[NJARC] Fw: [Milsurplus] Alexanderson Transmission on Christmas Eve

[Ray Chase]

There has been some recent traffic regarding the Alexanderson alternator in 
Sweden and the fact that it was supposed to transmit on Christmas day but 
apparently did not because of some gremlins.  Anyway, the following was on 
the milsurplus reflector and is of interest to those who like "really big 
iron" at LF.
Ray
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "C.Whitaker" <whitaker at pa.net>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 5:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Alexanderson Transmission on Christmas Eve


> de WB2CPN
> I thought my friend from my USAF days worked at Marion, so I asked
> him about that.  Here is his reply.  (An Alexanderson Alternator may well
> be the largest piece of milsurplus to be on this net.
> Relayed from George McCombs, who like me is in the 80+ old geezer crowd.
> .
> Yes, I was stationed at Marion, Mass. And worked on the VLF transmitter.
> It was known as an Alexanderson Alternator. We transmitted a 25.82KC's.
> The antenna was strung along what they called triatics using if I
> remember correctly, six 400 ft. masts. There was aground screen
> consisting of copper wire (about 1/4 inch dia.) laid out in a one sq. ft
> grid that covered probably close to a square mile. I'm sure that copper
> is all gone now, but I sure would like to have it. We had two
> alternators that ran two weeks on and two weeks off. When we took them
> down we changed the oil in them (two barrels). We had a nice swimming
> pool sized tank that pumped water thru them and the return sprayed over
> the pool to cool it before being pumped back thru the alternator. We
> parked our cars under the antenna and you never grabbed the door handle
> with your bare hand if we were operating. If it was raining and even if
> you grabbed the handle with your hat (the standard insulator used by
> all), you still got a very noticeable jolt. There was only one tube, a
> big glass rectifier used in the system to power some of the control
> relays. There were two liquid rheostats used to control the speed of the
> alternator. One rheostat was adjusted to control the speed with the in a
> no load condition and the other in a keyed configuration. We sent an ICW
> signal to ships in the north Atlantic giving the latest wx. reports. We
> had a control panel for each alternator. There were switches behind the
> panel with only long handles protruding to the front of the panel. This
> was a safety factor in case a switch would blow up. The switch handles
> were a couple of feet long and you grabbed them with both hands and
> slammed them into the closed position as rapidly as possible to prevent
> arcing. The whole thing was built by RCA in 1918 and I believe it was
> purchased by the govt. During WW2.We put out 200,000 watts. My AFSC at
> that time was 30450, ground radio maintenance (light)
>
> . 73  Clete
> P.S. Trivia.  In the middle 50's it was copied by cargo
> ships near the north coast of Alaska.  They were waiting
> for the ice to break so they could off-load material for
> building the DEW Line.
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>
> On 12/28/2011 10:25 PM, Laura and Jim wrote:
>> I have heard that the world record for reception is New Jersey.
>> I'm in Northern CA. Should I bother, or do I need a Beverage and a Cray 
>> running DSP to pick it up?
>> (Hmmm. A beverage sounds good right now, hihi. A have several cold 807's 
>> in the fridge)
>>
>> 73 DE JIM K6FWT
>> ______________________________________________________________