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Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
On Oct 31, 2006, at 1:49 PM, pentalab wrote:
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., "Phil Clements" <philc@...>With the 4cx3000A, most of the noise comes from the exhaust side of the variegated anode cooling fins. The sound made is similar to wind blowing through pine trees. R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
Re: Grounding Grids on 3-500Z's
On Oct 31, 2006, at 1:29 PM, pentalab wrote:
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., R L Measures <r@...> wrote:Apples amd grapefruit.wrote: What is the potential across the 250v-rated fuse if the tube happens to be conducting heavily when the fuse opens? ...It happened. The PB amplifier was tuned up with a 30% duty cycle 30pps pulser.Plywood Box amplifier did 14 out on SSB and it did not trip the Duty cycle on ssb is damned near 50%..Not true. looking at any plate current meter. Rich, with ur 100' run ofI never did. just to take some steady state plate/grid cuurentThere is no grid current in AB1. It didn't matter what the A0 plate/ anode current was. I only used the meter to set ZSAC. On an "ahhhhh" or with the tuning pulser running, the anode current meter indicated c. 1a - which was probably about 1/3 of what one would measure with an oscilloscope connected across a precision shunt R. . Ur telling me b4 ur plate V was dropping 1000 V, whileI never ran A0. If I had designed it to run A0, I would have needed to use a 180lb HV xfmr and 3x as much filter C. You will neverI could not care less what the steady state current was. True, but freshly-calibrated NBS-traceable oscilloscopes are used to calibrate wattmeters. [using V squared /R] In any event, the scope leads willA x1000 scope probe has very little C. R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
Re: IMD on xcv'rs
On Oct 31, 2006, at 12:40 PM, pentalab wrote:
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., Jan Erik Holm <sm2ekm@...>From TV sweep tubes? Not likely. . I owned 4 of em yrs ago... and I got the same results asThis is roughly what I've measured on the air. or just -26db comparedReducing pep out sometimes slightly increases distortion. R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
Re: IMD (was 3XYC156)
On Oct 31, 2006, at 12:18 PM, FRANCIS CARCIA wrote:
I suspect you would be better off with a 300 watt amplifier running closer to class A with transformer feed back, Most RF transistors have internal emitter resistors to balance the parallel cells. Making feedback work over a wide frequency range takes real talent and good pc board layouts. gfz!. I would use 50v transistors. R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
Re: IMD on xcv'rs
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., Tony King - W4ZT <w4zt-
060920@...> wrote: Drake IT4XC ! <snip>There is NO mention of Drake or T4XC on that entire web page that posted the quote from<>. It just ain't there.#### Tony.... W8JI has mentioned his findings on the Collins AND the drakes several times now on.... 'amps'. It's buried who knows where. When 1st saw it, he mentioned the drakes in the same sentence as the Collins gear. When I saw that, I'm wondering to myself.... if he's got the drakes wrong.... what else does he have wrong ? No way in hell ur gonna get -58 db pep from any drake T4XC...couldn't been a typo... since he quotes the same drake numbers time and again. later... Jim VE7RF
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Re: HV Fuses: Manufactures/brands in Europe ?
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., "pentalab" <jim.thomson@...>
wrote: to gnd without benefit of a HV fuse.RICH SEZ.... 3A diodes will do 200a-pk. Not many HV transformerswill. The original Plywood Box amplifier used 150a-pk, 2.5A avg like ur plywood box.... you shoulda been using 1 kv-6A diodes [400A surge] like a 6A10.... the 0nly diode worth buying these days. current from the 240 V line would be 110 A on keydown... close to 55A on ssb. ########### Lemme re-phrase that..... "with a 253 lb dahl and a 100-125 A breaker, and no HV fuse... you have a good chance of stressing the diodes... esp the smaller variety..... use a 440 lb dahl and a 150 A breaker.. and NO hv fuse, imo ur plane nuts "##### Later... Jim VE7RF
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Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281; Migrating Into Blower Noise
Phil Clements
### Never had any problem remoting the RF deck/Hv supply either... My shack is not much larger than yours, Jim. My Harris RF-110A is sitting in the bathroom. There is a large cooling fan in the ceiling to pull the hot air into the attic. The Harris is no-tune, 1.8-30 mhz. All I need is a band switch and a few toggle switches on the end of a 30 foot cable coming from the amp to change bands, bias, and a few lamps to show what the amp is doing. The blower on the RF-110 is incredibly loud! If you have ever heard one, you will never forget it; like a screaming banshee. It runs on 400 hz, and I think the blades are almost turning at mach 1! These things were installed in the bowels of Navy ships where it made no difference. The only amp here in the shack is a Henry 2000D converted to single-band. (160 meters)I operate 99% CW, and only in the winter. The blower is not that bad, but my earphones cover most of it up. I really enjoy all those toasty BTU's coming out the top of the cabinet on a cold winter morning. (((73))) Phil Clements, K5PC (((73))) Phil Clements, K5PC |
Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., R L Measures <r@...> wrote:
wrote: that. He needs a 15k or 20k! Theisnot desirable unless one is trying to build an oscillator. mustard.8281/4cx15000A.tube that is best suited for 20k - 35k out is the200w will drive one in AB1.RICH SEZ... Anecdotal sure-cures don't cut the parasitic bolted right to the chassis IS 99.99% of the stabilty secret.RICH SEZ... Yes have zero L. ### WIDE straps do have zero L. I measure ZERO L on a 3' length of 3/4" wide Cu strap on my B+K 875-B. It reads down to .1uh Even if it was .049uh or less... it would still read 00.0 uh. Let's say it was .049uh for 3' [36"]..... then a 3.6" length of 3/4" wide strap is gonna be just .0049 uh. ... which is zip imo. 1" wide strap will be even less uh. c. 1MHz higher grounding with caps instead of straps.SemiRICH SEZ... My dipmeter says the 3-500 grid resonance frequency is ### So what ? At least 3000 guys out there will tell you that grnding the grids on a 3-500Z with wide strap eliminated their parasitic problems on a 220/221/Tl-922... plus the improved imd... plus drive power requirements DROPPED 22-25 watts. $2400.00### RF parts wants $1995.00 for a Svetlana 4x15.... PLUS less...in total. You can get 2 x new Eimac YC-243's for slightly Driving a 2-holer to full throttle would take c. 2600w and the Piand crank an easy 30 k out the back door.... and cool em wayRICH SEZ... The YC-243 is similar to the 3cx10,000A7 / 8160. tuned input would be a handful. ### A YC-243 is just the socketless version of a 3CX-6000A7/YU- 148. I badgered Reid Brandon to have it built. 860 w of drive yields 14 kw out... every night. Everyone has an IPA anyway. An L4B, on low V [1900v] mode, will yield 625w of drive for 3 x YC- 156's..... an excellent IPA. ### Building a PI-tuned input to handle 1500+ watts is a SNAP. Two broadcast variables and a tapped 4 uh coil. The broadcast variables are padded on 160m. In the latest project, the builder used 8 ga solid copper wire for the 4 uh coil.... handles 1.5 kw just fine. I used 7 ga wire on my 3x3. 6 ga wire is readily available.... as is 1/8"... 3/16"... and 1/4" tubing. 4 uh is good down to 160m. For a 80-10m tuned input... a 2 uh coil is all that's needed [for a 50 ohm tubeZ]. Heck, Multronics still makes the 4.2 uh roller coil.... made from 8 ga wire. ### The little bandswitch used is the small type. We used 3 x wafers on the latest project.... one wafer to change taps on the 4 uh coil.[and pad one air cap on 160m]... 2nd wafer just pads the 2nd air cap on 160m, 3rd wafer is used to turn on the plate choke vac relay. [shorts out the 180 uh plate choke... leaving the 2nd 45 uh plate choke still in the circuit]. ### You can see pix of all this stuff on the 'photo' page. Since it's below the chassis, it's cooled from the blower... and runs stone cold. The 4 x 500pf padders per broadcast cap don't drift either. ### RTTY, FM, AM...ESSB class A ...+ brief cxr for meteringRICH SEZ... Who runs A0? purposes. If stuff is OFF resonance, and anode diss goes UP.... better have plenty of air. #### Listen carefully! It's 6 kw with an INLET air temp of 50And it's not 6 kw anode diss.... it's an easy 9.7 kw.RICH SEZ.... With hydrogen cooling? deg C [121 deg F] and 204 cfm. With an INLET air temp of 20- 25 deg C [68-77 deg F].. it's only 120 cfm. ### With an INLET temp of 20-25 deg C.. AND 300-310 cfm @ .9" h2o ... anode diss INCREASES to 9700 watts. It's got a BIG cooler on it... 6.125" diam. The kicker is, the "stem" is smaller diam than a YC-156/4x10, etc. Which means there is a LOT of fin area down below. It's the easiset tube to cool outa all of em... bar none. No horrendous pressure requirements. Even with just 6 kw anode dissipation.... all that's required is 120 cfm @ .15" h2o. what Ham transceiver will allow testing of IMD below ¨C40db?### MK-V.... -60db... depending on band.. sometimes -66db. later... Jim VE7RF ...R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 |
Re: HV Fuses: Manufactures/brands in Europe ?
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., R L Measures <r@...> wrote:
insulator,,, I will. The original Plywood Box amplifier used 150a-pk, 2.5A avgcould have easily smoked the 3 A diodes,RICH SEZ.... 3A diodes will do 200a-pk. Not many HV transformers diodes in a FWB > and the diodes survived at least 4 flashovers to gnd without benefit of a HV fuse. ### All as you are doing is stressing the hell outa the diodes. The 5th time you might not have been lucky. For a 14 kw amp, like ur plywood box.... you shoulda been using 1 kv-6A diodes [400A surge] like a 6A10.... the 0nly diode worth buying these days. ### Rich, with that 40 A undersized breaker you have installed in the 240 V line... it would be on the ragged edge on ssb to start with... in a pre-heated condx.... a flashover would tip it over the edge. IF you installed a 100-125A breaker, you could have smoked the diodes. As is, with 14 kw out... ur line current from the 240 V line would be 110 A on keydown... close to 55A on ssb. Later... Jim VE7RF
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Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., "Phil Clements" <philc@...>
wrote: I already had a monster blower on hand when I put my YC-156 ampthan the cooling fan on my PC makes here in the ham shack.### I learn something new every day ! I never tried remoting a blower. I had been told that a lot of the noise was from the actual airflow through the tube itself, so never tried it. ### Never had any problem remoting the RF deck/Hv supply either... since we can see the wattmeters in both places... and easily tune the amp in the other room. With variable 0 to -10 vdc in the remote location... fed back to the ALC jack on the xcvr... and a footswitch/wattmeter in both locations... it's easy to tune the amp up. Just run into another room... adjust drive level... tweak it... once the numbers are all written down, it's a moot point anyway.... just change bands and dial by the numbers. My shack is really small 8 x 10 x 7.5' ceiling. ...... the concern with a remote blower would be cooking the shack with too much hot air !!! ... even in winter. ### with a bigger room.... I can see the merits of a remote blower [s]. With the entire amp remoted.... in summer time, one can exhaust the hot air outside.... and in winter, exhaust to the inside. later... Jim VE7RF (((73))) |
Re: IMD (was 3XYC156)
zerobeat40
Alternative topologies, and using higher voltage devices make things
much easier. Common-emitter can be troublesome. We ended up going common-drain (simple source followers), running 28V, and using a diff-amp as the voltage gain stage, then resistive feedback to the input stage. So, the feedback was DC to 100MHz or so. Ended up with about 150W capability and IMD3 measured -58dBc rel one carrier. 5ths and higher order were down substantially more. We had tried simple xfmr feedback, problem was that the 2nd/4th/6th order products, down near DC, were re-mixing with fundamentals to create 3/5/7, etc. Weren't able to make xfmrs that operated close enough to DC to get around that prob. We worked with the semi mfr as well, trying to get internal resistors. Turns out the technology used for emitter ballasting is fundamentally non-linear. Good for balancing DC idle currents, but not very good for negative feedback. In the MRF150 type devices, no such ballasting is used, rather they depend on having 32 identical devices adjacent to each other on a wafer, and bonding in direct parallel. Semiconductor physics allows you to do things like that, expect adjacent devices to be identical enough to directly parallel. In the MRF154, which was 4 X MRF150 in a single package, the drains and sources were in direct parallel, and the only isolation resistors were in the gate paths, cutting down on some form of cross-coupled VHF oscillation between devices. At one point, we feared we'd have an expensive hybrid design facing us, but coming up with the diff-amp input, two stage buffer and final output FETs, and getting the customer to buy off on 28V operation, did the job. Complex circuit when we were done, and way more gain than you want usually from a single stage, but we got the performance without a custom hybrid design. Hard to believe I was once in that industry...this was shore-based marine SSB, we were supposed to meet a final system IMD of 36dBc rel one carrier, including all stages...so we made them all super-clean, and beat the spec by 10dB. Adjacent channel power measured far down as well, but I don't recall the figure. Actual torture test was to put band-limited white noise through it, and see how much energy was in the next adjacent channel. A variation on that test is still in use commercially, known as the "noise power ratio" test. Z --- In ham_amplifiers@..., FRANCIS CARCIA <carcia@...> wrote: closer to class A with transformer feed back, Most RF transistors have internal emitter resistors to balance the parallel cells. Making feedback work over a wide frequency range takes real talent and good pc board layouts. gfz NFB into a solid state amp once, being used as a driver for commercial HF SSB. It was not so easy. |
Re: Grounding Grids on 3-500Z's
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., R L Measures <r@...> wrote:
wrote: see### what have u got against HV fuses Rich?RICH SEZ.... Do you carry two spare tires in your car? As I moonit, overkill is not good engineering - except perhaps on a it opens does not adequately limit peak-I until the arc isYou missed the point: A fuse that creates a metal vapour arc whenvapor arc that had a v-drop of c. 20v during the period when itmission if I going.RICH SEZ.... It is not a fuse at 2500v, it was a temporary metal extinguished. This is why 250v 3AG fuses are bad engineering### They STILL open faster than any 240 Vac breaker ever will ! ### The sand filled HV fuse's [5" long] kill that vapour arc so fast, it's unreal. ... not even an issue. ### There is Nothing wrong with using a 250v 3Agc fuse/fuseholder in the CATHODE of a linear either [in the CT of the fil xfmr].... just shunt the 3agc fuse holder with a 100 K - 2/3 watt MOF resistor. Put some 6A diodes [6A10, 1 kv-400A surge] back to back, installed between chassis and B- IF the cathode fuse blows open... you still have the 100 K resistor across it... which biases the tube off ! Works slick..... and every time too. circuit.perfect...RICH SEZ....The Henry 2k-4 has a resonant-choke filter --30 A 120 V line into the shack to run a Henry 2K-4.. on 120 V.for 120v operation with virtually no drop in PEP out. [this Plywood Box amplifier did 14 out on SSB and it did not trip thefactor's in 10% for core losses.. and another 11% for powerRICH SEZ.... The duty-cycle of 2-way SSB is under 20%. The old 40a, 240v breaker. ### Not a chance ! Duty cycle on ssb is damned near 50%.. looking at any plate current meter. Rich, with ur 100' run of 4 ga CU wire... and an undersized 65 lb dahl xfmr.. and a 40A breaker.... there is NO way you could run it key down for 1-3 seconds... just to take some steady state plate/grid cuurent readings. Ur telling me b4 ur plate V was dropping 1000 V, while talking.... what is it with dead cxr... 2 kv ??? You will never know with a 40A breaker. You would be drawing an easy 110 AMPS with 14 kw out ! Rich, if you can't possibly measure steady state plate current..... you have nothing to reference ur average plate current to, during typ ssb. ### IMO... using a scope to measure power out is flawed. IF the scope is out say 5%.... ur calculated power output will be out 10%. [using V squared /R] In any event, the scope leads will exhibit swr, and other bugs. Later... Jim VE7RF R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 |
Re: IMD on xcv'rs
Tony King - W4ZT
Jim...
pentalab wrote: --- In ham_amplifiers@..., Jan Erik Holm <sm2ekm@...> wrote:There is NO mention of Drake or T4XC on that entire web page that I posted the quote from <>. It just ain't there.Well right now I dont have any "official test lab" figures,### W8JI, ALSO claimed in the same sentence, -52db for a Drake T4XC ! <snip> 73, Tony W4ZT |
Re: IMD on xcv'rs
pentalab
--- In ham_amplifiers@..., Jan Erik Holm <sm2ekm@...>
wrote: ### W8JI, ALSO claimed in the same sentence, -52db for a Drake T4XC ! I owned 4 of em yrs ago... and I got the same results as the ARRL lab did... a paltry -30 db pep... or just -26db compared to one tone... which is typ of sweep tubes. Even to get that, Drake used 70 ma of zsac @ almost 700 Vdc.... so the idle POWER on the pair of sweep tubes was = 99% of the rated plate dissipation ! ### What power level did u run the FT-1000D tests at ?? I currently have 2 x FT-1000D's.... and 2 x FT-1000MP-MK-V's. haven't measured any of em. Seems to me the arrl lab measured - 36db PEP when then 1000-d was run full bore at 200 w out. Yaesu claimed -36db, compared to ONE tone [-42 db pep], when run at 150w out. ### Would be interesting to know what the 1000-D is at say 100 w output ? I'm betting it's very good. ### also... did u drive it into ALC ??? Try setting the power output at 200 w.... but only driving it to say 190w [no alc] and then at 150w.... and again at 100 w ..... all the while the power output control is sitting at 200w.... and no alc ever showing in any case. Then try it with alc at top of it range. ### Beware,,, my 2 x FT-1000D's new, were totally out of calibration on every thing...esp alc. Srvc manual sez between no alc.. and max alc... should be a 9.7 db difference..... mine was only 5.2 db. {which is better imo... since hams will wail away on the ALC] ### Also try adjusting the bias pot. I think the normal idle on a 1000-D is just 1 amp. Tweak it up to 1.5 A.... and also 2.0 A... and re-run ur tests.... u will be surprised. ### On the MK-V.... you can adjust EACH transistor independently.... ditto with the driver transistors.... and you do all of this TWICE.... once for AB... and again for CLASS A. ### On AB.. idle is 1 A PER final transistor 2A total. On Class A... it's a whopping 5 A PER transistor... and 10 A total. ### On the MK-V hidden menu 9-XXX... you can also adjust the "drive" on a band per band basis... most of em are way too high. On CW... reducing em a bit, will eliminate the key clix. ### To eliminate ALC overshoot on all these rigs... you can [ssb/cw] apply external -DCV to the ALC jack. You can also just limit the audio on ssb with external rack mount compressor's/limiter's/ distortion cancelled audio clippers. That way, I can achieve an easy 1500w with NO alc ever showing at all... if u wanted. ### The yaesu MK-V on Class A... depending on BAND... is -60dbR L Measures wrote:what Ham transceiver will allow testing of IMD below ¨C40db? for 3rds... and -75db for 5ths. You can hear the diff on a 2nd RX 3' away. I can also hear the difference from 1200 miles away [IF the other station is running barefoot, no linear] Later... Jim VE7RF
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Re: IMD (was 3XYC156)
FRANCIS CARCIA
I suspect you would be better off with a 300 watt amplifier running closer to class A with transformer feed back, Most RF transistors have internal emitter resistors to balance the parallel cells. Making feedback work over a wide frequency range takes real talent and good pc board layouts. gfz
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zerobeat40 wrote:
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IMD (was 3XYC156)
zerobeat40
Hey, I tried to put the NFB into a solid state amp once, being used as
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a driver for commercial HF SSB. It was not so easy. Assuming a pair of NPN transistors delivering 100 watts at 30MHz, running from 13.8VDC, producting -30dBc IMD that we want to improve by about 10dB. The correct value resistor is approx 0.2 ohms and it must dissipate 15 watts, if the amp is to survive clumsy tuning into an antenna tuner at full power. You could get away with a 5 watt device if you insisted on only SSB (no CW or FM) and only into a matched load. Smallest resistor I was able to find to meet this was a chip style component, about 1/2 inch X 1/2 inch. It measured 5nH of inductance. At 30MHz, XL=nearly one ohm. The stage gain at 30MHz was reduced to approx 2dB, and the phase shift of this inductance reduced the IMD benefits of the NFB to having no IMD reduction at all. At 1MHz, the solution worked very nicely - stage gain stabilized at 14dB, and IMD measured about -42dBc (referenced to either of two incident carriers) If you could somehow create a 15 watt resistor that is 0.2 ohms and under approx 0.2nH of inductance, then your proposed solution will work. Let us know when you find that resistor. Z --- In ham_amplifiers@..., R L Measures <r@...> wrote:
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Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
tnx, Tony. Since adding RF-NFB to a transistor amplifier is as simple as adding unbypassed R to the emitter leads, it puzzles me why Ham transceiver manufacturers don't wake up and start building pristine radios.
Since the TS-830S uses essentially a copy of the KWM-2's RF amplifier, it isn't surprising that the 830 has a reputation for cleanliness. cheerz On Oct 31, 2006, at 7:32 AM, Tony King - W4ZT wrote: R L Measures wrote:R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734What is the total IMD of a KWM-2 ?<snip> r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
Tony King - W4ZT
R L Measures wrote:
What is the total IMD of a KWM-2 ?<snip> Tom says the following: "IM3 levels of -30 dB are really very poor. An old KWM2 I tested was -47 dB using ARRL standards. Compared to something like an IC-756, the Collins had about 50 times LESS power in total adjacent channel distortion products!" <> 73, Tony W4ZT |
Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
Well right now I dont have any "official test lab" figures,
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however W8JI has measured (if you trust him, I do in this case) -47 dB. Myself I have measured a KWM-2 compared to a FT-1000D, KWM-2 was almost 15 dB better, you can see here I have a faint memory that Ive read someplace -56 dB however I dont remember more. In any case I think its safe to say that a KWM-2 is far better then -40 dB, or a 32S-3 for that matter. 73 Jim SM2EKM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- R L Measures wrote: What is the total IMD of a KWM-2 ? |
Re: 3 x YC-156's vs 8281
What is the total IMD of a KWM-2 ?
On Oct 30, 2006, at 9:25 PM, Jan Erik Holm wrote: As far as I know a Collins KWM-2R L Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734 r@..., , rlm@..., www.somis.org |
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