Re: [ARSCLIST] Stereo Records

[Robert Hodge <rjhodge@xxxxxxx>]

Hi ,
 Any idea when GE sold it's last transmitter which used the phasitron
based exciter? Or if it was ever considered to be used in a multiplex FM
enviroment ? It would have been tough , I think. I have seen and
maintained a couple of 250 watt GE FM postwar transmitters  which had
external vacuum tube and transistorised exciters installed in place of
the phasitron decks. The exciters were built by Collins and Gates .
Never saw a GE multiplex exciter. And there were several GE FM and one
television transmitter- WSYR- Ch 5 - not 3 at that time- that had a
phasitron based FM aural section which was located here and which were
being built at Electronics Park here in Syracuse.

BTW , the name given the Fm /Am based broadcasts was  "Simulcasting" -
a name still used by PBS for their FM based television audio service. 
Only you don't have to rely on the TV set to provide one channel of
audio.  Thankfully ! 

Bob Hodge  

Robert Hodge,
Senior Engineer
Belfer Audio Archive
Syracuse University
222 Waverly Ave .
Syracuse N.Y. 13244-2010

315-443- 7971
FAX-315-443-4866

>>> frank.strauss@xxxxxxxxxxx 6/16/2006 11:02 AM >>>
I was an avid electronics nerd in the late 50's and lived in the 
Schenectady, NY area(where GE was born).  We had an FM station with
call 
lettersWGFM, which has since left us.  The station was supported by GE

and we were able to listen to some of the first true multiplex FM
stereo 
in, I think, 1958/1959.  Our local electronics store sold a stereo 
converter unit, made by/for GE, that received signal from a wire that 
had to be soldered onto the circuit board of our FM tuner.  My father 
took a great leap of faith.  Some of what they played on WGFM was from

records.  I miss the days of circuit boards and tubes.  FBS