Sorry, I didn't put my intro in the right section, that will teach me for not reading the whole site information before jumping in.

So hello everyone I'm Pat and I have an interest, although my wife would call it an obsession, with valve amps and it's nice to be here.

Cheers
Pat

Hi Pat,

Don't worry mate, these guys are extra tolerant. (As I discovered) It's a great site to be associated with.

Regarding your obsession, your'e not Robinson Crusoe there.

Cheers!

Most of the time we just go with the flow.

Good to hear!!

Cheers
Pat

There are some interesting ones, the biggest one I have been close too, was a push pull PA. Heaters 250A; Plate current 3.75A each; Plate voltage 30KV: Naturally it was an AM transmitter.

Marc

Look up the "border blasters" just over the US / Mexico border. 1 megawatt AM transmitters in the 1930's!
It was not safe to be anywhere near these things when they were running!

VOA also had some of these huge transmitters operating on the shortwave bands during the cold war years. The USSR's jamming stations are still able to be seen in Romania.

It was not safe to be anywhere near these things when they were running!

One thing I couldn't help notice when testing a 2X extender for my camera some years ago, when taking a photo of the lightning conductors on top of the ABN-2 tower in Gore Hill was that there were no birds sitting on top, admiring the view. In fact, there wasn't even any bird poop up there.

Some some during WW2 a radio engineers noticed grass growing underneath SW antennae seemed much healthier.
The antennae,long wire constructions, seemed to promote plant growth, so it seemed. And by the time the war ended there were many
experiments conducted (still happening today) and journals written on the benefits of electromagnetic fields in agriculture.

Despite many backyard experiments by all manor of researchers (pros and amateur alike) nobody could produce evidence that EM fields
promoted plant growth. But, one part of this story is missing. A visiting biologist to the radio site which started this myth solved the mystery.

Birds. Starlings, to be exact. Perched atop the LW. Hundreds of them. Grass underneath benefited exceedingly well.

There's probably plenty of places on a TV transmission tower for birds to empty their bowel but the top wouldn't be one of them, with a 50kW radio signal ready to turn them into a Red Rooster special.

Grass underneath benefited exceedingly well.

In my experience of birds roosting, said grass would be full of weeds.