Members visited the KRMG transmitter site on
Saturday May 22nd. Norm Laramee, Chief Engineer for the radio
station was our gracious host. KRMG went on the air on December 31, 1949.
They run a three-tower pattern during the day, and six towers at night
operating on 740Khz.
The original KRMG AM transmitter is an RCA Model
BTA-50 (50,000-Watt) unit. This RCA transmitter remains in the building
(there is probably no way to get it out) and still can be operated. Back
when this transmitter was purchased, the building had to be specially
designed for this huge transmitter. The main transmitter cabinet extends
from one end of the room to the other, about sixty feet in length, plus
there are separate rooms for the blowers, high-voltage and modulation
transformers and electrical service components. The operating efficiency
of these 55-year-old AM transmitters is around 40% (power line to RF
output conversion). After we had inspected the transmitter “up close”,
Norm shut the doors and started the system. We all enjoyed seeing the old
transmitter running again.
The new AM transmitter, installed about 1998, is a
Harris Model DX-50, 100% solid state and digitally modulated. This
solid-state transmitter is about 12 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 6 feet
high and has an operating efficiency of about 85%. We also got to see the
remote studio, which has not changed for many years. Norm told us that
the station is planning a “garage sale” of old equipment – which looked
pretty interesting as we examined what is stored at the station.
