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6/8/37
"GHOST ENGINEER" WILL STEP UP SIGNAL OF CBS STATIONS
An increase in signal intensity equal to that which would be produced by doubling the power of the transmitter is about to be established on eight major Columbia stations and will be extended ultimately to all CBS-owned or operated sta¬ tions. This improvement will be brought about this month with only a minute addition of electricity used in the transmission process.
The explanation for this seeming paradox traces back to a small black box, about the size of a berry-crate and cover¬ ed with switches, dial and indicators. This unpretentious looking gadget is known technically as an "automatic peak volume limiter", and represents the result of years of research by engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. At the con¬ trol panel of a radio transmitter, it serves the role of "ghost engineer" constantly on the alert for every fluctuation in the intensity of the signal which is pumped into the broadcast transmitter.
This month, after exhaustive tests, CBS is giving the ghost engineer its first commercial employment at WABC,
New York; WBBM, Chicago; WCCO, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. ; WBT, Charlotte, N. C. ; WJSV, Washington, D. C. ; WEEI, Boston; WKRC, Cincinnati; and KNX, Los Angeles. The new instrument will also be installed in Columbia's new international short¬ wave transmitter, W2XE.
The "ghost" performs much the same function for a radio transmitter that a thermostat performs for an oil burner or a robot pilot for an airplane. It automatically keeps the signal intensity of a program from increasing above a pre-determined volume level. This level is slightly below the station's maxi¬ mum modulation or signal capacity. To go above this maximum would mean distorted reception in the home or the destruction of expensive equipment in the transmitter.
To stay below this danger point, engineers were hither¬ to obliged to dial down manually to an average signal intensity of about 30 percent of modulation. With the aid of the fool¬ proof, automatic "peak volume limiter", they can safely boost the average to 50 percent or more. To produce this same gain in signal intensity without the help of the device, it would be necessary to double the station's power.
Eventually it is expected that the new control unit will be installed in transmitters throughout the entire Columbia network.
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