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This is the Continental room. The station operated six each 250KW
transmitters. Four identically matched Continental units provided the
Pals facility with excellent flexibility to choose various power-output
combinations as broadanging situations dictated. The station was able
to operate these transmitters in the following modes:
a)
Four single units each operating at 250KW.
b) Two single units each operating at 250KW, and two matched units
combined as a single
transmitter operating at 500KW
c) Four matched units combined as two separate transmitters, each pair
operating at 500 KW.
d) Four matched units combined at the antenna into a single unit
operating as a super-powered
million (1,000,000) Watt transmitter.
The four units were designated 7/1, 7/2, 8/1 and 8/2. The
four, operating in combined mode, formed the most powerful transmitter
in the entire world. The MEGAWATT, one million watts, aimed at Moscow
on 8 May 1968, 12:00 UTC, frequency 11770 KHz, carrying a music test
program reached the target with a strength of 6mV/m, and to
Ukraine 10mV/m. The first actual program broadang at one megawatt
took place on June 27th, 1968, being heard by 70 million of people.
Because there was no jammer in the whole world able to silence this
powerful voice of freedom, Platja de Pals rapidly became the “flagship”,
the pride, of the entire Radio Liberty's net and, indeed of the entire
Free World who had knowledge of our work.
Each transmitter consisted of a control and current check console,
a driver unit and the transmitter itself . The transmitter,
designed around 1947, was naturally a tube-type. The driver had 11
tubes and the transmitter 6, two in the Modulated Amplifier, two in
the Peak Section and two in the Carrier section. Each man-sized
door had a viewing window used for visually inspecting high-power
components during operation.
The transmitter generated an enormous amount of heat requiring use
of a large, heavy-duty cooling system utilizing both air and water to
do the job. Deionized water was run through the cooling networks built
into each of the high-power tubes while air was used for the remainder.
The heated water, once passing through the tubes, was re-circulated
through large fan-cooled radiators loanged in the cooler room. Transmitter
operating frequencies fell between 5,955 and 17995 MHz in the 6-7, 9,
11 and 17 meter bands.
Here
a pdf with technical data can be downloaded. |
