There were seven B6128 Transmitters supplied to Ban Dung, Near Udon Thani, where a new Transmitter facility had been built, similar to that of Morocco (Tangier)! Ban Dung was a two hour drive from the nearest, civilised living accommodation in Udon.
Like Morocco (ten B6128's) these transmitters were built, here in Cincinnati, followed by four for Sri Lanka, by Cincinnati Electronics, a sister firm of Marconi, both owned by GEC.
They had to be built here in USA, to get the required 'American Content' as stated in the contract.
The transmitters were built from piece parts, supplied by Marconi, and were to be low power tested, here (CE).
HF transmitters require special manufacturing techniques, within the wiring, that does not apply to general manufacturing requirements (i.e. large loops of unscreened wire were not acceptable, as RF pickup was a problem). CE were given the services of a Production Engineer and works fitters to help the Americans build these. Unfortunately these fitters and the Production Engineer were NOT the ones that had worked on these transmitters in Chelmsford Bld. 720, with me as Engineering Consultant! The trained personnel, with me, did not want to come to America!
As a result the transmitters were wired and assembled incorrectly. As I discovered when I was sent over here in 1990 to test the first one for Morocco they had to be rewired.
I had written a low power test specification so that the transmitters could be tested in Cincinnati in the factory, however the testing of the transmitters seemed to be a problem as well for the Americans, especially that of the grid boxes. As a result CE offered me a job, as Project Manager, which, after I had talked about this with my wife, I accepted. I later regretted that decision!
However, due to CE's problems obtaining my visa I did not get over here, for good, until April 1991 (April Fool's Day as it happened). A lot of the damage had been done by then. Morocco site was run by Bob Calver, and he did a good job with Marconi fitters and installation engineers (Hugh Kendall was one). I was over there twice and helped to get the transmitters tested.
Thailand, however, was run with an American, in charge, which we shall call him 'George'. The Marconi engineers and fitters, headed, by the now deceased John Holford, faced problems with 'George'! It was not a happy site!
'George' had been appointed by a firm, Marconi Communications inc, hereinafter referred as MCI , that was supposed to be the intermediary, between the Customer (VOA), CE, and Marconi Chelmsford. This turned out to be a disaster. It was headed by a guy that we shall call 'Ken' assisted by a guy that we shall call 'Randy'.
Well I had trouble with these two right from the start. The grid boxes used a fairly expensive FET (Field Effect Transistor), and these would sometimes fail on test, so I had to order more through MCI. However they would not supply any, as they said, that I had had my quota! They did the same thing to site with the vacuum capacitors. This got into the 'catch 22' situation, where Marconi Chelmsford would not supply CE or site with the components, without being paid through MCI, and CE would not order these as CE would have to pay! So I borrowed FETs from Botswana transmitters with the result that when the last two grid boxes were required to be tested and shipped, they went minus FETS and therefore, not tested!
It was MCI that was responsible for the fire in Sri Lanka. The capacitors, that were used as smoothing, blocking and in the modulator filter, were bought to a specification written by the, now deceased, Bryn Fox, from Chelmsford Bld. 46, who was Mr. Power Supply, and really knew his stuff.
These capacitors were manufactured by a French firm, Thomson CSF, who along with another supplier in Ireland, were the only capacitors which met the specifications especially on 'test voltage' a parameter that is proportional to the capacitor life, and, of course, were expensive. They were also bought and supplied straight to site by MCI. MCI for some reason decided to approach an American firm out of Florida, to supply these capacitors, at a cheaper price.
That is what the fire in Sri Lanka proved to be caused by, at least one of the modulator capacitors cracking, losing its oil, flashed over and started the fire! There was a big court case, as a result, which, I believe, Marconi won!
I actually had to attend a deposition, for that court. This was held in Pittsburgh PA, as I was working for ADC at the time (this was around 1998) 'Ken' and 'Randy' were eventually fired, from MCI. The official explanation was 'sexual harassment'.
I believe that Dick Baker was eventually sent out to run, and, later, 'wind up' MCI after the last Botswana transmitter and grid boxes were shipped (incomplete).
CE could not offer me a job there, as the only other productions there, were military, and as I was still, only on a 'Green Card' and did not have American Status. Therefore I was out of a job.
To this day I do not know how the Thailand transmitters got finished as when I was out there I found chaos. 'George' was more interested in his crooked dealings and John Holford was having trouble with the labour, etc, and as a result, an external firm, Transcomm, headed by ex Marconi, Rod Williams, was appointed. This caused bad feeling with the Marconi team, but I do not know much more, as I was recalled from site by American Immigration as my immigration papers had come through.
When I was there, we started an 'all round' shift system, but that was inefficient as, you will remember, the site was a two hour drive from Udon. This meant for a twelve hour on, twelve off, that sixteen hours were taken up by traveling and work (This was however reduced to fourteen) but people were tired out by this, and I remember people sleeping on the job.
The journey was also dangerous in the dark, as the roads were prone to animals on nocturnal wanderings. Actually one guy driving himself swerved to avoid a Ŵater Buffalo and had a nasty accident. Randy was sent out to try and sort this out, but never made it to site, as he was, more interested in ‘sorting’ the prostitutes, at the local house of ill repute!
I think that it all got sorted out by Transcomm, installed Sri Lanka, aided by Marconi fitters.
I turned my attentions to TV Transmitters, but that is another story.