course, 13 transmitters (with plug-in coils) each  running 220,000 watts 
> simultaneously on several bands down the road at  VOA was astonishing, but 
> that 1,700,000 watts at WLW was stuck in our minds  all the way home that 
> night.  We were TopBand guys,  afterall!
>  
> 73, Best DX, Barry, W9UCW
>  
>   
> _________________
> Topband Reflector