Radio Broadcast Gear Needs A Home - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: sos_radiogear
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 28, 2024, 01:35:32 pm
content: Well known communicationa company had about a bunch of components from a radio broadcast set up they were throwing out. It all looked cool so I loaded it up. The station was on air starting in 2001. They night still be on air, not sure. All of these component were replaced with the newest versions. = There are about 30 components and 95% of them power up. I dont have a clue about any of it. The most valuable item appears to be a Crescent Technologies 450MHZ 21W In, 50W Out RF AMP w/ Power Supply. They are housed in a metal box with a handle on the front and a metal name plate that says VoCom Products Company. it has an "RF IN" and "RF OUT" Model # PSU050-25R Serial # 06112142I assume it works. The guy said all of it was working when removed from operation. Is it worth anything? I am in Houston, TX. Anyone local want a great deal on all of it? lol Here is a link to pics of some of the items including the amp.. Thank you for your assistance.https://photos.app.goo.gl/zf4vKm2P3eUKER6r9

author: paultino
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 28, 2024, 04:42:55 pm
content: Hi. Most of it is junk.the most valuable thing that can find a buyer is the motu audio interface/converter.(i am an engineer at a radio station in Europe)

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2024, 11:27:53 pm
content: All of the beige colored modules go to a Pacific Recorders BMX console and would probably sell on Ebay including the huge beige rack mount power supplies. Also, the Eventide digital delay with the dump button is very desirable. It is a seven or eight second audio delay which builds the delay over about a two minute period used for live talk shows. The dump button is for when some caller goes ape shit, you pot them down and press dump!! Looks like you have some digital clocks that mount on the back splash of BMX consoles. They however may require a station GPS or WWV master clock to drive them via a coax cable with BNC connector. You could net yourself some Ebay money indeed! Wish you had some Mike Durrough 'Loudness Meters' in the same physical size as those clocks. Those can bring $200 to $400 bucks each!!

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2024, 11:36:44 pm
content: The Rolls FM tuner is also useful. It was probably used as an EBS Alert receiver and connected to the 'Alert' panel on one of its inputs. You do have some marketable gear there.

author: K5_489
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2024, 05:25:11 am
content: What would 450MHz gear be used for in radio broadcasting? I'm not arguing your claim of it being desirable, rather that I'm genuinely curious. I understand RF in general, but have absolutely zero experience in any kind of broadcast station. Would this be some kind of RF link between stations?

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2024, 02:56:59 pm
content: In broadcast terms the 450MHz stuff is known as RPU (Remote Pick Up) and would be used by the news people to call in a story or for engineering to contact the studio or newsroom. The 900MHz stuff is known as STL (Studio Transmitter Link) or sometimes can be used as ICR (Inter City Relay). We used all of that stuff including some 160MHz RPU channels. Much of the old Mosley gear with the varactor tripler final stage was outlawed for use by the FCC. The 303 and 404 models for sure although I believe the 505's were still o.k. Most folks threw out the Mosley stuff and bought TFT as replacements. Mosley got a bad rap because they wouldn't accept older gear that became illegal for trade-in or trade-up to newer gear. I looked closer at the clocks. They appear to be timers who's start and stop functions were triggered by the console modules, the yellow 'on' buttons triggered start and the red 'off' buttons triggered stop. There were also a set of blue buttons strictly for start, stop, and reset usually on their own module.

author: sos_radiogear
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 30, 2024, 09:14:25 am
content: CaptDon, your amazing! I wont continue to bother you but I do want to make sure I understand what your telling me. The power supply I have is banned with scrap value? I dont see model numbers... is it a 505? It cant be modified to have utility in HAM Radio?One more item... I have 9 brand new boards for a SAS 32000 Audio Mixer . I attached details. Are they worth anything?CaptDon, I wish my haul was more valuable but it there anything you want, like those displays, or whatever. Ill send it your way for the cost of shipping. The exciting part for me is learning somethig new. Cheers and God Bless!

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2024, 01:10:25 pm
content: Only the Mosley 303 and 404 models which were used as Studio Transmitter Links became outlawed. All of your stuff is O.K. The 303 and 404 models had a varactor tripler as the final R.F. power stage. They drove it with about 30 watts at around 315MHz and got perhaps 10 watts output at 945MHz (frequencies varied by station license of course). The problem was that with antenna icing or duplexer tuning drift the varactor output went from a single somewhat 'clean' signal to a whole bunch of unpredictable R.F. spurs which many times interfered with other broadcasters and even cell phone towers. It happened so often the units were outlawed by the FCC. Your amplifiers and such are fine. That Eventide audio delay is a 'must have' for live talk radio stations. I am not familiar with SAS stuff. My broadcast mixer experience is limited to Pacific Recorders BMX, Auditronics, Ampro, Gates and RCA. My RPU / STL / ICR experience is mostly around McMartin, Mosley, TFT, GE and Motorola. So many stations are just tearing down their studio work surfaces, laying off 'local' talent, putting up a satellite dish and rebroadcasting worthless dribble from Cumulus in Atlanta!! You do have some stuff there that would appeal to Mom and Pop stations as a source of spare parts. Give some thought to Ebay. I retired from 13 years of service aquired in 11 years (according to my pension) back around 2002. I retired from the GE locomotive factory in 2022 but still work as a ship captain and working member of International Ship Masters (ISMA).

author: K5_489
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2024, 07:19:29 pm
content: Quote from: sos_radiogear on September 30, 2024, 09:14:25 amI know there are some ham guys out there that think they can repurpose ANYTHING for ham use..."think" is the key word here, lol. I have had several arguments with some of the "old farts" that are convinced that Motorola single band 800MHz radios are a simple software configuration change away from running in the 900MHz ham bands...which if it was true, I would have been a rich man a long time ago based on the number of radios my employer has literally scrapped during upgrades.I can say that I've converted a bunch of random different power supplies for other uses. The 450MHz RF amps MAY be able to be re-tuned to the 70cm ham band - 420-450MHz. I don't know any specifics to that particular equipment though to be able to say how easy or hard it may be, or how much value it may be to hams. I do very little work in those frequencies, so really not familiar with the market.I agree with Don - toss it up on eBay...you may well be pleasantly surprised.