Ancient VOR Transmitter ??

[[email protected]]

I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.

I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.

I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
or any other information?

pictures:
http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm

Chris

p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
Thanks!

[Brad Salai]

Just my opinion, but it looks way too low frequency to be a VOR transmitter.

Brad
> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>
> pictures:
> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>
> Chris
>
> p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
> Thanks!
>

[William W. Plummer]

There was no reason to post to two newsgroups.



wrote:

> I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>
> pictures:
> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>
> Chris
>
> p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
> Thanks!
>

[Stan Gosnell]

wrote in news:1106347341.980871.225150
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>
> pictures:
> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>
> Chris
>
> p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
> Thanks!
>

Maybe an NDB, but certainly not a VOR.

--
Regards,

Stan

[Roy Smith]

In article >,
Stan Gosnell > wrote:

> wrote in news:1106347341.980871.225150
> @c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
>
> > I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> > from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
> >
> > I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> > folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
> >
> > I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> > or any other information?
> >
> > pictures:
> > http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
> > Thanks!
> >
>
> Maybe an NDB, but certainly not a VOR.

One of the dataplates had a spot for "FREQ", near the top, but I
couldn't read the number through the glare from the flash. If you've
got the number, that should answer the question.

If it's in the 108 to 117.9 MHz range, it's a VOR. If it's in the
200-ish to 500-ish kHz range (I forget the exact limits), it's an NDB.

[kontiki]

I noticed an 829B tube in the final which was commonly used for
VHF frequencies of that era in a push-pull configuration. It may
be an early FM broadcast transmitter (88 - 108 Mhz), but I doubt it
because it appears to have a modulator (which an FM transmitter would
not have).

[Dave Stadt]

"kontiki" > wrote in message
...
> I noticed an 829B tube in the final which was commonly used for
> VHF frequencies of that era in a push-pull configuration. It may
> be an early FM broadcast transmitter (88 - 108 Mhz), but I doubt it
> because it appears to have a modulator (which an FM transmitter would
> not have).

If it is VHF it could be an ILS or localizer transmitter.

[Don Tuite]

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 15:18:30 GMT, "Dave Stadt" >
wrote:

>
>"kontiki" > wrote in message
...
>> I noticed an 829B tube in the final which was commonly used for
>> VHF frequencies of that era in a push-pull configuration. It may
>> be an early FM broadcast transmitter (88 - 108 Mhz), but I doubt it
>> because it appears to have a modulator (which an FM transmitter would
>> not have).
>
>If it is VHF it could be an ILS or localizer transmitter.
>
Why the mike jack?

Also, subsequent photos of the data plate move the flash glare around,
and there appears to be no data column under the frequency.

Don

[[email protected]]

I appreciate all the input so far.

I know it's been modified, how much is unclear.
Because of the tubes it's using, and the
one knob which switches the meter to show
many multipliers, it was a guess that it
was VHF.

But I think you're right, the output plate coil seems
much too big for VHF now.

Well, I don't think I'll be able to either restore
it or use it unless I can get more info. Otherwise,
it will probably be scrapped. If there's anyone out
there even slightly interested in having it, let
me know.

[David Lesher]

Roy Smith > writes:


>One of the dataplates had a spot for "FREQ", near the top, but I
>couldn't read the number through the glare from the flash. If you've
>got the number, that should answer the question.

>If it's in the 108 to 117.9 MHz range, it's a VOR. If it's in the
>200-ish to 500-ish kHz range (I forget the exact limits), it's an NDB.

If it's a VOR, where is the goniometer?
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

[Steven P. McNicoll]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
>I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>
> pictures:
> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>

I know little about electronics, but this equipment looks older than VOR to
me.

[Icebound]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>

It looks suspiciously like just another standard government-issue HF
transmitter which we used for point-to-point voice (and CW Morse code)
communication in the Arctic prior to 1965 (and it looked "old" even back
then... at the time I was under the impression that it was WW-II surplus).
Using frequencies in the 4 to 6 MHz range. The physical look was certainly
similar... but I do not recall all the details, such the coil and tube
detail that your pictures show...

It is possible that this gentleman obtained one as surplus and converted it
to work within one of the 40, 80 or 160 meter HF amateur bands???...
possibly even 20 or 15 metres???

From the size of the coils, I doubt very much that it would be a VHF rig of
any type, including VOR.

If not HF (as I believe), it would probably be MF or LF: either an NDB, or a
carrier-provider for FSK teletype. Both were often rigged for voice
modulation which was often used to provide the equivalent of ATIS (only
live, and just once every half hour...you had to catch it). Also, where
aircraft had difficulty reading HF transmissions, the ground station might
use the beacon to reply to an HF call in the hope that the a/c could read
that.

-----

We called it by a short alpha-plus-numeric model identification, something
like *AS8* or so, but I do not recall exactly.

Ours were set up to run at a remote location at the antenna farm. The
microphone jack was not used... the operator's desk would be some miles away
and the remote push-to-talk and audio lines were wired in directly.
(Receivers were also similarly remote several miles in the other direction.
On good days, the HF skip was such that we could hear our contact several
hundred miles away, better than we could hear our own transmitter.)

The main AC power switch is in the lower part of the front panel. When one
our these units was particularly cantankerous for the umpteenth time, I
recall our technician angrily turning it "off" with his foot, with
sufficient force so that it never worked again.

There are collectors of such stuff, and in working order it is probably
worth something substantial. Maybe even if not in working order.

[Spockstuto]

Don't laugh but the FAA has stuff this old still out in the system.
A lot of NDB sites still use ancient equipment.



wrote:
> I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>
> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>
> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
> or any other information?
>
> pictures:
> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>
> Chris
>
> p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
> Thanks!
>

[William W. Plummer]

Could it be an old OMEGA system. That was decommissioned only about 5
years ago. As I understand it, this was the original radio navigation
system for airplanes know as "Highways in the Skies". It was low
frequency. The pilot would listen to the selected frequency and hear a
steady tone if he was right on the highway, or di-dah ("A") if on one
side or dah-dit ("N") on the other.

Just a guess.


Spockstuto wrote:
> Don't laugh but the FAA has stuff this old still out in the system.
> A lot of NDB sites still use ancient equipment.
>
>
>
> wrote:
>
>> I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
>> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>>
>> I have not been able to pin down exactly what it is. Some
>> folks have given the opinion that it may be an old VOR transmitter.
>>
>> I'm wondering if someone can identify it? Give a date range?
>> or any other information?
>>
>> pictures:
>> http://www.yipyap.com/radio_stuff/VOR/index.htm
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> p.s. I know some of the pictures are fuzzy. I'll cull them out.
>> Thanks!
>>

[Roy Smith]

In article >,
"William W. Plummer" > wrote:

> Could it be an old OMEGA system. That was decommissioned only about 5
> years ago. As I understand it, this was the original radio navigation
> system for airplanes know as "Highways in the Skies". It was low
> frequency. The pilot would listen to the selected frequency and hear a
> steady tone if he was right on the highway, or di-dah ("A") if on one
> side or dah-dit ("N") on the other.

I think you're talking about the old 4-course airways. OMEGA was a
hyperbolic radio navigation system (in some ways similar to LORAN). It
was used by both aircraft and ships for trans-oceanic navigation, with a
fix accuracy of about 4 nm (you can do better with a sextant).

There were only 8 transmitters in the world (and the one in the US is
still in use for other purposes), so it seems unlikely that much surplus
equipment would be available. Transmission was in the 10 kHz band.

http://webhome.idirect.com/~jproc/hyperbolic/omega.html

[William W. Plummer]

OK, Roy. Here's another far out guess.

Back in the late '40s I remember chiropractors using a "diathermy"
machine. I believe this would use RF energy to induce heat in the
patient's muscles. We got a TV set in 1948 and started getting lots of
interference which was subsequently traced to the diathermy machine in
town about 1 half mile away. I never saw it, but I understand it was
impressive and would have been admired by Frankenstein.

http://www.medtronic.com/activa/physician/diathermy_safety.html

[Icebound]

"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "William W. Plummer" > wrote:
>
>> ... That was decommissioned only about 5
>> years ago. As I understand it, this was the original radio navigation
>> system for airplanes know as "Highways in the Skies". It was low
>> frequency. The pilot would listen to the selected frequency and hear a
>> steady tone if he was right on the highway, or di-dah ("A") if on one
>> side or dah-dit ("N") on the other.
>
> I think you're talking about the old 4-course airways. ...

http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Lorenz%20SYR%2044.htm

.... technically "4-course radio range"...and they were decommissioned as
soon as VORs and ADF receivers became prevalent. In Canada that was the
early-to-mid 1960's, with the possible exception of some isolated relic.

Anything is possible, but I don't think the OP picture is one of those.

Interesting to note, that even then (and how accurately could a course have
been followed???).... even then pilots were encouraged to fly
right-of-course to avoid meeting someone else "on course":
http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/ndb-nav-history.htm

[Icebound]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>

I have found only one technician who worked on similar equipment in the
1950s-60s

His guess is a WW2 vintage, standard VHF transmitter.... probably in the
aviation band which a Radio Amateur may have been able to convert to work on
the 2 metre HAM band.

[Don Tuite]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:16:02 -0500, "Icebound"
> wrote:

>
> wrote in message
oups.com...
>>I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
>> from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
>>
>
>I have found only one technician who worked on similar equipment in the
>1950s-60s
>
>His guess is a WW2 vintage, standard VHF transmitter.... probably in the
>aviation band which a Radio Amateur may have been able to convert to work on
>the 2 metre HAM band.

The earth-bound counterpart to the BC-229?

Don

[Tim Hogard]

wrote:
: I recently received this large single-frequency transmitter
: from an elderly gentleman who used to be a ham radio operator.
I'm guessing its a hacked 4 course transmitter.
Is there something in it that will transmit A or N in morse code?

It would be higher than NDB but lower than VOR.

Where is it? There are other people around who might be able
to shed more light on the device.

-tim
http://web.abnormal.com