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Screen Room

Inside the screen room, these racks contain the time base conversion equipment.  The signal is received from Boulder Colorado, converted to a reference, and fed to the respective transmitters.  Why so many of the same units?  Redundancy!  One of the units is feeding the transmitters input buss, while the others are backups.  The monitor amplifier and speaker way up in the upper right hand corner was playing the famous, "National Bureau of Standards WWV Fort Collins Colorado.  At the tone", etc.  It is too cool to hear that in sync with the visual display of time simultaneously.  

 

Here it is.  The custom time code generator outputting voice and data to all of the individual HF transmitters.  Inside the door with the keypad on the left is where the digital audio announcement emanates from every 60 seconds.  

 

These digital audio recorder/reproducers store and forward the additional announcements heard periodically.

 

Located just above the digital recorders is a familiar looking piece of broadcast gear.  The Gates limiter handles level control.  They are just barely into it.  We should turn WWV into a screaming rocker with the Gates limiter walled out.  Guess it wouldn't be appropriate, but it could be done.  The ratings would soar!

 

This is some older out of service equipment in the screen room.  Notice the Gates cart machines to the left.  They were used prior to the digital recorders for announcements.  At the lower right corner of the picture is an old magnetic drum recorder, used before the cart machines.

 

A view inside the old magnetic tape drum recorder.  Real history here.