Continental Electronics

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Continental Electronics Corporation
private company
Industry FM Broadcast, Shortwave, LF/VLF Systems, and specialized Science & Industrial Products
Founded1946
FounderJames O. Weldon
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
,
United States
ProductsHigh-power RF systems
Owner Lone Star CRA Fund
Website www.contelec.com

Continental Electronics is a major American manufacturer of broadcast and military radio transmitters, based in Dallas, Texas. Although Continental today is best known for its FM, shortwave, and military VLF transmitters, Continental is most significant historically for its line of mediumwave (AM) transmitters, many of which are still in active service as either main transmitters or backup facilities. Among clear-channel AM stations in the U.S. and Canada, the Continental 317C was the most popular transmitter type in the 1970s and 1980s.

Transmitter Electronic device that emits radio waves

In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating current, the antenna radiates radio waves.

Dallas City in Texas, United States

Dallas is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Dallas County, with portions extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. With an estimated 2018 population of 1,345,047, it is the ninth most-populous city in the U.S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. Located in North Texas, the city of Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States and the largest inland metropolitan area in the U.S. that lacks any navigable link to the sea. It is the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country at 7.5 million people as of 2018. The city's combined statistical area is the seventh-largest in the U.S. as of 2017, with 7,846,293 residents.

FM broadcasting Transmission of audio through frequency modulation

FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM) technology. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capable of better sound quality than DAB/+ radio, and AM broadcasting under normal listening conditions, so it is used for most music broadcasts. Theoretically wideband AM can offer equally good sound quality, provided the reception conditions are ideal. FM radio stations use the Very High Frequencies. The term "FM band" describes the frequency band in a given country which is dedicated to FM broadcasting.

Contents

History

Continental Electronics was founded in Dallas in 1946 by James O. Weldon, as a spin-off of the broadcast consulting business in which he was a partner, Weldon & Carr. In 1953, when Western Electric's radio equipment business was broken up by Federal antitrust regulators, Continental acquired the AM transmitter business, and with it the U.S. patent on the Doherty linear RF amplifier. Continental became part of Ling-Temco-Vought in about 1962, the first in a series of sales which would later bring it under the control of E-Systems and then Varian Associates in 1985. Tech-Sym acquired Continental from Varian in 1990, and then sold it to Integrated Defense Technologies in 2000. DRS Technologies acquired IDT in 2003, and in 2005, private-equity firm Veritas Capital (which had previously owned IDT) bought Continental back from DRS. Weldon remained with the company until his retirement in 1988. [1] [2] [3] [4]

The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that was officially founded in 1869 and served as the primary supplier and purchasing agent to the Bell System and AT&T from 1881 to 1996. The company was responsible for many technological innovations and seminal developments in industrial management.

The Doherty amplifier is a modified class B radio frequency amplifier invented by William H. Doherty of Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc in 1936. Whereas conventional Class-B amplifiers can clip on high input-signal levels, the Doherty power amplifier can accommodate signals with high peak-to-average power ratios by using two amplifier circuits within the one overall amplifier to accommodate the different signal levels. In this way, the amplifier achieves a high level of linearity while retaining good power efficiency.

Ling-Temco-Vought U.S. conglomerate

Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large US conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2000. At its peak, its component parts were involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, among other businesses.

Continental 317C-2 #299, installed at CHUM (1050 Toronto)'s transmitter site in Mississauga, Ontario. CHUM Continental 317C-2 SN 299.jpg
Continental 317C-2 #299, installed at CHUM (1050 Toronto)'s transmitter site in Mississauga, Ontario.

In 1958, Continental introduced a more-efficient Doherty-style amplifier based on a tetrode (previous Doherty designs made by Western Electric and Continental used triodes) with the type 317B transmitter. With four subsequent revisions, more than 200 units were sold in the 317 line (a substantial number given the limited customer base for 50-kW AM transmitters in the North American market); the final revision, the 317C-3, was introduced in 1990. By this time, competitors such as Harris had demonstrated the workability of all-solid-state 50-kW AM transmitters, which were far more energy-efficient than tube transmitters, and the North American broadcasting industry rapidly shifted away from vacuum tube-based AM transmitters. Continental eventually dropped the 317 from its product line, but still makes transmitters using similar modified-Doherty designs for high-power longwave and shortwave broadcasting and military customers. [5]

A tetrode is a vacuum tube having four active electrodes. The four electrodes in order from the centre are: a thermionic cathode, first and second grids and a plate. There are several varieties of tetrodes, the most common being the screen-grid tube and the beam tetrode. In screen-grid tubes and beam tetrodes, the first grid is the control grid and the second grid is the screen grid. In other tetrodes one of the grids is a control grid, while the other may have a variety of functions.

Triode single-grid amplifying vacuum tube having three active electrodes

A triode is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated filament or cathode, a grid, and a plate (anode). Developed from Lee De Forest's 1906 Audion, a partial vacuum tube that added a grid electrode to the thermionic diode, the triode was the first practical electronic amplifier and the ancestor of other types of vacuum tubes such as the tetrode and pentode. Its invention founded the electronics age, making possible amplified radio technology and long-distance telephony. Triodes were widely used in consumer electronics devices such as radios and televisions until the 1970s, when transistors replaced them. Today, their main remaining use is in high-power RF amplifiers in radio transmitters and industrial RF heating devices. In recent years there has been a resurgence in demand for low power triodes due to renewed interest in tube-type audio systems by audiophiles who prefer the sound of tube-based electronics.

GatesAir

GatesAir is an American electronics manufacturer that produces, markets and services terrestrial TV/radio broadcast equipment globally.

Continental 816R-5B #247, installed at KWNR (95.5 Las Vegas)'s transmitter site on Black Mountain near Henderson, Nevada KWNR Continental 816R-5B SN 247.jpg
Continental 816R-5B #247, installed at KWNR (95.5 Las Vegas)'s transmitter site on Black Mountain near Henderson, Nevada

In 1980, Continental purchased the Collins Radio line of broadcast transmitters from Rockwell International. Collins's high-power FM transmitter, the type 831, replaced Continental's type 816 in production, and was renumbered the 816R. More than thirty variants of the 816R have been produced since 1980, and the line is still in production today. [6] [7]

Rockwell International 1973-2001 aerospace manufacturer

Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, light & heavy vehicles components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics, power tools, valves and meters, and industrial automation. Rockwell ultimately became a group of companies founded by Colonel Willard Rockwell. At its peak in the 1990s, Rockwell International was No. 27 on the Fortune 500 list, with assets of over $8 billion, sales of $27 billion and 115,000 employees.

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Amplitude modulation in amplitude modulation, the amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave is varied in proportion to the waveform being transmitted

Amplitude modulation (AM) is a modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of the carrier wave is varied in proportion to that of the message signal being transmitted. The message signal is, for example, a function of the sound to be reproduced by a loudspeaker, or the light intensity of pixels of a television screen. This technique contrasts with frequency modulation, in which the frequency of the carrier signal is varied, and phase modulation, in which its phase is varied.

Superheterodyne receiver common type of radio receiver that shifts the received signal to an easily-processed intermediate frequency

A superheterodyne receiver, often shortened to superhet, is a type of radio receiver that uses frequency mixing to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) which can be more conveniently processed than the original carrier frequency. It was invented by US engineer Edwin Armstrong in 1918 during World War I. Virtually all modern radio receivers use the superheterodyne principle.

AM broadcasting radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation

AM broadcasting is a radio broadcasting technology, which employs amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave transmissions, but also on the longwave and shortwave radio bands.

Radio receiver radio device for receiving radio waves and converting them to a useful signal

In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, wireless or simply radio is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. The antenna intercepts radio waves and converts them to tiny alternating currents which are applied to the receiver, and the receiver extracts the desired information. The receiver uses electronic filters to separate the desired radio frequency signal from all the other signals picked up by the antenna, an electronic amplifier to increase the power of the signal for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through demodulation.

Telefunken German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903; joint venture of Siemens & Halske and Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG)

Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG).

Rockwell Collins United States-based international company

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Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who was a pioneer in radio and television development. He invented the Alexanderson alternator, an early radio transmitter used between 1906 and the 1930s for longwave long distance radio transmission. Alexanderson also created the amplidyne, a direct current amplifier used during the Second World War for controlling anti-aircraft guns.

HCJB, "The Voice of the Andes", was the first radio station with daily programming in Ecuador and the first Christian missionary radio station in the world. The station was founded in 1931 by Clarence W. Jones, Reuben Larson, and D. Stuart Clark. HCJB now focuses on Ecuador with unified programming on FM at 89.3 MHz in Pichincha, at 92.5 MHz in Manabí, at 96.1 MHz in Tungurahua and Cotopaxi, at 98.3 MHz in Esmeraldas and with separate programming on AM at 690 kHz. Broadcasts in Spanish and indigenous languages on 6050 kHz (1 kW), continue on an intermittent basis with a new solid state transmitter which in 2017 replaced an older (5 kW) transmitter. These broadcasts were not listed on the HCJB English website as of February 2016.

Linear amplifier

A linear amplifier is an electronic circuit whose output is proportional to its input, but capable of delivering more power into a load. The term usually refers to a type of radio-frequency (RF) power amplifier, some of which have output power measured in kilowatts, and are used in amateur radio. Other types of linear amplifier are used in audio and laboratory equipment.

WPHT clear-channel news/talk radio station in Philadelphia

WPHT is a commercial AM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Entercom and broadcasts a talk radio format. Its transmitter and broadcast tower are located in Moorestown, New Jersey and its studios are at 400 Market Street in Philadelphia.

The R. L. Drake Company is a manufacturer of electronic communications equipment located in Springboro, Ohio. It is also known for its line of equipment for amateur radio and shortwave listening, built in the 1950s through the 1980s. The company operates as a separate entity owned by Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc.

CBU (AM) CBC Radio One station in Vancouver

CBU is a Canadian radio station, which airs the programming of the CBC Radio One network, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The station broadcasts on 690 AM and on 88.1 FM as CBU-2-FM. CBU's newscasts and local shows are also heard on a chain of CBC stations around the Lower Mainland.

Woofferton transmitting station

The Woofferton transmitting station is owned and operated by Encompass Digital Media, as one of the BBC’s assets which were handed over as part of the privatization of World Service distribution and transmission in 1997. It is the last remaining UK shortwave broadcasting site, located at Woofferton, south of Ludlow, Shropshire, England. The large site spreads across into neighbouring Herefordshire.

CBAM-FM CBC Radio One station in Moncton, New Brunswick

CBAM-FM is a radio station broadcasting at 106.1 MHz from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and is the local Radio One station of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBAM-FM broadcasts with a power of 69,500 watts.

WUVT-FM

WUVT-FM is a freeform broadcast radio station located in Blacksburg, Virginia, serving Blacksburg and Montgomery County, Virginia. WUVT-FM is licensed to Virginia Tech and is operated by The Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech.

Vintage amateur radio

Vintage amateur radio is a subset of amateur radio activity and is considered a form of nostalgia or hobby much like antique car collecting, where enthusiasts collect, restore, preserve, build, and operate amateur radio equipment from bygone years, most notably those using vacuum tube technology.

Machlett Laboratories was a Northeastern United States-based company that manufactured X-ray and high-power vacuum tubes. Machlett was a large producer of the tubes and developed accessories to be used with them as well.

8974 Vacuum tube

8974 / X-2159 is a power tetrode designed for megawatt power levels in industrial and broadcast applications.

References

  1. ↑ Mishkind, Barry. "Continental Electronics Equipment Archive" . Retrieved May 24, 2007.
  2. ↑ "New Owner for Continental Electronics". Radio Currents Online. Radio Magazine. November 3, 2003. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
  3. ↑ Continental Electronics. "Dedicated Ownership". About Continental Electronics Corporation. Archived from the original on May 1, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
  4. ↑ Mishkind, Barry (April 27, 2004). "Western Electric 320A Tube" . Retrieved May 25, 2007.
  5. ↑ Mishkind, Barry. "The Continental 317 Series" . Retrieved May 25, 2007.
  6. ↑ Mishkind, Barry. "The Continental 816 Series" . Retrieved May 25, 2007.
  7. ↑ Continental Electronics. "816R Series High Power FM Transmitters". Archived from the original on June 29, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
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