CCA Is Atlanta Engineer's Best Experience
By Bob Helbush
Chief Engineer
WKLS (FM)

ATLANTA The best experience I have had with our new CCA FM transmitter is no experience. I haven't had to think about it at all because it is so reliable. That 's the kind of experience I need from a transmitter.
WKLS (FM) 96-Rock is a 100 kW rock'n'roll FM station in Atlanta. We first looked into CCA transmitters after a nearly four-year nightmare with another manufacturer's transmitter. WKLS had one of those fancy, high-priced, complex models with all the whistles and bells. It was a night-mare. All that sophisticated technology was useless because it was attached to a completely unreliable transmitter. But now that's all gone!

Simple, rugged, reliable
Luckily for us, Jim Ary, director of engineering for our parent company Great American l3roadcasting, ran across CCA Electronics at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas. CCA made just what we needed: a line of simple, rugged, and super-reliable FM transmitters. It had no solid-state drivers and no fancy whistles and bells. It also had just a single-ended PA tube: no tetrode final, just a medium-priced power triode operating in a grounded-grid configuration.
CCA also uses simple relay logic control circuits in all its transmitters using all plug-in control relays driving higher rated contactors. CCA 's spacious cabinets keep everything accessible.
And there is no need for combiners, reject loads and all the associated plumbing.

When we first approached CCA, the highest rated FM transmitter in its line was 35 kW and we needed 45 kW. That didn't deter CCA in the Ieast. 'No problem," said Steve McElroy, CCA's vice president of sales. "W c 'II just add a single-ended PA tube 45 kW FM to our line."
Thus, 96-Rock became the first owners of the CCA 45 kW Super Power FM transmitter.
When I heard the news that we were replacing our nightmare transmitter I was excited, to say the least. When I heard that it was going to be replaced by a CCA transmitter, I was elated! I have known the president of CCA, Ron Baker, since he was the chief engineer for one of our competitors in Atlanta. A fellow broadcast engineer who is now making transmitters for a living has to know how to make one that is reliable.

No problems
The new CCa FM45000G3 transmitter is housed in two cabinets that occupy only 21 square feet of foor space. It consists of a CCA 12KW grounded grid triode transmitter driving a 45 kW amplifier with a single CCA 30,000 PA tube in the amplifier.
The amplifier cabinet is completely independent of the driver insofar as control circuitry and power supply are concerned. The only interconnection between the two cabinets is the IZF line and control cables. Since the amplifier utilizes a CCA triode, in the absence of IZF drive, the final stage will not overdissipate. In this transmitter every stage is operating conservatively at 60 percent or less of capacity.
We received our new CCA transmitter and were up and running in January 1993. Except for a
minor change to the automatic power controller and some minor component changes, few modifications were necessary. CCA was cooperative and the service and support provided were second-to-none. Since then, we have had no probIems.
As I said before, when it comes to transmitters, the best experience is no experience. Our CCA transmitter has certainly given mc better night's sleep and no more night-marcs. When you need reliability, you need CCA. Frankly, I don't see how anyone could purchase any other transmitter and really think they were getting something better.

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