Topband: WLW

[Paul Christensen]

Ditto what Clay wrote about Barry's informative topband presentations at our 
local club meetings in Joliet, Illinois.  During my junior high school 
years, I happened to live a short distance from the monthly meeting place 
and often either walked or rode my bicycle to attend the local meetings, 
weather permitting.  Barry is blessed with the gift of having exceptional 
public speaking skills.

Regarding WLW: the Mason transmitter site is half the story.  The other half 
is still visible today to the west of I-75, just north of Cincinnati in the 
Camp Washington neighborhood.  The old WLW studios and Crosley manufacturing 
facility rise high above the interstate and a real sense of history can be 
gleaned when exiting off Hopple Street.  The WLW building is located near 
the intersection of Colerain Ave. and Sassafras St.  One telltale sign that 
you have the right structure can be evidenced by the Morse code displayed on 
the art-deco fashioned building top.  The building is in very poor condition 
today and hasn't been occupied with any business or storage activity for 
about ten years.  On the southwest building floor is a large loading dock 
that faces a set of rail tracks that, at one time many decades ago, must 
have seen a very high volume of traffic as thousands of Crosley sets were 
shipped to dealers around the world.  The building is not long for this 
world.  If you have an interest in WLW and Crosley's history, I encourage 
you to take a short drive to the south of Mason and experience the building 
before it's gone.

Paul, W9AC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clay Melhorn" <n9io at hotmail.com>
To: "Barry Boothe W9UCW" <w9ucw at aol.com>; "Top Band" 
<topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 3:43 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: WLW


>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
>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector