Many have found this little website and discovered they were not alone in their love for this little gadget! Their messages are shown below (used with their permission).  If you have similar stories, please send them to me to add to this page! I've recently added a few new stories, so if you are just returning, have a look. Particularly, look at the first story, one of our more, um, unique ones.  -Jim

Updated 9/22/02

Being too young to drive (legally) at the time, I contented myself with playing around with this little broadcaster to get my kicks. I too had a sizeable antenna wire lead on my set. There was a street under construction not far from my home and they did a lot of blasting. Used dynamite wire was plentiful, so we (me and these other two fools) gathered it up and made one whopper of a antenna. As well as I remember it was approx. 50' long. It ran down the side of the house and thru all of the fruit trees in the back yard. We used to play DJ and entertain about half of the North end of Frankfort, Kentucky.

One night we took a breadbox size transistor radio that I had just received for Christmas (It came from the Sears-Roebuck catalogue, transistor radios were fairly new to us back then too), tuned it to my broadcaster, and hung it up in a tree on the corner of my street. With all the lights in the house off we waited for any unsuspecting prey to walk by. There was the usual smattering of kids on bikes and girls walking home, but then there was also this one older fella who always closed down "Sleepy" Harrod's liquor store about two blocks away, and this just happened to be his regular route home, made twice as long because he wasn't walking too straight by that time of night anyway. Sure enough, around 11 p.m. he came into view and we decided to have some juvenile fun at his expense. As he walked under the tree, we started calling out for help, telling him that we were drunk and stuck up in the tree. Well, he declared that he too was a little smacked, but proceeded to try to climb the tree to help get us down. He must have tried to get up into that tree for 10 or 15 minutes before he finally gave up and just sat down on the ground with his back on the tree ... and fell sound asleep. We couldn't get our big, new transistor radio back while he was there, and it was starting to drizzle, so we called his home and told his wife where he was. We didn't bother to tell her how he came to be there, though. About five minutes later, here she came from the opposite direction, housecoat a-flyin' and armed to the teeth with a broom. I swear, if I had known how badly (and often) she was going to beat at that poor old man, we'd have never called her in the first place. Anyway, after they were out of sight, we went up the tree after the radio, and proceeded to drop it ... about fifteen feet to the ground! That's when we learned that it's very, very true what they say about payback. It IS a .....!

Now that I'm grown (or supposed to be, anyway), I look back on that escapade with the fondest of memories. And, given the right (read that wrong) set of circumstances, I could probably get into trouble with a whole new generation of unsuspecting victims. If I just hadn't busted up that radio!

Jim Dent

Jim,

I have both versions but unfortunately I don’t have the proper knob on one/can anyone help with that??

Also we used the broadcasters to communicate as kids with our Popular Electronics (SWL) call. I was WPE9FE. We used CW by running feedback into our AM receiver. We used to broadcast the neighborhood news every Saturday AM and play a couple records also. (OK I guess my antenna wasn't ten feet either. I grew up in Chicago and used to ride the Western Ave. bus to Allied often on Saturdays to gawk at the rigs in the ham shack. Then a trip to Olson Electronics across the street before catching the bus home. What FUN.

Harry Blesy Harry used feedback to generate the code tones, and told me that though the and his friend where transmitting code, they had to look each character up on a chart to send a message! 0.5 WPM? Thanks, Harry! --Jim

After reading the "Broadcaster" stories from others on your website, I thought you and others might be interested in reading about my experiences as well.

I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and my father was a United Methodist pastor there in the late 60's. As a hobby, my dad restores and collects antique radios, so I owe much of my early electronics experience to him. At the time, Dad also had a couple of radio programs on the local Christian radio station, WDJC. After a few visits to the station, and after meeting their Chief Engineer, I was hooked on radio. Around age 11, I built a small studio with two turntables, a cassette deck, a small battery powered mixer, and a cheap crystal microphone. Later, I got a nicer dynamic mic with a boom -- boy did I feel like a pro then! Since the mixer didn't have a cue function, I modified a small "speaker selector box" that my dad had for the purpose of off-air cueing. I don't remember the manufacturer of that little box, but obtained a "Gates" nameplate from the WDJC engineer so it would look more professional! I also had one of those "suction cup" telephone pickups so that I could take "on-the-air" requests from my friends. I even built a "tape delay" for the telephone using an old reel-to-reel recorder which I had modified by adding a loop of tape and an extra head. My first transmitter was a CB walkie talkie, operating on Channel 14. I found that a harmonic appeared at 108 MHz, so I called my station WNSM (Weather, News, Sports, and Music) at 108 MHz FM. Yeah, I know it probably wasn't legal, but it was all I had! Later, I got a small electronics kit and built a very low power transistorized battery-powered AM transmitter -- never got much range out of it though. Shortly thereafter, a friend at the local electronics store gave me a Knight-kit Wireless Broadcaster and Amplifier. Using the new transmitter and a variety of antennas, I was able to broadcast over a range of a few city blocks. My friend, Lee, helped me with the "DJ" work. We eventually built a small station at his house, too. At age 13, I got my first Amateur Radio license (WN4YKJ), but still couldn't get broadcasting out of my blood.

When my family moved to Sheffield, Alabama in 1972, I again set up my little radio station. This time, I found a friend named Jimmy who had similar interests, and before long we had a two station network! Somewhere around that time, I built a new transmitter using a 12AX7 pre-amp, and two 6C4's for the oscillator and modulator. Using a variety of antennas, I was able to extend the range to where the station could be heard, albeit with some difficulty, about 2 miles away in nearby Muscle Shoals where many of my friends lived. I settled on the frequency of 770 kHz and began using the call letters "WABC." I wanted to sound just like the real WABC from New York which I often listened to at night. I even taped their jingles so that I could sound more professional.

I never quite got broadcast engineering out of my system. I attended Auburn University and got a degree in Electrical Engineering in August of 1983. During those years, I had the opportunity to visit HCJB in Quito, Ecuador and developed a keen interest in shortwave radio. In my Senior year, I worked at our campus radio station, WEGL, doing some on-air shifts and engineering work. After graduation, I worked for Alabama Power Company for 7 years, but again, couldn't get radio out of my system! I got back into ham radio around 1986, this time receiving the call sign KB4TXM. In 1990, I left Alabama Power to serve as a missionary radio engineer with the Far East Broadcasting Company on the island of Saipan where I am now the Chief Engineer for International Shortwave station KFBS. So, you see, I am another broadcast engineer who got started using the Knight Wireless Broadcaster.

Thanks so much for the website, Jim. I have really enjoyed reading about your experiences as well as those of others. Keep up the good work!

73, David Creel AH0AM

P.S. Does anyone remember a similar transmitter made by Lafayette? I remember reading about a Lafayette 100 mW transmitter in an electronics magazine in the early 70's, but don't remember the model number or any of the details.

...and yet another broadcast career started by the Knight Broadcaster! Thanks, David! --Jim

Jim,

This site brings back memories.  I lost my broadcaster while I was in tech school years ago when my parents loaned it to a neighbor kid and it never returned. I still have the manual and memories though.

My experience with the Broadcaster started when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I had been interested in electricity before I was 2 and by the time I was 10 I had the house wired with battery operated lights and had a "workshop" where I did experiments.  My electric train was a major item at Christmas.

Anyway, I did my first radio work in 5th grade when I worked on an old radio my dad had. He introduced me to a local repairman who fixed the radio and a month or so later my grandparents had a radio that had the same problem, a loud hum. I took the radio, found the same part, the filter cap, bought a new one and was "hooked".  Soon after that I met a class mate's older brother who also fixed electronic things.  He had a broadcaster that he used to play records over and also to talk to a friend of his across town.  I bought one and soon we had a "network" going.  We'd talk everyday.  You see we made a few minor changes to the broadcaster.  First we put a switch in the plate voltage line to the oscillator so we could turn the carrier on and off. We also replaced the capacitor in the LC resonate circuit so the frequency was stable. A quiet frequency of 825 khz, kc's then, was found and the oscillator coil was adjusted to allow operation at that low frequency.  We could then talk back and forth with each other.

Eventually the group grew until we had close to 10 of us in town.  Some of us bought communications receivers which allowed us to be farther away.  There were also experiments with using tuned long wire antennas and even a homemade PA. We even had call signs which were the stock number of the broadcaster, 83Y706, and added a letter after it.  I was 83Y706G.

If my friend Jim reads this, he pointed me to this site, he can add some of his stories, like when he almost set his room on fire with his amplifier, or the time the local radio station accused us of interfering with their "mega watt" signal and we all had to go talk to them.  We did regular signal checks and using good receivers were able to hear our signal 8 miles up the Allegheny river valley.

Lots of fun and good experience to take me into a job in high school working
for a repair shop and an electronics profession and more for the last 33
years.

Dick

Dick, you've got one of the more unique Broadcaster stories here!  2 way on the Broadcast band, huh?  And 8 miles?  Can anyone beat that, and if so, how did you do it??  Thanks again... Jim

...and another Broadcast Engineering career started byt the Broadcaster!  Dave, did you know there is already a balanced audio input on the Broadcaster?  It's the "speaker out"!  Yes, you can drive audio back into the oscillator from another amp, and it sounds just great.  You get around the non-linear nature of the modulator stage, and the hum of the 12AX7....  Jim

I recall building two of these (couldn't resist taking the first one apart), I think I was 7 years old for the first one.  Probably closer to 10 on the second.  Didn't know much about loading an antenna, but I think it always sounded better on the 10' antenna, though I tried longwires with little luck.  About 1 mile was the best I ever remember.  Today with a carefully matched 3 meter antenna with a capacity hat and 100 milliwatts I think six or seven miles to a car radio was easy.  I have a friend who has a beacon in the new 1700 KHz band and we can get him 100 miles away, again 100 milliwatts and a good 3 meter antenna properly matched.

Back to the Knight Kit, I set up a split site (the basement for a "studio" and the upstairs bedroom for the "transmitter" shack using an old amplifier/mixer driving a 600 ohm line.  I can only remember the limited audio bandwidth, really bad.  I spent allot of time broadcasting to the limited audience, friends and neighbors, but it was fun.  In remember getting a second transmitter in the form of a wireless oscillator and sending stereo on two different channels.  Knight kits are fun, it would be fun to have the wireless broadcaster again (if only to see how well an antenna could be matched to it).  Well it did help to progress into a career and today I have been a Ham radio operator for 33 years and a comfortable income from these pursuits.  I am writing this from my cabin in the mountains at 8500' over a two-way satellite link (high speed) probably the best in this county.

Thanks for the nostalgia.

Glen WA7X

Jim,

     I came across your web page through Deja-News while I was on a
mission to find a Knight-Kit Broadcaster. It was (and still is) my hope
to find one of these long lost childhood souvenirs.

     A couple of months ago a friend of mine called me and told me of a
fellow who had acquired a bunch of electronic junk and wanted to get rid
of it. I checked it out and bought the pile for $25 bucks. Among the
various treasures were a 1962 and 1963 Allied Radio Catalog, both in
very good to excellent condition. The $25 was well spent when I opened
the catalog and set my eyes on that broadcaster. I relived many hours
spent over the glow of the 2 50C5's and the 12AX7A transmitting to the
world, the news of our household (as I saw it) and begging for
listeners to call AXtel56206 to let me know that they heard me. Those
were very good days!

     I built a number of Knight-Kits and Heathkits back in the 60's, but
I remember most the broadcaster. I would appreciate greatly any help you
could give me in finding one.

Feel free to use my story, but I can't take the pressure anymore! I USED
MORE THAN 10 ft OF ANTENNA WIRE ON MY BROADCASTER.  Whew, I feel better now
having gotten that off my chest after 30 some years. I still think the F.C.C.
is watching me so you better only use my initials in the credits..

                                                Thanks Much!

                                                 T.H.

It was September of 1962, I was 17 at the time and really enjoyed AM radio, no MP3 then or CDs,  Cassettes or even Stereo Eights. It was AM for the most part, and it was fun to listen to the radio. Hot Jocks made it all that more interesting and fun. I didn't know much about radio then, only knew how to listen to it ! I had a good friend who was an amateur radio operator, he was only 17 also, however he had radio theory down. One day I was over at his house and he was showing me his projects and I spotted a little square blue metal box with three tubes. I asked him what it was and he said it was a small radio station, I said "How much" I think he sold it to me for $20 at the time, and he even let me pay for it on installments!

I had no idea how it worked and I dont think I even got the schematic with it. I took it home and got a few good shocks off of the transformer less chassis, I do remember that. I remember trying several different antennas of which I knew nothing about what I was doing in relation to what was good and what was bad in antennas. I learned a lot about radio from the little transmitter. I learned I could easily knock out my neighbors ball game reception  from my house when I was transmitting. Actually , I could take out most of the AM band a house or two away, so I  know the broadcaster put out more power than 100MW, it had to. I never did check the actual power of the transmitter with a watt meter. I never had a watt meter then and I wouldn't of known how to use it if I did. I remember my Ham friend saying he calculated the power dissipated by checking the plate current and multiplying by plate voltage and it came out to a watt and half or so. Now I know there is an efficiency factor so I am not saying the transmitter put out a watt and half, but at even 50% efficiency, that was still at 750 MW.

I used the broadcaster as an amplifier for my crystal radio projects also, It was real handy to connect a speaker to the device and use the mic input for crystal radio reception. I tried several antennas as I mentioned before, the primary one was a 75 foot out side long wire antenna. It worked well for a block or so but didn't really have the range I wanted. I think that for the most part it was due to the fact I was using a horizontal polarized antenna and trying to receive the signal on a vertical car radio antenna. I did my DJing for a while late at night hoping that the skip signal would put me down in some heavily populated area for an evening of reception. Who knows, perhaps it did, I will never know, but I do know if a few MW hits the ionosphere it can easily travel hundreds of miles. After a few nights of that, I accepted the fact I wasn't going to be a top 40 jock but, nevertheless I still had lots of fun trying.

A couple of months went by and another high school friend got interested in  the broadcaster, so he ordered one from Allied Radio. He built his himself and his really worked good. He lived about four blocks away from me and we both set up our radio transmitters and began our own Ham operation on the BC band! Very nice. We used the "oscilliation break out" as our test tone so we could pinpoint our transmit frequency for the others receiver. Anyway we felt that because both of us were on different frequencies there wasn't much chance anyone would ever notice what was going on, and for the most part no one ever said anything. The only problem we had was many times we could not reach each other, some times I received my friend and some times he received me but many times we couldn't hook up. Boy did that tick me off, especially when I received him clear as a bell and he couldn't hear me. I remember one time we were trying to reach each other and we couldn't transmit four blocks, but then the next day in school someone told me they heard me on the radio, and they lived about a mile away ! So much for signal propagation.

I did several tests with the broadcaster, one was for maxim range, I used a vertical fishing cane pole, with wire strung from the base of it to the top of it and then back down to the bottom. The wire was not spiraled and I didn't use any type of loading coil because I didn't even know what that was at the time. The antenna was mounted on top of a flat roof garage about 12 feet high. I took a turntable and the transmitter and sat it on the roof of the garage. I used a long extension cord which hung over the side of the garage to an outlet inside the garage. I think the combination of the two, the antenna, and ext cord, formed a dipole type antenna. To my suprise, I easily transmitted well over four miles in all directions with that setup, It was such an improvement over what I had been getting for range it was almost unbelievable. The strange thing about it was when I tried to feed the vertical antenna with a feed line and having the transmitter in the house, it didn't work out very well. Range really dropped off.

As time went by, I entered the military service, I sent home for the transmitter  to see what it would do in a new location. Well it worked, but I had tons of hum problems and I guess I just gave up on the Transmitting business. I sold the transmitter to a guy in the Navy, and within a few days he was telling me how he transmitted three miles with the thing to his girlfriends house ! Well I was ticked again because I thought it had lost all its pop. One thing for sure, the transmitter is fussy about its antenna loads, perhaps with a proper loading coil and a proper feed line, I could do wonders with the little box today. The first thing I would do is change the simple rectifier they have in there to a full wave bridge with transformer power supply, and while I was at it I would go for maximum supply voltage for the 50C5 plate. I dont have my tube manuals in front of me right now, but I am sure the 50C5 could take more than the 100 or so DC volts in the circuit as it now stands.

After the service, I went to several radio communications schools, and  racked up lots of Transmitter building experience. I would like to get another broadcaster just to do it all over again. I have been looking all over for one  when I found this website, I am glad I came across the site, its good to see someone doing a tribute to this almost forgotten little wonder. Hopeful some day I can find another Allied Broadcaster, and this time, Ill do it justice by  using a proper antenna. I would really like to know how much power these things put out.  Any one have a Knight Kit Broadcaster ?  If you know of anyone who has one for sale, have them E mail me:

HonestMan@LL.net
Joe Nechanicky
Owatonna, MInn