Update on friend's AM Station in RI Flood

[KB1TPX]

Check out these photos$$$$$$$:

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[9C1Driver]

Won't let me see anything but a log in page.

 

[pro151]

And I stay as far away from facebook as possible.

 

[GLR]

as do I but I would certainly appreciate someone posting them here

 

[SR385]

Gah, what a shame... The plus is that with care and cleaning, I bet that equipment can be brought back.

Not a big fan of the content of the station, but still sad to see the flood damage to radio gear.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Gah, what a shame... The plus is that with care and cleaning, I bet that equipment can be brought back.

Not a big fan of the content of the station, but still sad to see the flood damage to radio gear.

That equipment is pretty much all toast. The tuning unit mounted on the tower will be OK after cleaning but the transmitter and anything associated with it are toast. The transformers will never dry out and the dirty water will have contaminated everything. Cheaper and easier to purchase new gear. If the TX was given to someone that wanted to spend the time and effort they could recover a lot of components but transformers and relay coils etc. would need to be replaced. You may get lucky and be able to bake the moisture out but I would never trust it in a high voltage situation. It's far more trouble and cost then it is worth to try and recover things and it could never be done quicker than replacing them. Most broadcast transmitter manufacturers have something they can at least loan/rent out for emergencies like this.

 

[mackmobile43]

That equipment is pretty much all toast. The tuning unit mounted on the tower will be OK after cleaning but the transmitter and anything associated with it are toast. The transformers will never dry out and the dirty water will have contaminated everything. Cheaper and easier to purchase new gear. If the TX was given to someone that wanted to spend the time and effort they could recover a lot of components but transformers and relay coils etc. would need to be replaced. You may get lucky and be able to bake the moisture out but I would never trust it in a high voltage situation. It's far more trouble and cost then it is worth to try and recover things and it could never be done quicker than replacing them. Most broadcast transmitter manufacturers have something they can at least loan/rent out for emergencies like this.

Nothing a good bath in the kitchen won't take care off and just lay it out in the sun for a good soak.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Somewhere over on amfone.net there are pictures or links to a transmitter clean up. The guy ( I think it was a VE7) got the 1 kilowatt broadcast TX to convert to 80m and it shows him washing the TX with a bucket of water and a garden hose. Truthfully most of the components would be fine except any transformers or relay coils that would not be able to dry out. I'm not sure what he did about the wire harness. I'll have to try and find those pix over there. Either way more effort and lost time doing it than purchasing a new one. Time is money when a station is off the air and the losses hit hundreds or even thousands of dollars per hour when advertising revenue is lost.

 

[KB1TPX]

Well, he had a transmitter overnighted and paired it up with his back-up transmitter and is now back on the air. Fortunately, out of the five stations that he owns in RI, CT, MA, NH, ME (Blount Communications Group. Life Changing Radio - Home ), that was the only one involved in a flood. Also thankfully, the studio of the flooded station is on high ground and wasn't affected either.

 

[KB1TPX]

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