My first project was to install circuit breaker protection on the primary of emergency buttons’ step-down transformer mentioned in an earlier blog.  We also discussed having a small light at the emergency button to indicate that the circuit is active.

Meanwhile, Daryl, Jonas and others were bringing up the dummy load to begin further testing of the new transmitter.  Unfortunately, its 50-amp circuit breaker kept tripping.   It was discovered that while the four fan motors only draw 26 total amps when running, the inrush of current for starting all four motors at once is close to 150 amps.  As a ‘temporary’ solution the 50-amp breaker was replaced with a 100-amp breaker and the cooling fans for the dummy load came on without tripping the 100-amp breaker.

The dummy load working, as evidenced by the louvers which are opened by the high air flow. This Kintronic Labs load can dissipate over 600,000 watts of power.

I began to research possible solutions to this breaker tripping and emailed Ralph VanDerWerf for his advice.  After several proposals were bantered back and forth, it was eventually determined that the electrical code would allow the use of the 100-amp breaker for these starting motors under such circumstances.

Tom and Joshua used my assistance to do some more antenna adjustments at the towers.  Upon  instruction via the two-way radios, I would switch on, or off, the transmitter (at the reduced power level of 5,000 watts) to allow them to safely make measurements with their operating impedance bridges.

Jonas (on phone) and Dave noting that the output power of the new transmitter is at 100kw.

This afternoon we began the process of testing the new transmitter’s ability to produce power for broadcasting.  To do this we used the dummy, or test, load.  While in phone contact with Nautel this process was begun.

Output power now at 200,000 watts!

The transmitter power easily continued to increase until 270 kw when it recycled due to a ‘Fast SWR Shutback’.  Since we were on the dummy load, we suspected possible arcing there.  Upon close examination, I discovered something that looked like a piece of paper wrapped around a resistor support inside the dummy load.  After opening a side panel of the dummy load a strip of foil covered plastic was removed.  We were sure this would take care of the problem, but after powering back up, the transmitter again tripped at the same 270 kw power level!

By now Tom and Joshua were finished with antenna adjustments for the day, do it was decided to power up into the antenna instead.  Same problem at 270 kw on all three antenna patterns!  This seemed to indicate that the problem was in the antenna/dummy load switch box, or the coax from the transmitter to this box–the only things used in common for carrying power to the dummy load, or to the antenna system.  Tom thoroughly checked the witch and filed off a couple of sharp corners.  The problem remained.  Next the coax line was removed from above the transmitter, thoroughly cleaned and checked, then reinstalled.  Still the same problem at exactly 270 kw every time.

Jonas, Joshua and Kevin reinstalling coax above transmitter.

It was getting late!  The old transmitter was switched on for the evening broadcasts and we held a short prayer meeting for wisdom.  We would appreciate your prayers regarding this challenge!!

As we arrived home around 7pm, Virginia took a dish of  chicken and rice to Tom and Joshua for their evening meal.  Our supper was some of the same, with salad.

After supper, I continued trying to catch up on overdue blog entries.  Late to bed again!!

Before work, I decided to again review our McGuiReport that was sent last night, now without the ‘bleary eyes’ of the night before.  This is when I discovered one period, which should have been a comma, plus a quote mark that somehow appeared where it should never have been.   Corrections were quickly make and request made to replace last night’s file.  Hopefully, the lesson has been learned–not to send a highly edited document at bedtime, but wait til morning for that last proofread!  Yeah–like making blog entries, like this one, in late evening!!

My first project this morning was to complete the wiring of the surge suppressor mentioned in yesterday’s blog.

The step-down transformer for the control rack is the gray ‘box’ below the UPS

My next project was to install a step-down transformer to reduce the voltage from 127 volts to 102 volts in the transmitter control rack.  This became necessary because the antenna monitor, which displays the parameters (ratio and phasing) of the four towers in the directional antenna system, kept blowing fuses.  I mentioned the possibility that it may have a 115 volt transformer in its power supply that might be rated for 60 Hz (the US standard) and not for 50 Hz (used here) operation.  Since the control rack runs off the UPS (uninterruptible power supply, it was decided to install the step-down transformer on the wood panel below the UPS, where there is more space than in the control rack.

Antenna monitor is the gray instrument located just below the blue panel of antenna switching controls.

I then assisted Tom and Joshua with fine tuning of the antenna/phasor system.  By two-way radio, I was asked to turn on, or off, the 100,000-watt transmitter then read off the antenna monitor readings from the control rack located by the new transmitter.  Initially, I tried to use the two-way radio to directly read off the parameters of each of the four towers back to Tom, while he remained at one of the towers making adjustments.  For some reason the readings were varying all over the place.  It was then that I every time I activated two-way radio reading would begin to vary.  From then on, I wrote down all the readings,  before reading them off to Tom via the two-way radio.

While I was doing this, Daryl, Jonas, and Marco (who were in phone contact with Nautel, the new transmitter manufacturer), switched on power to the new transmitter to energize its computer.  This revealed that the input voltage was a little too high.  Therefore the transmitter was shut down and the taps on the transformer were set for correct voltages. We did not try sending power to the antennas today (maybe tomorrow).  We left the transmitter site, around 7 pm.

Jonas, Larry and Dave in front of the new transmitter with its touch screen monitor control system powered up (above ‘NX400’).

This evening was spent trying to catch up on blogs entries that had been set aside to prepare and submit our Feb 2018 McGuiReport.  I managed to do four blog entries, before becoming too ‘bleary-eyed’ around 11:30 pm to continue!

With the 380 volt service now switched on for the new transmitter, the first priority today was to activate the emergency stop buttons that I wired a few days ago.  This involved installing a step-down transformer  next to the 1,200-amp breaker to provide the 110 volts required for the shunt trip coil to allow remote emergency tripping of this breaker.  The normally open contacts (rated at 600 volts) of the emergency switches are connected in parallel so that either one can apply 220 volts from one phase of the breaker to one side of 220 volt primary of this transformer.  The other side of the primary is connected to neutral.  The shunt trip coil is wired to the 110 volt output winding.  Using this method, the transformer is only energized when needed.

The step-down transformer has been installed on the right side of the 1.200-amp breaker.

The next priority, before 380 volts could be applied to the transmitter, was to install the surge suppressor on the side of the disconnect switch cabinet.  I used the lathe to make special grommets for feeding the wires through the back of the suppressor and through the side of the disconnect switch cabinet.

The surge suppressor is connected to each phase on the output side of the disconnect switch located next to the transmitter. The ground i’s connected directly to station ground via a 4″ wide copper strip (right side of photo).

The closed surge suppressor attached to the side of the disconnect switch cabinet

I did not quite complete the surge suppressor installation this afternoon as Virginia and I were invited to the Bistro at the Marina to have dinner with Donna, TWR Bonaire’s bookkeeper, and her older friend from church, Lois.  Virginia let me know via email that the reservation was moved earlier to 5:45 pm instead of 6 pm, so she drove to the transmitter site to pick me up early.

On Wednesdays, all Bistro’s hamburgers are on sale for ‘only’ $8.  We ordered their Burgundy hamburgers that normally cost $14.  The hamburgers were covered with some kind of gravy with mushrooms, plus tomatoes, onions and lettuce.  It also came with fried potato wedges.  We ate at an outside table with a pleasant ‘cool’ [for here] breeze.  Afterwards, Donna convinced us to get ice cream for dessert at a place called Shanthy.  We were the only customers during the 30 minutes, or so, that we were there.

After we got home, I discovered that the proofreadings of our McGuiReport, submitted earlier this week, were done.  All the suggested ‘corrections’ were made and I began ‘tidying up’ the ‘white’ spaces in the text wrapped around the photos to make it look better.   This process took much longer than anticipated.  By the time I created the PDF files and submitted them for TWR Cary to print, it was around midnight and I was very ‘bleary-eyed’ from all the detailed editing on my laptop.

The electrical inspectors arrived this morning to inspect the 380-volt 1200-amp 3-phase service for the new transmitter.  We are grateful that this final, high-power part of the electrical system, passed inspection with no problem.

After the arcing connector problem last night, I helped Tom and Joshua inspect and tighten all connections in all four antenna huts.  I tightened hundreds of socket head screws today!

About 4 pm a crew from WEB, the power company, arrived to switch on the new 380 volt service. Initially the voltage was about 397 volts, but after WEB changed taps on their transmitter, our service voltage was very close at 382 volts.  After this done, it was past time to head home for the evening.

We invited Tom and Joshua King to come to our side of the duplex for supper.  Virginia made braised beef tips and rice for the main dish.  We had a great time of fellowship with them this evening.

For those of you who might not know, Tom King is a renowned broadcast engineer specializing in the design and manufacture of equipment for high-power AM antenna systems not only in the U.S., but also worldwide.  He has his own company, Kintronic Labs.   More importantly, he is a humble brother in Christ, whom I have known and highly respected for well over 20 years.  This is the first time that Virginia has met him.  Joshua, his son, has recently started to work with his father at Kintronic Labs.  It has been a treat to watch them work together on the intricate techniques of fine tuning the TWR Bonaire 400,000-watt four-tower AM antenna system that Tom designed, that is also switchable to three different directions.  I am not aware of any other antenna system like this anywhere!

Even the TWR Bonaire office staff meet at the transmitter site this morning for devotions.  Everyone was encouraged to see  the progress that has been made on the 400,000-watt AM transmitter installation.

About 9 am, WEB, the power company arrived to shut off the 220 transformer at the old power building, so we could begin the process of transferring the 220-volt 3-phase 200-amp cable connection to the new power room.

150 feet of cable was removed from this trench after disconnecting it from the transformer in the small white building

With about eight men assisting, the cable was fed along the elevated outside cable tray with an immediate right into the inside cable tray, then about 50 feet to the inside circuit breaker box.

Jonas guides the end of the cable through the wall into the room with the circuit breaker. Larry is on the other side of the wall feeding it through.

Benny and Dave guide the cable down to its breaker panel, which has been opened.

Larry, Marco and Daryl deciding on the best way to feed the other end of the cable into the new power room.

Larry guides the end of the cable through the hole into the new power room.

Dave, Jonas, and Larry guide the end of the cable into the 800-amp distribution panel, its new source of power. Notice the appropriate message on the back of Jonas’ red shirt–also the sweat!

Jonas and Daryl make the last connection into the breaker box. In less than four hours power was restored. This feed provides 110/127/220 volt power and air conditioning to all of the building with the exception of the new transmitter hall.

We were so relieved to see the completion of this long anticipated cable move.  It required a lot of physical labor in rather hot conditions.  There was only one minor mishap when Benny cut two fingers (no stitches required) when his hand rubbed against a sharp edge of an air conditioner when feeding the cable around a tight corner.

In the afternoon, I assisted Tom and Josh King with tidying up the four antenna tuning huts.

Tom and Joshua inspecting one of the tuning huts.

Got home late this evening due to a last-minute arcing problem in one of the antenna tuning huts.  The problem was a connector that attached the final matching network to the copper pipe attached to the tower.  Unfortunately, there was no spare of this connector, so it took extensive cleanup time to restore this connector to service.  Glad this was found before the power is increased by four times!!

Since we slept too warm on Saturday night at 27C (80F) and too cool at 26C (78F) on Sunday, I figured out how to change the options on the air conditioner to degrees Fahrenheit and set it between at 79F!