Amateur Radio Station WA2FNQ

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The Transmitter Room


The transmitter room is @ a 14 x 16 foot room located off the back of the studio. It contains the transmitting equipment for WA2FNQ, computers, a workbench, the oil burner and other equipment. The oil burner once occupied a large part of this room but it had a fatal failure in July 2005 and was replaced with a physically smaller unit (See The Day The Oil Burner Died).


Left - Looking down the left side of the transmitter room you can see the HF transmitting eqipment. The tall rack houses a Johnson Adventurer which is plate modulated by an Eico 730 modulator, a Heathkit HG-10 VFO, a CCA AMM-1D modulation monitor, Heathkit SB 200 and auxillary eletronics. The Adventurer and SB 200 are the auxillary AM transmitter. When not on AM the SB 200 is driven by the ICOM 745 in the studio allowing operation on other modes. The small rack next to this rack is a single band homebrew 4-400 transmitter for 75 meter AM. The 4-400 is modulated by a pair of 572's. The modulation transformer and power supply are external to this rack. Next to the 4-400 transmitter is a rack containing a TFT Model 713 modulation monitor, a HP 8970A noise figure meter, a Tektonix 1480 waveform monitor and 2 APC uninteruptable power supply systems. On top of the rack is an old Eico 753 SSB tranceiver and a Uniden HR 2600 10 meter tranceiver.

Right - A front view of the tall rack showing the SB 200, CCA modulation monitor and Adventurer.


Left - This is the auxillary equipment in the bottom of the tall transmitter rack. At the very bottom is the modified Eico modulator. There are also a couple of equalizers, a homebrew audio processor and equipment for experimenting with AM stereo.

Right - This is a view around the back of the rack. The arrow is pointing at a choke which was removed from WGLI's Gates BC5P2 after the transmitter was allegedly torched by a disgruntled engineer. The choke is cosmetically damaged but is electrically perfect.


Next to the tall rack is some equipment in various states of operation. The old RCA scope is used to check modulation of the AM transmitters. The small rack is a homebrew 10 meter AM transmitter running 6146's modulated by 6146's.


A closer view of the Eico 753 and Uniden tranceivers. The switchbox above allows these tranceivers to be operated from the studio.


Above the workbench are the 2 meter, 220 MHz and 70 cm FM tranceivers. The main transceiver on 2 meters is an ICOM IC - 2100 H and Mirage B 2516 G amplifier. The Clegg FM 21 is crystal controlled and used on 223.5 MHz. A Kenwood 401 B and RF Concepts model 4 - 310 amplifier are used on 70 cm. An ICOM IC - 280 is a backup 2 meter tranceiver. There is also an old Sideband Engineering SB - 144 crystal controlled tranceiver that could be put in to service if needed. The Regency HR - 2 is stictly used as a monitor receiver.


Above the old Yaesu frequency counter on the left side of the workbench is the packet BBS/node TNC's and the 145.59 9K6 transceiver, an Alinco DR 135 MK III. Next to that is 2 ICOM IC 2AT HTs that along with the 2 RF Concepts 2 - 23 amplifiers are the 145.05 user port and mailbox. Under the amplifiers is a power supply used with the packet operation. Below that is a PC Electronics downconverter and a power supply used in 70 cm fast scan ATV part of the station.


Left - On the shelf under the parts bins is the WA2FNQ-4 packet bulletin board computer.
Right - These are the WA2FNQ Flexnet node and terminal computers.



Left - This is a Scientific Atlanta 6380 MTS generator used to generate stereo and a SAP channel for the ATV transmitter. The SAP channel carries the audio from our coordination frequency on 2 meters.

Right - This is an earlier picture (when there was a lot less stuff in the transmitter room) of the equipment under the workbench. The rack on the left is the ATV transmitter. The other small rack contains a homebrew 4CX250 amplifier for 2 meters, a stereo FM Volumax audio processor and a 35 amp 12 volt supply for all the VHF/UHF rigs. On the right is a Navy RAO 5 general coverage receiver and a homebrew 40 meter transmitter which are in storage under the bench.





Non Ham Radio Stuff In The Transmitter Room

These computers have absolutely nothing to do with Ham radio but they're part of my transmitter room.

Left - The silver computer is the automation and server for Internet radio station 1290gli.com. The computer below it is the back up Internet radio station computer. The black computer and the computer below it are media and file servers.

Right - Stuffed in a corner is another server on the network. The UPI machine below was removed from WRCN when it was upgraded many years ago.



Yes, mess. But every station has one of these right? This is where cable TV, Internet and phone service come in to the house. All 3 are on one cable which hits a 2 way splitter and a direct run from one output goes upstairs to the cable modem in the office. Both phone and Internet come from this modem. Internet connects to a router and then the network winds around the house and eventually shows up on the last hub which is here. The other output hits a three way splitter. One output goes to a cable box which is used for the TV's at the west end of the house. A second output goes to a 10 db bi-directional amplifier then through a 2 way splitter which feeds the cable box for the east end of the house and the 19" HDTV in the studio. The third output from the 3 way splitter goes through a notch filter the to an analog RF distribution panel. The notch filter removes any signal around the cable channel 91 and 93 region where the distribution panel has 2 internal RF modulators. Standard definition outputs from each cable box feed these modulators. Downconverted HDTV signals as well as standard definition signals appear at these cable box outputs and are distributed to the analog TVs in the house via the channel 91 and 93 modulators. This way the remaining analog sets in the house will continue to be fully supported with all cable TV channels for the forseeable future. The analog RF distribution panel also handles all the infared remote control extender functions needed for controlling the cable boxes from other parts of the house. Component outputs from he two cable boxes go through distribution amplifiers and are sent to places where needed around the house such as the kitchen. Switchers allow viewing of either cable boxes component outputs in the studio and basement finished room. The analog TV is used for checking the output from the analog TV distribution panel. There's also a Linksys Internet radio for monitoring the Internet radio station and a monitor for one of the servers. Whew!!


And finally, this is a picture of our station mascot Maisy... or as we call her "Crazy Maisy".



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