The engineers ran the transmitter up to 300kW into the Test Load and continued to tune the set. Upon successful trials, they then increased the output to 450 kW in order to stress every aspect of the equipment, running it to 150% of optimum operating parameters. After repairs and adjustments and verifying the efficacy of the system under 100% modulation, decided to do on-air testing.
They tuned the set to 9.275 and then activated the antenna switch to apply RF to the antenna using a 10k carrier tone. As we visually verified the operation of the antenna the engineers came out and said it was broadcasting at 60kW (Which is the highest the original RCA transmitter transmitted). They then came out and said they increased the power to to 175kW (Which is the highest the BBC transmitted). He then pushed the antenna to 300 kW, the rated output of the new transmitter. While we were talking about how well everything was working, the engineer came out and said he was pushing it as hard as he could, 450kW at 100%modulation. He also said that the antenna is super-stable at that power!
Next week we will be fine tuning the station and will be training. There will be times that we will be on the air, either on 9.275 or 15.150, but the times and duration will be sporadic. We anticipate assuming a regular broadcast schedule on June 20.!
