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Back when I was at WPIX-TV in New York, it was kind of understood that if you left dirty dishes in the little sink in the engineering office kitchenette, they'd magically be clean in the morning. I was ok with that, because "dishes left in the sink becoming clean" is a fairly common trope in our society.
I'm not used to "the coffee cup which I keep in my office, which hasn't been washed in a year suddenly becoming clean."
What's the efficiency of a system like that (how much power goes in to make 20.5 KW come out)? Do you see the size of the electric bill each month?
The efficiency is pretty low. I mean, this is 6Mhz bandwidth at 500 Mhz center. That's a pretty wide range even for a modern linear amplifier, and this rig is 18 years old.
The electric bill is not small, but it pales in comparison to the lease for the roof space. More than $1m a year, which is almost as much as we pay to lease transponder 13 on the Galaxy 14 satellite on a full-time basis. The amount of money which we spend here still blows my mind...
I just looked up the specs. Total heat output is about 305,000 BTU / hour, and the power input is around 110,000 watts.
Earlier this year, I did a major rework of the HVAC ducting and plenums in that room. Prior to this, for the past 17 years, we'd experienced huge and regular oscillations in room temp, and PA module temperatures which were well above rated spec. After the rework, the temp has been rock-solid for months.
The amplifier itself:
The top of the amp, showing the hot-air exhaust, which the air conditioner exhausts are blowing into. This is stupid configuration, and whoever designed it should be killed. Painfully
I changed this.
Draw stuff on ABS sheets!
Cut and install ABS to form shrouding!
Cut holes in aluminum sheet and Install cheap flexible ducting!
09-28-2018, 05:48 PM
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