qdog
Mudduck
Posts: 1
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Post by qdog on Mar 6, 2010 8:27:36 GMT -5
I have a Mark III with a JB150 modulator and an Eagle 200 amp all going into an Antron 99. My question is how should I hook it all up and how much drive out of radio to get best results? I assume radio into JB150 and then JB150 into the Eagle 200. Any assistance would be appreciated.
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Post by bonehead on Mar 6, 2010 9:26:49 GMT -5
Hello qdog. IMO the JB150 is way too much drive for the Eagle 200 which probably has a built in driver, but the JB 12 which peaks out around 12-15 rms watts would work fine. Good luck and have fun, Bonehead.
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Post by Sniper..Unit 305 on Mar 6, 2010 11:41:15 GMT -5
I have a Mark III with a JB150 modulator and an Eagle 200 amp all going into an Antron 99. My question is how should I hook it all up and how much drive out of radio to get best results? I assume radio into JB150 and then JB150 into the Eagle 200. Any assistance would be appreciated. Are these not both low drive amps? From what I gather, both of these units are low drive amps, so if you run the 150 into the 200 you should have one heck of a light display!! NOT a good thing. Sniper
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Post by BionicChicken on Mar 7, 2010 8:35:26 GMT -5
Unless you have an unlimited supply of tubes for the 200, I'd leave the JB out of line. It is a radio drive only amp and the JB will only help to destroy it. Of course it will really look good on the wattmeter before the smoke comes out of it.
BC
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Post by 2600 on Mar 8, 2010 0:20:15 GMT -5
Think of the JB-150 as a nitrous tank installed on your daily driver.
Makes you go faster, but the motor wears out a LOT sooner. The longer you hold down that nitrous button, the sooner that motor will blow.
Wasn't all that expensive to do when tubes were six bucks apiece wholesale. Blow out a set once or twice a month and it's no big deal, right? You would spend that much on ammo in a month during gun season, right?
Now that the tubes cost ten to fifteen times as much, the "cost factor" of using the JB as a driver is a lot higher per key of the mike than it was 30 years ago.
Before you decide to try "going fast" just once, make sure you have a GOOD set of new tubes on hand.
The additional power you will gain won't increase your transmit range all that much. The added margin may look like a lot on your wattmeter, but won't make the S-meter at the other end go up by even one-half of a 'number'.
Takes a much larger boost than that to show a real difference on the S-meter at the other end.
And if you do succeed in goosing the Palomar up to twice the power it's built for, you can be sure that it won't be for very long.
73
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Post by Night Ranger on Mar 8, 2010 6:43:54 GMT -5
Think of the JB-150 as a nitrous tank installed on your daily driver. Makes you go faster, but the motor wears out a LOT sooner. The longer you hold down that nitrous button, the sooner that motor will blow. Wasn't all that expensive to do when tubes were six bucks apiece wholesale. Blow out a set once or twice a month and it's no big deal, right? You would spend that much on ammo in a month during gun season, right? Now that the tubes cost ten to fifteen times as much, the "cost factor" of using the JB as a driver is a lot higher per key of the mike than it was 30 years ago. Before you decide to try "going fast" just once, make sure you have a GOOD set of new tubes on hand. The additional power you will gain won't increase your transmit range all that much. The added margin may look like a lot on your wattmeter, but won't make the S-meter at the other end go up by even one-half of a 'number'. Takes a much larger boost than that to show a real difference on the S-meter at the other end. And if you do succeed in goosing the Palomar up to twice the power it's built for, you can be sure that it won't be for very long. 73 I don't know about the JB 150, but a friend had a JB 12 or "Jewel Box" as he called it. With the amp turned off his Browning Mark III sounded nice and smooth, but when he turned on the JB12 it sounded awful. His audio got all scratchy sounding. It had lots of "swing" as th AM'ers call it, but it sounded awful.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Mar 8, 2010 8:04:09 GMT -5
Think of the JB-150 as a nitrous tank installed on your daily driver. Makes you go faster, but the motor wears out a LOT sooner. The longer you hold down that nitrous button, the sooner that motor will blow. Wasn't all that expensive to do when tubes were six bucks apiece wholesale. Blow out a set once or twice a month and it's no big deal, right? You would spend that much on ammo in a month during gun season, right? Now that the tubes cost ten to fifteen times as much, the "cost factor" of using the JB as a driver is a lot higher per key of the mike than it was 30 years ago. Before you decide to try "going fast" just once, make sure you have a GOOD set of new tubes on hand. The additional power you will gain won't increase your transmit range all that much. The added margin may look like a lot on your wattmeter, but won't make the S-meter at the other end go up by even one-half of a 'number'. Takes a much larger boost than that to show a real difference on the S-meter at the other end. And if you do succeed in goosing the Palomar up to twice the power it's built for, you can be sure that it won't be for very long. 73 I don't know about the JB 150, but a friend had a JB 12 or "Jewel Box" as he called it. With the amp turned off his Browning Mark III sounded nice and smooth, but when he turned on the JB12 it sounded awful. His audio got all scratchy sounding. It had lots of "swing" as th AM'ers call it, but it sounded awful. Hello Mike, long time no see........ Anyway, if that JB12 sounded harsh, something wasn't set right. Those old Wawasee amps were supposed to be adjusted so that dead carrier was in the middle of the meter, and it would upward swing from there. This setting provided a good carrier/modulation ratio, and it generally made the signal sound louder. So either this amp is being overdriven (meter to far to the right), or it's set for too much swing (meter too far to the left), or with no bias (part failure).
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Post by Night Ranger on Mar 8, 2010 20:03:28 GMT -5
I don't know about the JB 150, but a friend had a JB 12 or "Jewel Box" as he called it. With the amp turned off his Browning Mark III sounded nice and smooth, but when he turned on the JB12 it sounded awful. His audio got all scratchy sounding. It had lots of "swing" as th AM'ers call it, but it sounded awful. Hello Mike, long time no see........ Anyway, if that JB12 sounded harsh, something wasn't set right. Those old Wawasee amps were supposed to be adjusted so that dead carrier was in the middle of the meter, and it would upward swing from there. This setting provided a good carrier/modulation ratio, and it generally made the signal sound louder. So either this amp is being overdriven (meter to far to the right), or it's set for too much swing (meter too far to the left), or with no bias (part failure). It was too much swing, and not enough carrier. There are some CB'ers in the North Carolina area that have their Elkin amplifiers set with almost no carrier. From 20 or 30 miles away the S meter will sit on zero, but when they talk it will swing to S4 or S5. It always sounds terrible when they do that, but trying to get those guys to stop believing all that AM CB "swing" B.S. is like trying to teach an orangutan calculus.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Mar 9, 2010 7:26:55 GMT -5
Hello Mike, long time no see........ Anyway, if that JB12 sounded harsh, something wasn't set right. Those old Wawasee amps were supposed to be adjusted so that dead carrier was in the middle of the meter, and it would upward swing from there. This setting provided a good carrier/modulation ratio, and it generally made the signal sound louder. So either this amp is being overdriven (meter to far to the right), or it's set for too much swing (meter too far to the left), or with no bias (part failure). It was too much swing, and not enough carrier. There are some CB'ers in the North Carolina area that have their Elkin amplifiers set with almost no carrier. From 20 or 30 miles away the S meter will sit on zero, but when they talk it will swing to S4 or S5. It always sounds terrible when they do that, but trying to get those guys to stop believing all that AM CB "swing" B.S. is like trying to teach an orangutan calculus. Oh hell, I don't understand those guys (literally and figuratively). Back in the 70's the thing was the big dead key number. Today it's "swing". And as is often the case, a good many CB ops take the attitude "if a little swing is good, then a whole lot must be better". In this case, like in so many others, this is just not true. Usually, in order to get almost no carrier with super swing requires a non-linear amplifier (class "C") at some point, which distorts the heck out of the signal. Most of the guys I hear running this way sound raspy as heck, and certain radio noise blankers will further distort their wide and splattery signals. I mean, if they want the S meter to move like that, then go to sideband....... Anyway, if a Wawasee amp is acting that way, then either someone deliberately modified it to remove the bias (making it class "C"), or the bias circuit has a problem.
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Post by 2600 on Mar 19, 2010 23:55:32 GMT -5
Or it had a neon lamp across the screen-grid resistor. Goosed the wattmeter, and would give the audio a choppy sound.
More than one wrong way to set up and operate a JB-12 or 150.
73
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Mar 21, 2010 9:44:28 GMT -5
More than one wrong way to set up and operate a JB-12 or 150. Boy, you're not kidding there..... That's why nothing can be foolproof. Because fools are very ingenious.......
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Post by mark4 on Jun 30, 2010 16:56:29 GMT -5
Totally agree!!! You might as well talk to a wall than convince some of the dead heads out there about running their set up with a insufficient carrier. You may get a better response. They always sound like crap!
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