Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Roger Basford wrote:
I did try to ID the W9WZE operator in the clip - it's not Bill Halligan -
any ideas? One suggestion I had was that he was one of the senior engineers
working for the company. I didn't notice any date on the captions, so if
that is a post-1941 film then the operating session would have surely been
staged, as Ham Radio had shut down, so maybe it was done by using recordings
of the other stations?

Although the ham at the other end called him Bill, if you say it was not
Halligan, I'll take your word for it. A little later in the film he and
another man are identified as Bill Halligan and someone else, whose name
I did not catch.

I assume if you actualy know what Halligan looked like (I don't) you can
tell them apart and if you are careful at listening for names, you can
figure it out.

BTW, did anyone notice the one serious flaw in their design? It was designed
according to the film to work using standard 117 volt household electricity.
A gasoline generator was included as an addon (a trailer) that provided
it.

AFAIK they were never used in combat in a place that had 117 volt AC power.

I know that Europe had 220 or 240 volt power, what did the pacific areas have?

Geoff.

The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran
off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not
a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's
would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not
to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

de K3HVG

"K3HVG" wrote in message
.. .

The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran off
either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not a ham,
he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's would
seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not to plan
to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

de K3HVG


Hi,

I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains,
in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a
"site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I
have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it
is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the
whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and
mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a
step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock
protection.

73 de G3VKM

Roger Basford Roger at new-gate dot co dot uk wrote:

I, and a couple of other British BC-610 owners run our TXs from 50Hz mains,
in my case the domestic 230 V is stepped down to 110V using what is called a
"site transformer" - designed for outdoor power tools. The only drawback I
have noticed is the occasional loud rattling from the antenna relay when it
is powered-up, presumably its AC solenoid coil prefers 60Hz. Running the
whole TX off 220V would mean a swap of all power transformers and
mains-powered relays in the equipment, so IMHO it's much better to use a
step-down transformer of some sort to do the job and give additional shock
protection.

Note that most of those construction site transformers are actually
autotransformers and don't give any real isolation. But it's true that
a shock at 110V is less nasty than a shock at 220V.

I'd tend to suggest real isolation transformers with electrostatic
shielding, if only because it prevents RF from getting onto your power
line grounding system and causing interference issues and a changed
antenna pattern.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

K3HVG wrote:
The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran
off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not
a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's
would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not
to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote in :
K3HVG wrote:
The SCR-299/399 were designed to run off 110VAC 60Hz. The PE-95 gas
generator is a 10KW 110v-only unit. I, personally, have never seen a
BC-610 running off 220v. In past discussions with my my Elmer, he
explained that they had SCR-399's on Guam and Saipan and they all ran
off either the PE-95 or "base power" which was 110v 60Hz. Although not
a ham, he was the OIC of the Signal Detachment. Whether the '610 or the
'299/'399 will actually run off 50HZ power, I do not know. The TM's
would seem to indicate not. BTW, the Signal doctrine back then was not
to plan to use, nor depend on, indigenous power sources.

If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

What He Said, regarding bases in ROK, RVN, Thailand, Japan, and other
places I was stationed. We USAF types always take at least one Power
Production type and something to generate 117 (or so) VAC or "220"
(usually 230-240 VAC) at 60 Hz, unless we're out in the boonies and
running off batteries. For the heavy-duty stuff, we always had 480 VAC
3-phase (wye or delta, depending) at 60-Hz.

--
It typically takes 25-30 gallons of petrol/diesel to fully-consume an
average-sized body under ideal conditions. That I am conversant with
this level of detail should serve as an indication of why the wise man
does not ask me questions about MS-Windows. --Tanuki the Raccoon-dog

Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

The cost of a "universal" power supply would not have been that
much higher.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some
French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only.

-Bill

Bill M wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any (110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build a base around.

I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've restored some
French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110 only.

France was spotty, with some places being 110 and other places being 220
and a few places having weird line frequencies too. This led to a legacy
of lots of weird incompatible light bulb bases too, which the EU is only
finally getting cleaned up.

Remember, this was an era when there were no large scale power grids,
and individual cities had their own generating plant and their own
standards. Well, Germany started to have a grid, but we took it out....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Bill M wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
If you go onto an American military base in Germany
today, you'll still
see Edison outlets at 110V. Americans have always
carried our power with
us wherever we have gone.

But in the summer of 1944, you would not have found any
(110 volt
power or US bases) in Europe. The whole point of the
unit was to be
a portable radio station, not something you had to build
a base around.

I thought France was still on 110 in those days. I've
restored some
French sets both pre and post war, some I think were 110
only.

France was spotty, with some places being 110 and other
places being 220
and a few places having weird line frequencies too. This
led to a legacy
of lots of weird incompatible light bulb bases too, which
the EU is only
finally getting cleaned up.

Remember, this was an era when there were no large scale
power grids,
and individual cities had their own generating plant and
their own
standards. Well, Germany started to have a grid, but we
took it out....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

FWIW, the third edition of _Reference Data for Radio
Engineers_ dated 1949 shows France has having DC power at
110, 120, 125, 220 volts and AC at 110, 115, 120, 125, 220,
230 volts and both 50hz and 25hz. It indicates that the
predominant power was 110 or 115 VAC at 50hz.
A this time power frequencies of 25hz, 40hz, 42hz, 43hz,
45hz, 100hz (Malta) could be found in various parts of the
world.
50hz has always been the most common power frequency in
Europe and 60Hz in the USA and Canada. 25hz is used for
industrial purposes, particularly for electric railways
because core losses are lower in motors and transformers
(less heat dissipated). I have no idea of the origin of the
40hz series. Power voltages and frequencies in "third world"
countries usually follows the preferences of the countries
that colonized them.
In the Los Angeles area until about the mid 1950's one
could find both 50hz and 60hz power. The city, which is
supplied by the publicly owned Department of Water and Power
was 60Hz, the outlying areas not incorporated into the city
mostly got their power from Southern California Edision
which was mostly 50Hz. I remember seeing hydro-electric
generators at the old St. Francis power station that were
originally 50Hz but were run overspeed to generate 60hz.
These survived the St. Francis dam collapse and subsequent
flood.


--

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL

"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message
...

25hz is used for
industrial purposes, particularly for electric railways
because core losses are lower in motors and transformers
(less heat dissipated).


Richard,

I believe the real reason for 25 Hz power near Niagara Falls was the
large number of chlor-alkali plants in the area. The Castner
Electrolytic Alkali Company began operation at Niagara Falls in
1897. Eventually this became the Olin Niachlor plant. Chlor-alkali
plants are a major consumer of electricity, and it was plentiful and
cheap at Niagara Falls. Other companies in the same area with
chlor-alkali plants are DuPont and Hooker (later to be Occidental
Chemical).

The reason for using 25 Hz AC is related to the need for high
current DC for use in the process. In the early days, mechanical
(rotary) rectifiers were used to convert the AC to DC. Essentially
a synchronous motor was used to turn large disks broken into
sections. AC was fed to these disks. Brushes would rub on the disk
producing a unipolar output. Operating at 1500 RPM this system was
quite efficient. But at 50 or 60 Hz, rotating the disks at 3000 or
3600 RPM, the efficiency was less (the off time, essentially the
insulating space between the disk sections, became a larger portion
of the total period) and the brushes wore out faster. Operating at
lower frequencies would have been even more efficient but
transformer size became excessive.

Unfortunately the early electrolytic cells used mercury for one
electrode leading to a major pollution problem. You might recognize
the name Hooker Chemical from their waste being dumped in the Love
Canal.

73, Dr. Barry L. Ornitz WA4VZQ