This is the Bauer Equipment of
The Broadcast Archive

Maintained by:

Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Last updated 9/1/21


      Bauer Transmitters, Inc.
Last at: El Paso, TX 79935

 

Fritz Bauer started building transmitters bearing his name in 1955. His first product was a 1 kW transmitter designed for export. In 1959, the FCC decided to allow Class IV (Now Class C) stations to operate with 1 kW in the daytime. Bauer, along with Bob Hammett, Ed Edison, and Paul Gregg, saw the potential need for 1200 transmitters, capable of operating at 1000 and 250 watts. This brought to birth in late March 1960 the famous Bauer 707 transmitter. The plan was for the transmitter to be assembled by the local engineer, and then factory personnel would come out and test it. Over 400 were sold in ten years, some of them still in service. The kit was so well made that one 707 was even assembled on the NAB show floor by a Kelly Girl!

Among the many firsts for the Bauer companies were the first transmitter with solid state rectifiers, the first solid state FM transmitter, and more.

Bauer also manufactured audio consoles, and was an early maker of torroid RF samplers for antenna current sampling. 

Granger & Associates bought Fritz Bauer' Company and it was later merged into Sparta-Cetec. The company variously operated under the names Granger, Sparta, Cetec and Elcom Bauer (with Jim Lawrence "L-Com"). Founder Fritz Bauer retired in 1960 and died in 1961. Another founder, Paul Gregg, operated the company in El Paso from 1993 until his death in May 2014. Parts and documentation are said to be via Goodrich Enterprises, which also closed with no information at present.

 

Transmitters:

AM transmitters:

1972 700
10 W late
1970s
SS-10A Drive-in movie theatre transmitter. Made for Cinema Radio by Sparta-Bauer in the late 70's .
50 W Broadcaster - early 1960s.

Many Viet Nam broadcasters remember this one.
Quite a few were deployed there.

1 kW 1960 707 - WERL, Roanoke; WIZO Franklin, TN
Chester Leediker's pix from KIVY
1 kW 1972 701 - First to use 4-500A tubes
  1 kW 1973 701B - Solid state up to the finals 
3 kW 1974 703 - used 4-1000 tubes
5 kW 1976 705 - used 4CX5000 tubes
10 kW 1976 710 - 
25 kW 1965 725 - used 4CX20000B tubes  (two 12.5 combined? (Hultsman???)
50 kW 1983 750
1 kW 1956 FB-1000J  FB = "Fritz Bauer" (J = Jeanelle Bauer)

The FB-1000J was the first commercial model Fritz made -- previous transmit-ters were always re-builds or converted police band transmitters. Fritz made some of the FB-1000J's in Woodside, Cal. before he moved to San Mateo. The FB-1000J was always made in the "garage". He built about 25 over the years, usually one at a time.  

5 kW 1960 FB-5000J The first high level plate modulated tetrode (4CX5000).
KKSN - Vancouver, WA
5 kW 1965 FB-5V  Modulators used 4CX5000s (V = Victoria)
10 kW 1965 FB-10J
15 kW 1965 FB-15

FM transmitters:

Model Power Year Misc. Remarks
607 1.5 kW 1966 The first FM xmtr to use 3-400Z tubes.
603 3 kW 1967 #101 to WVBR-FM, Ithaca, NY.
601 1.5 kW  1968 The first FM xmtr to use the 5CX1500A
602 2.5 kW 1968 The first 2.5 kW FM xmtr in the industry.
603-5 5 kW 1968 Used two 5CX1500A tubes.
603B 3 kW 1973 Grounded grid
605B 5 kW 1973 Grounded grid - 3CX3000
610 10 kW 1975 Grounded grid - 3CX10,000
620 20 kW 1969 Grounded grid "Stripline" - WKES

25 kW 1975 625  Replaced the 620
650 50 kW 1978 Two combined 625s - included a built in dummy load.
SS250 250 W 1975 The first Solid State Transmitter ever made.
605FAT 5 kW 1986 Frequency agile! (Originally built for Swedish Air Force.
605C 5 kW 1987 single tube - 4CX3500