02/26/2021

With the former Voice of America Delano relay site in Central California scheduled for eventual demolition for resale, the Collins Collectors Association (CCA[1]), in association with the Antique Wireless Association (AWA[2]), came up with a plan in 2014 (working, among others, with past ARRL Midwestern Division Director Rod Blocksome, K0DAS, a former Collins engineer), to retrieve one of the Collins 821A-1 250 kW HF transmitters from the site and put it on display at the AWA museum in Bloomfield, New York.

The Delano site, known as DL-8, went on the air in 1944 with a 170-foot rhombic antenna. The Collins 821 A-1 transmitter was autotuned and could shift frequencies between 3.95 and 26.5 MHz in 20 seconds. The transmitter and its associated components represent serious heavy metal. The Delano site, now owned by the General Services Administration (GSA), remains with antennas still standing and buildings in place and demolition on hold, because it was discovered to be the habitat for an endangered species of shrew.

A video presentation[3] featuring Dennis Kidder, W6DQ, describes and illustrates the entire removal and relocation effort and offers some background on the VOA. On the continental US, the only remaining VOA site is the Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Site in North Carolina.ÿ


[1] http://www.collinsradio.org/
[2] http://www.antiquewireless.org/
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrSrdArng10&feature=emb_logo

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