Diff: Continental Electronics

Differences between current version and predecessor to the previous major change of Continental Electronics.

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current version

Continental Electronics

Manuals

• Manuals on Continental web site

• 105C One Mega Watt Medium Wave Transmitter. The Continental Electronics 105C very clearly shows the Weldon-Western Electric lineage. This is supposedly the first mega-watt medium wave transmitter in the world. While there are slight circuit differences and some tube differences, please note that this is a linear based transmitter that uses the Weldon modified Doherty circuit. This was supplied through the courtesy of David Hultsman of CCE and scanned by Stanley Adams. See also Machlett Laboratories for articles about this transmitter.

  Sheldon Daitch comments

  I know the Continental brochure touts the unit as a 105-C, but the three 105 series transmitters bought by the VOA (Voice of America) in the early 1950s were 105-B models. How many 105-C models did Continental make, what were the changes and who bought them? I don't know.

  Serial number 1 was the 105-B at the Bangkok MW site, but it was the last of the three installed. That installation was in the mid-1960s.

  One of the retired maintenance supervisors from Poro tells me the serial number for the Poro 105-B was #2. I don't know the serial number for the Okinawa 105-B but one might guess #3. Both the Okinawa and Poro, Philippines 105-Bs were installed in the early 1950s.

  VOA had two more 105-B systems, one at Kavala and one at Rhodes, but these were both the 500 kW versions, or perhaps more correctly, half of a 105-B with the control console. Literature suggests the Kavala 105-B went on the air in 1972, and the Rhodes 105-B went on the air in 1964.

  I believe the Okinawa 105-B was scraped in the late 1970s. Bangkok's 105-B was taken out of service when it was replaced with the Harris DX-1000, about 1996, and later, some of the components were sent to Poro for spares.

  The Poro 105-B was taken out of regular service in 1996, when it was replaced with a Harris DX-1000. The 105-B remained in standby service for a number of years and then placed into active service when the new Poro facility was built and the Harris moved to the new location. The 105-B was then scrapped.

  The two 105-B units in Kavala and Rhodes were replaced with Harris DX-600 units. The two Harris DX-600s were taken out of service when the Greece stations were closed in 2006.

• 212P -1 (mono) and -2 (stereo) audio consoles. 1980
• 314 - 1KW AM Transmitter. This Continental shows the clear break in heritage to WE and this is supposedly the first full line that is strictly made by CEC without the leftovers of the Collins-WE era. The 300 series was totally designed and developed 'in house'. Many of the 300 series high power rigs are still on the air. This was supplied through the courtesy of David Hultsman of CCE and scanned by Stanley Adams.
• 315R-1 AM Broadcast Transmitter with Solid State Exciter. 5 kW. 1986.
• 316F/315F 10 kW (316F) and 5 kW (315F) AM transmitter. 1984
• 316F1 10 kW AM transmitter. This was made as was the 314 during the Varian period of ownership, one of the most productive and stable periods of the company. This was supplied through the courtesy of David Hultsman of CCE and scanned by Stanley Adams. Very large file scanned at 400 dpi, size is 119 mb.

• 317C-2 AM 50 kW AM Transmitter. For the day and time this was THE transmitter that many of the fine stations in the country would own if they had that big Class I-A ticket, the 317 series. This transmitter is historical as well as functional. It contained all of the benefits of the screen grid modulated finals in the Doherty configuration. Frequency response was just about as flat as a ruler out to 15 kHZ and with plenty of modulation depth. The Magniphase helped to keep the unit stable under all voltage conditions, both from external sources (surges or lightning strikes) as well as surging current in RF drive and output circuits. This unit would help to keep the great currents within the transmitter always operating in a safe manner and if it did not, it would immediately trip the transmitter off the air.

  The 317C-2 is a later model of this series and contains a large amount of solid state components and RF feedback is directly from the output stage to the very beginning of the audio input stage which was an IC chip. This was supplied through the courtesy of David Hultsman of CCE and scanned by Stanley Adams. Very large file scanned at 400 dpi, size is 140 mb. Quality of photos was determined by the actual document printing.

• 802A FM Broadcast Solid State Exciter. 1985.
• 816R-3 FM Transmitter with Solid State Exciter 802A. 1983.

• 816R-5 FM Transmitter with Solid State Exciter 802A. 1987.

  • 816R Training Manual, 1998.
  • 816R Pre-Installation Manual

Catalogs

• 1989 Catalog - Radio Broadcast Equipment, Continental Electronics Division of Varian. 1989.

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