{"id":3161,"date":"2024-12-18T13:38:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T18:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/?p=3161"},"modified":"2024-12-18T13:38:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T18:38:35","slug":"our-new-transmitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/2024\/12\/18\/our-new-transmitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Our New Transmitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

WMUL-FM\u2019s new transmitter is installed and blanketing the tri-state with our music, news, sports, and other special programming.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s been going on over the past six months?<\/p>\n

The Short \/ Less Technical Version<\/h2>\n

Back on June 10, 2024, WMUL-FM suffered a component failure in its transmitter and went off the air. WMUL-FM\u2019s engineering staff spent more than a week diagnosing and trying to work around the problem. Partial service was restored on June 18th with a signal that would barely cover the City of Huntington.<\/p>\n

The engineering staff determined that a new transmitter was required to restore full service. That new transmitter was fired up on December 12th.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Transmitter?<\/h3>\n

The transmitter is the device that takes an ordinary audio signal (very similar to the signal that comes out of a headphone jack) and turns it into a powerful radio signal. That radio signal is sent through a heavy cable called a transmission line up the tower to the antenna. WMUL-FM\u2019s transmitter is located in a climate-controlled room on the fifth floor of the Science Building on Marshall University\u2019s Huntington campus. The tower and antenna are located on the roof of the Science Building.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>
WMUL-FM\u2019s old (1989 model) transmitter. It was about the size of a refrigerator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"A<\/a>
The new transmitter (the silver box on the left) is half installed. It is about the size of a microwave oven. What a difference 35 years of technological advancement makes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

The next two photographs are of WMUL-FM\u2019s tower and antenna atop the Science Building.<\/p>\n

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\"WMUL-FM's<\/a>
A wide shot of WMUL-FM’s tower and antenna.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Close-up<\/a>
A close-up view of WMUL-FM’s antenna.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The Long \/ More Technical Version<\/h2>\n

This journey actually started a few weeks earlier, on Saturday, May 18, 2024. The day of Dr. Bailey\u2019s wedding. As dinner was winding down, WMUL-FM\u2019s engineering staff received alerts that the transmitter was off the air.<\/p>\n

After rushing to the transmitter room (while still obeying the speed limit), we determined that this problem was an easy one to fix. A fan in the exciter had gone bad. The exciter is the first stage of the transmitter. It takes the audio signal and converts it to a radio signal, but only at 3 watts of power.<\/p>\n

A temporary fan was rigged up and WMUL-FM returned to the air after less than 2 hours.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
A floor fan was attached to a step-ladder and the top cover of the exciter was removed to provide temporary cooling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

A new permanent fan was ordered and, on June 10th, WMUL-FM signed off for what should have been only an hour-long fan replacement. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of a six-month long ordeal.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
WMUL-FM\u2019s old transmitter in happier times (sometime between 2012 and 2014).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The transmitter is the larger cabinet on the left with the white \/ beige side panels. The Harris HT 3.K FM transmitter, purchased in 1989, was about the size of a refrigerator. The exciter installed in the middle of it was a Harris THE-1 and was purchased at the same time.<\/p>\n

Replacing the fan itself was a quick and simple task. However, when we tried to turn the transmitter back on, something failed inside it.<\/p>\n

We went to work trouble-shooting the components of the transmitter. The first failed item that we discovered was a 155-watt 5.5-ohm resistor. It was replaced with a spare and we tried again to turn the transmitter back on.<\/p>\n

This video shows what happened to that replacement resistor.<\/p>\n