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Re: [IRCA] ?Last QSL from CFFX 960
Mike McKenna wrote:
Alot of the AM stations that are turning in the AM license for a new
FM channel -- are owned by the CBC or big station groups. They
wouldn't put their old transmitters on eBay. They have too many to
sell or get rid of. They would use a broker to get rid of them all.
One more reason to keep your ears tuned. New AM stations going on
the air or returning to the air everyday. I wouldn't be a bit
surprised to learn that the old CFFX transmitter might even be the
the great Pacific Northwest right now. Just being made ready to
return to the airwaves.
Those old transmitters return to the air all the time, and most of us
never know it. Here's why:
As Mike correctly observes, there is an industry of brokers who buy used
equipment and refurbish and resell it. But in the case of transmitters,
just because it once operated on 960 or 1070 doesn't mean it ALWAYS has
to operate on those frequencies. Retuning a modern transmitter, while
not a trivial task, isn't all that difficult, either - some new coils, a
reprogrammed exciter, and away you go.
Transmitters do cross the border. My local WYSL 1040, when it upgraded
to 20 kW, bought a used Nautel AMPFET transmitter from a broker. It came
from the old Alberta station on 840, I'm told. Unless you happen to know
that (and often the buyers don't!), you'd have no way to know that the
signal now being heard up here on 1040 comes from the same box that once
powered 840 in Alberta.
There's also a booming international market in old transmitters, so the
old CBA or CFFX rigs could just as easily end up in Brazil or Chile as
in the US or Canada.
As for the former FREQUENCIES used by dark Canadian AMs, a handful
eventually return to the air - that 840 in Alberta will soon be occupied
by CFCW Camrose, moving from 790, for instance - but many stay dark for
good, of course.
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