I haven't worked at a TV station since '91. I believe that our strobe controller had two modes of normal operation: Bright flash for daylight and a series or "burst" of less blinding pulses at night. The burst will give you more time for a fix at night and the bright flash is better for spotting a tower in the summer haze. I remember that our controller used CMOS logic but none of the details from the one time that I fixed it. Thinking back, the neighbors were complaining that it was waking them at night because it wasn't switching modes. Strobes, in general, require the use of a trigger coil.
Joe
