[AMRadio] Why I Chose A Globe King 500B

[wwd at netheaven.com]

In <000b01c1eb3b$595931a0$4846b7d8 at gaingcap8>, on 04/23/2002 
   at 07:54 PM, "Damon Raphael" <w7md at gci-net.com> said:

>There were very few commercial rigs produced in the 500 W Plate Modulated
>AM category.
>The Johnson 500 covers the upper HF ham bands but not 160 meters and
>commands a much higher price than the GK.
>The Johnson KW Desk is a big monster which is way out of my price range.
>The BC-610 weighs 400 to 450 pounds and covers 1 to 18 mHz.  It does not
>do 10 meters.

Trust me, if you knew anything about the BC-610, you would NOT WANT it to
cover 10 meters! 

>The T-368 weighs about 680 pounds and covers 1.5 mHz to 20 mHz.  It does
>not do 10 meters.

You miss the point here. Unlike commercial ham gear, which was designed by
marketing AND engineering teams, military gear is designed to accomplish a
job. And not to provide ad copy to QST. Tell us why it would be a GOOD
THING to routinely run a solid kw of am on 10 meters. Or 15m. 

And keep in mind the T-368 is built for continuous coverage 1.5 to 20 mhz,
and not just the ham bands. 8.379mhz, sure, just set your Tuning and
Loading knobs to the chart, switch to 'Tune' mode, and peak your antenna
tuner. You're on! As easy as any 'contesting' rig and a completely
different animal than the TMC line of Tx, which are in reality
'single-frequency' gear.

>I know that some folks have modified these rigs to cover the bands that
>thet were not designed to do but I did not want to tackle that problem
>with the big beasts.  Just removing and carrying the modules is a weight
>lifting chore and should you fry a "big iron" component you are in deep
>#$@&*.  Not to mention the firestorm that could arise from a "golden
>screwdriver " mod. Both of the military transmitters require an external
>frequency control device.

Oh, Martha! Not true.

>The T-368 uses a dedicated exciter which is an
>added expense and maintenance problem.  I don't know if the T-3 can be
>used without that specific device when XTAL controlled.

There is an external input for FSK, nominally. No xtal plug. Only if it
was built to WRL 'quality' would it be a 'maintenance problem'.  <g>

>The Globe King 500B covers 160 through 10 meters and has a built in VFO. 
>It weighs about 275 pounds.  It is quite a bit smaller in size and weight
>compared to the military rigs.
>While the BC-610 in it's various versions is a commonly available unit, a
>T-368 for sale is much harder to find.

?? 

>Broadcast transmitters are available but are very large units and are
>difficult to run on more than one band.  To my knowledge, the commonly
>available units would be difficult to run above the 40 meter band. I
>started to scrounge for parts to build a 500 W rig but quickly gave up on
>that.  Here in Arizona, there are very few swapmeets so major building
>parts are hard to find.   You don't want to have to pay Peter Dahl or
>eBay prices for that stuff.   If you have a shed full of old parts and
>"heavy iron" plus the knowledge and experience needed to match up the
>component parameters and if you have the tooling to do the metalwork,
>then homebrewing a big rig is the way to go.

>None of the above rigs have "good" audio as designed.  They all have to
>have some modification to widen the frequency response to meet today's 
>standards for ham use.

The BC-610 has audio chain is FULLY balanced, as in commercial broadcast
design. What more could you ask?? In stock form the T-368 provides fine
amateur audio. Both probably better than stock WRL. 'Today's standards'
are in the eye of the beholder.  E.g. 'today's standards' for teeny-bops
require 700W of sub-woofer audio for automotive applications.

>Given the above, I decided that the Globe King 500B was a reasonable
>value at today's prices.

??

>Damon Raphael, W7MD
>Tucson, AZ

Bill    K2AME
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