It's not me selling it, nor any relation - just stubled upon this in my travels. Also, this is different seller than the LPB transmitter I just posted about.
LPB Carrier Current coupler, Looks in decent shape - not much to go wrong with these so probably a reasonably safe bet.
$249 BIN/OBO with less than 8 hours remaining, so act fast!
I have one of those. It is a great coupler for CC.
Go for it!
Looks to be good, and possibly an upgrade from the Radio Systems coupler I already have. OTOH, $250 is a fair chunk of change to replace a piece that is presently working OK for me, and I don't need (nor can I even see how I could use) two of them. Though I could maybe compare them and resell whichever one I ultimately didn't want.
Decisions, decisions.
Since it was OBO, I decided to throw the guy a lowball offer of $100 (and free shipping) for the coupler, fully expecting it to be ignored or rejected. I looked at his other items, and he had a second coupler plus a solid state LPB transmitter (on 610KHz). So I thought what the heck - I'll lowball those too... another $100 on the second coupler and $150 on the transmitter.
Anyhow, I went back to my "watched items" list and saw them as "sold" and thought 'gee, I've been sniped' but then I realized my offers had been accepted - all three!.
So now I get to play around with them all. Including what I already own, I'll have two transmitters and three couplers total, so I may end up having a sale of my own eventually.
Good shopping!
What transmitter did you get, was it that tube model?
No, their solid state one. AM-30. Surprisingly similar (at least in basic design) to my Radio Systems TR-20.
BTW, if anyone is interested, he apparenly has a fairly large lot of these (both transmitters and couplers) that he'll be slowly listing a few at a time. Keep checking his items at:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/richardnelsonauctions/m.html
- and watch for them to come up. I dunno if you can get the same price I did, but don't be afraid to "Make Offer". THey're as-is, of course, but supposedly were pulled from working installations and generally in good condition.
Thanks for the tip MrAZ.... I'm hunting for LPB solid-staters from 20Watts down to 5Watts, as a backup to my now broken LPB2-20....
At my channel... 970 AM.... less than 5Watts seems to do fine.
The sick part of my brain sometimes thinks about a new RS TR-6000, but bank loans are expensive.
Currently he's got an AM-5 with TCU-30 coupler on 610KHz:
Also an AM-5 by itself (though incorrectly listed as an AM-30 the photos plainly show that it's an AM-5, not only from the info sticker, but the fact that the PC boards of the two different units look nothing alike) on 1510:
You might be able to use the fact that it is incorrectly described to your advantage if you make an offer on that second one.
Assuming you can get teh right crystals for the frequency you want, or are able to use the frequencies they come with.
This series of LPB transmitters use crystals that are multiples of the base frequency and are available at reasonable prices from ICM, who I think has been the supplier from the glory days of LPB. They know exactly what's needed.
I hope there is a manual... that's the hard thing to get for some models.
I think the AM-30 manual is online somewhere.
There were circuit modifications over the years to all the versions, so manuals may not be exact matches.
I found some LPB manuals, including the AM-30, on that other website 😉
No AM-5 manual, though. And the AM-5 may be electrically similar or even identical to just the exciter board of the AM-30/60/100 series, the board itself is most definitely not the same. So the -30 manual may or may not be helpful for the -5.
If you are lucky, the basic operating instructions will still be on the inside of the lid.
One significant difference among versions is the oscillator circuit and the relationship betwen crystal frequency and operating frequency. I don't know years nor board/version/revision numbers, but I believe in the earlier versions the xtal was 6x the operating frequency, while on later versions xtal=4x the output frequency.
I have a manual for A version of the LPB2-20, like mine, but learned that there are not only changes to the 20Watt unit over time, but from one version to the other in terms of what bands (of the three) are being used. The output filters are the main difference, but I was told there are also slight changes to the exciter board.
I think LPB kept a lot of secrets so they'd have an after market business of servicing transmitters being returned for modifications. Look how that worked for them.
If nothing else, I will make a careful diagram of my 5Watt unit and make at least that much available to anyone who requests it. I promise I WON'T deface it by printing a huge lip-smack watermark across the page to claim ownership.
The E-Bay Item Description said it was an LPB AM-30 Transmitter, but the pictures distinctly showed an LPB AM-5 Transmitter. I placed a bid.
Then I e-mailed the seller and mentioned that I wanted the transmitter shown in the pictures, the AM-5.
He answered, admitting he had made a mistake on that listing by showing the AM-5 when the description said AM-30.
I thought, "Good, now I'll get the right transmitter."
Now comes an e-mail saying YOUR LPB AM-30 TRANSMITTER HAS BEEN SHIPPED.
Attending church doesn't help this kind of thing.
You're fine. You're getting the AM-5, I'm sure. The email you received is automated, sent when the seller marks the item shipped. It is essentially just a form letter that says:
"Your [insert item title here] has shipped."
Since the item name/description was incorrect to start with, that error continues in the automated mail, since the seller can't change the item's title after the fact. You can use "contact seller" if you want, to confirm what was actually sent to you, or just assume it will be OK and deal with it after it arrives if it's wrong.
A more graceful way to have dealt with it might have been if the seller refused to sell it as listed, cancelled that listing, and then correctly re-listed.
Of course mine was marked shipped and given a tracking number yesterday, but FedEx website says "not found" as of just now. Hopefully by later tonight or tomorrow it will show up in FedEx's system. eBay estimates I should have it by Friday.
Hey, the e-bay guy that's selling this LPB stuff is about 8-miles from me in Arnold, Missouri!
I notice UPS and Fedex trucks zooming like rocket ships that can't find space, all because of our snow storm in progress.
Tracking is probably very rough with snow issues, flight delays, shortage of milk.
Maybe you shoulda asked about local pickup? I notice mine's finally in the FedEx system.