This is the RCA Section of
The Broadcast Archive
Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Last Update 4/2/08
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Radio Corporation of America Camden, NJ. |
RCA is, of course, no longer in the broadcast manufacturing business. It delivered its last transmitters over 25 years ago.
RCA was formed during World War I as a company to share the patents of GE, Westinghouse, and AT&T, to further the war effort without legal issues. In the early years, GE did most of the hardware construction, Westinghouse was highly involved in the control and power circuitry, and AT&T was the source of many audio products.
As far as broadcast, all the early RCA transmitters, etc were really built by GE until RCA (now an independent company) bought the Victor Company in 1929 for $154 million. In 1930, RCA Radiotron was started, but some GE products were still rebadged until the mid-1930s, when RCA was fully operational as a manufacturer.
Interestingly, in a kind of strange circle, RCA itself was dissolved when GE bought the company in 1985. The "RCA trademark" is currently owned by a Japanese company, for use on consumer products. There are some professional sources for parts and information, though:
| Commercial Radio Company Duttonsville School Drive Cavendish, VT 05142 (802) 226 7582 (Dan Churchill) |
Dielectric Communications | Thales Broadcast Southwick, MA (413) 569-6753 |
AM Transmitters
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1B? 1 kW (1930?)
built by GE |
| 1-D 1 kW | |
| 100-C 100-D | |
| 100-G 100-H | |
| 150-A | |
| 250-D 250-E 250-G | |
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BTA-250K - 250 W |
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BTA-250L - 250 W KKTY, Douglas, WY |
| BTA-250M - 250 W | |
| BTA-500M - 500 W | |
| BTA-500R - 500 W | |
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1-D - 1 kW |
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BTA-1L - 1 kW KSCO |
| BTA-1M - 1 kW | |
| BTA-1N - 1 kW | |
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BTA-1R - 1 kW (500R)
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BTA-1R2 - 1 kW
(1R3) KKTY, Douglas, WY |
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BTA-1S - 1 kW |
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5C - 5 kW |
| 5D - 5 kW | |
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5E - 5 kW |
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BTA-5F - 5 kW WERE - Cleveland, OH |
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BTA-5G - 5 kW |
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BTA-5H - 5 kW |
| BTA-5J - 5 kW | |
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BTA-5L - 5 kW (5L1 ..
5L2) Ampliphase |
| BTA-5R - 5 kW (R1) | |
| BTA-5SS - 5 kW A solid state design | |
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BTA-5T - 5 kW |
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BTA-5U - 5 kW (BTA-5U1 5U2) |
| BTA-10F - 10 kW | |
| BTA-10G - 10 kW | |
| BTA-10H - 10 kW | |
| BTA-10J - 10 kW | |
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BTA-10K - 10 kW CHMB, Vancouver, BC |
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BTA-10U - 10 kW (U1 U2) |
| BTA-20L - 20 kW | |
| 50A - 50 kW | |
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50B - 50 kW |
| 50C - 50 kW (possibly a field conversion of the "B") | |
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50D - 50 kW |
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50E - 50 kW
x-KOB at the Bolack Museum |
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BTA-50F - 50 kW - 1948? - $95,000 KOMO Seattle, WA KRMG - Tulsa (50F1) |
| BTA-50G - 50 kW | |
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BTA-50H |
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BTA-50J - 50 kW Ampliphase with solid-state exciter KFQD, Anchorage, AK |
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250 kW "special" built for XERF. |
| 500 kW "RCA-1 built for WLW
a second was said to have been built for WJZ, but not delivered. It appears it may have gone to England. More info is coming on this. |
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FM Transmitters
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BTF-1D - 1 kW |
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FM-10A - 10 kW 1942 |
| 10B? | |
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BTF-10C - 10 kW |
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BTF-10E - 10 kW
WPAT-FM, Patterson, NY |
| BTF-20E - 20 kW | |
Jack Sellmeyer shares some tips on the model names: "RCA used no prefix for the transmitters before about 1946. The RCA model numbers were simply 250A, 1D,1L, 10A, 10B, 50B, 50C, 50D (only a couple made) and 50E. The first of "BTA" numbers were applied to AM "F" series, the BTA-5F, BTA-10F & BTA-50F. I believe this had to do with avoiding confusion between AM, FM & TV after the war. The AM's were BTA-NNNL; the FM's BTF-NNNL, ant the TV's were TT-NNL for low band TT-NNH, for high band VHF and TTU-NNL for UHF."
