Navy Shore Station LF & VLF Transmitters

MYSTERY bouk-pag-05.jpg (52425 bytes) LF 100KW

FRT-72 or something else?
Bouknadel 1970
(thanks to Darian Paganelli)

Manuf by Continental Electronics?

Please send e-mail if you have more info on photo to left

AN/FRT-3 frt3-01.jpg (24412 bytes) 1400 kw VLF 24.8kc
RTTY & CW
installed at NLK Jim Creek WA
manuf by RCA 
AN/FRT-4 AN/FRT-4 transmitter (54722 bytes) 55 kw LF 50-150 kc
similar to TCG-2 except air-cooled

AN/FRT-4 transmitter  (266781 bytes)

spec sheet

NAVSHIPS 91169

AN/FRT-10 need photo

 

500 kw LF 100-200 kc CW/FSK -  spec sheet
dual 250 kw transmitters, diesel engines for p/s
installed at Guardamar, Spain

Info from John Cobb:
"The AN/FRT-10 was unique, a 500 kW LF giant tuning 100 - 200 kHz. It was in two amplifier bays, which we drove alternately with an external TMC synthesized exciter stack, running the single-channel KSUB broadcast at about 50 kW. It fed a 1200-foot tower, through 8-inch rigid coax and a big variometer/capacitor network in the helix house. The amplifier bays each  consisted of IPA and driver stages for the finals: four air-cooled 6697 triodes in grounded-grid push-pull configuration!"

AN/FRT-19 frt19-01.JPG (98817 bytes) 15 kw LF 30-300 kc CW/FSK
3 kw LF 300-600 kc CW/FSK

Used in AN/TSC-35 transportable COMMSTA - and elsewhere?

Manual NAVSHIPS 92117

Manuf by Serria Electronics

AN/FRT-31 frt31-31.JPG (42775 bytes) 2MW VLF (17.8 / 24 kc)
installed at NAA Cutler, ME 

four separate 500-kw final amplifiers, each with eight ML-6697 air-cooled tubes operating in push-pull parallel

More Cutler & FRT-31 photos and info

Manual NAVSHIPS 94356

Manuf by Continental Electronics

cost $2,530,814

AN/FRT-61 frt61-61.JPG (87289 bytes) 100 kw peak, 50 kw average
50-150 kc
CW / FSK

Used in AN/TSC-35 transportable COMMSTA - and elsewhere?

Manual NAVSHIPS 94592

Manuf by Continental Electronics

cost $299,633.

AN/FRT-64 photos 1MW VLF (21.4 / 23.4 kc)
installed at NPM Lualualei, HI
  • 15-30 kc, 1 MW
  • similar to AN/FRT-31 but with water-cooled finals
  • FSK +/-25 cycles
  • 2400 kw plate xfmr weighs 93,500 lbs!
Manual NAVSHIPS 95884

Manuf by Continental Electronics

photos

AN/FRT-67 need photo 2MW VLF (19.8 / 22.3 kc)
installed at NWC Harold E. Holt, Australia
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AN/FRT-72
AN/FRT-72A
AN/FRT-72 (63869 bytes)
Bouknadel 1970
(thanks to Darian Paganelli)
100kw peak, 50 kw average
30-150kc

AN/FRT-72 (180079 bytes)
NAVSHIPS 0967-033-8000

manuf by Continental Electronics 

Note - FRT-72's from Driver, Grindavik, and Thurso were moved to Colorado for use at WWVB - photo here

AN/FRT-87 need photo

Click Here for photos and info

1 MW VLF 
installed at NSS Annapolis, MD

Click Here for photos and info

 Manuf by Continental Electronics
- Info from Roy K1LKY "I was fortunate to visit the VLF station at NSS Annapolis before it was dismantled. On that trip we learned that the narrow shift FSK keying put the carrier alternately on either side of the center of the tuned system. It was some 10 percent down the slope (memory of the details are faint.) But the antenna current was monitored at the console and would vary depending on how far down the slope the tuning had shifted the center of the very narrow sweet spot. The operator could vary one of the inductors in the system by remote control to match the two currents. That system operated at 20.4 kc I believe, at an output power of about eight tenths of a megawatt. The shift may have been on the order of 10 to 15 CPS. The antenna was one mile long, about 800 to 1200 feet up, and was tuned with a massive inductor made of five inch diameter Litz wire. Cutler Maine still operates with similar parameters, as far as I know."
AN/FRT-95 need photo modern solid-state VLF
installed at Aguada, PR
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