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Post by Night Ranger on Feb 23, 2016 10:07:26 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Feb 24, 2016 7:01:59 GMT -5
Prices are just a bit high for what they are, especially the one that's not working......
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Post by Night Ranger on Mar 18, 2016 14:22:38 GMT -5
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Post by cbrown on Mar 21, 2016 9:55:53 GMT -5
Thats what you get when you let the magic smoke out.
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Post by BBB on Mar 21, 2016 11:38:09 GMT -5
The Swan Mark II amp got pulled for some reason. Definitely CB-ized with the included foot switch and running on the 28 meter position with no input tuner. The trailer park cabinets in the background gave it away also
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Post by Night Ranger on Apr 21, 2016 11:20:15 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 21, 2016 17:20:27 GMT -5
I'd give him $50 for it......
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Post by cbrown on Apr 22, 2016 9:05:42 GMT -5
I'd give him $50 for it...... I'd guess his reserve is a bit higher....
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Apr 22, 2016 20:32:50 GMT -5
I'd give him $50 for it...... I'd guess his reserve is a bit higher.... Well, then I guess I won't be buying it........
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Post by Night Ranger on May 15, 2016 7:51:48 GMT -5
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Post by BBB on May 15, 2016 9:04:20 GMT -5
It didn't look like the cord was dry rotted so it probably was a solid wire used as a fuse. I think I can see part of the fuse "wire" still attached, albeit burnt off, on the fuse holder blade. Good way to make a toaster.
Seller is an avid CB Radio eBayer so its hard to say if he tried out the amp or not. I sold an amp "untested" before due to personal safety concerns. You plug it in for that price... haha.
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Post by 2600 on May 15, 2016 17:37:47 GMT -5
No fuse holder inside.
None.
The factory shipped it with a fused plug. Two fuses, one in line with each of the two (only) prongs were inside the plug. Pretty sure it was made by a company named "Eagle". I have seen them listed for sale as an "Eagle fused plug".
Heathkit also used these back in the two-prong outlet era. It does offer a measure of lightning protection that a single internal fuse can't.
Just beware of the morons who do the "Upgraded to 3-wire cord and plug" job and forget to add a fuse or breaker. If you see a 3-prong plug and cord on a Varmint, DON'T PLUG IT IN until you have looked inside for a fuse.
Sure, if you have a protected outlet with breaker, it's less risky. Just the same, I have seen a number of Varmints with a 3-wire cord and NO fuse at all.
Go figure.
73
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Post by Night Ranger on May 17, 2016 12:15:38 GMT -5
No fuse holder inside. None. The factory shipped it with a fused plug. Two fuses, one in line with each of the two (only) prongs were inside the plug. Pretty sure it was made by a company named "Eagle". I have seen them listed for sale as an "Eagle fused plug". Heathkit also used these back in the two-prong outlet era. It does offer a measure of lightning protection that a single internal fuse can't. Just beware of the morons who do the "Upgraded to 3-wire cord and plug" job and forget to add a fuse or breaker. If you see a 3-prong plug and cord on a Varmint, DON'T PLUG IT IN until you have looked inside for a fuse. Sure, if you have a protected outlet with breaker, it's less risky. Just the same, I have seen a number of Varmints with a 3-wire cord and NO fuse at all. Go figure. 73 Thanks for the info. I remember a friend with a Varmint XL-1000 back in the 1980s. One day he plugged it up to a new radio and there was an AC short from the Varmint through the radio which tripped the house circuit breaker. He flipped the AC plug on the Varmint to the wall outlet and then it worked. The fact that no fuse was replaced in the amp suggests his AC plug had been replaced with a non fused plug not to mention the cause of the AC short to ground from the Varmint through the radio to begin with. Fortunately the radio survived and no one was electrocuted. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 17, 2016 16:25:42 GMT -5
No fuse holder inside. None. The factory shipped it with a fused plug. Two fuses, one in line with each of the two (only) prongs were inside the plug. Pretty sure it was made by a company named "Eagle". I have seen them listed for sale as an "Eagle fused plug". Heathkit also used these back in the two-prong outlet era. It does offer a measure of lightning protection that a single internal fuse can't. Just beware of the morons who do the "Upgraded to 3-wire cord and plug" job and forget to add a fuse or breaker. If you see a 3-prong plug and cord on a Varmint, DON'T PLUG IT IN until you have looked inside for a fuse. Sure, if you have a protected outlet with breaker, it's less risky. Just the same, I have seen a number of Varmints with a 3-wire cord and NO fuse at all. Go figure. 73 Thanks for the info. I remember a friend with a Varmint XL-1000 back in the 1980s. One day he plugged it up to a new radio and there was an AC short from the Varmint through the radio which tripped the house circuit breaker. He flipped the AC plug on the Varmint to the wall outlet and then it worked. The fact that no fuse was replaced in the amp suggests his AC plug had been replaced with a non fused plug not to mention the cause of the AC short to ground from the Varmint through the radio to begin with. Fortunately the radio survived and no one was electrocuted. Night Ranger There's something wrong right there. There would have to be a short to the chassis from the primary side of the transformer for enough current to be drawn that it blows the house fuse. Most transformer powered devices "float" the chassis while the hot and neutral leads connect through the power switch and (hopefully!) the fuse to the transformer primary. Sometimes there is a 1+ megohm resistor from the neutral side to chassis ground, but there should never be a situation where the chassis connects to the hot side. That is a major shock hazard right there.
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Post by Night Ranger on May 17, 2016 16:53:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I remember a friend with a Varmint XL-1000 back in the 1980s. One day he plugged it up to a new radio and there was an AC short from the Varmint through the radio which tripped the house circuit breaker. He flipped the AC plug on the Varmint to the wall outlet and then it worked. The fact that no fuse was replaced in the amp suggests his AC plug had been replaced with a non fused plug not to mention the cause of the AC short to ground from the Varmint through the radio to begin with. Fortunately the radio survived and no one was electrocuted. Night Ranger There's something wrong right there. There would have to be a short to the chassis from the primary side of the transformer for enough current to be drawn that it blows the house fuse. Most transformer powered devices "float" the chassis while the hot and neutral leads connect through the power switch and (hopefully!) the fuse to the transformer primary. Sometimes there is a 1+ megohm resistor from the neutral side to chassis ground, but there should never be a situation where the chassis connects to the hot side. That is a major shock hazard right there. Obviously that was not normal behaviour for an properly working AC amplifier, but since I never worked on the amp I have no idea why it did that. I was present however when the big deep AC "buzzzzzzzz" could be heard followed by the house circuit breaker tripping. ....And yes....It was Greg/The Devil/Phoenix. How Greg got the Varmint XL-1000 in trade for his former Varmint XL-600 is a story in itself, but that is for another time. Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 17, 2016 19:12:37 GMT -5
....And yes....It was Greg/The Devil/Phoenix. How Greg got the Varmint XL-1000 in trade for his former Varmint XL-600 is a story in itself, but that is for another time. Night Ranger That would be a good story to tell. Greg's antics were almost as legendary as ol' Zero-Five.......
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Post by Night Ranger on May 17, 2016 20:11:32 GMT -5
....And yes....It was Greg/The Devil/Phoenix. How Greg got the Varmint XL-1000 in trade for his former Varmint XL-600 is a story in itself, but that is for another time. Night Ranger That would be a good story to tell. Greg's antics were almost as legendary as ol' Zero-Five....... Ok. Here is the story. There was a high power agitator in Charlotte, N.C. about 20+ something miles away. His signal was strong enough in Rock Hill, S.C. to cause problems for the locals. I don't remember his handle. Anyway the agitator got under Greg's (The Devil/The Phoenix) skin, so Greg drove all the way up to Charlotte, N.C. to find him. Well Greg did manage to track him down. Greg proceeded to park across the street from him and dead key him endlessly. There is definitely one thing you can say about Greg, and that is he had balls. When the agitator walked out of the house to see where the 30+db dead key was coming from Greg just smiled and waived at him from his car on the other side of the street. Greg was not going anywhere. Finally the agitator decided to make nice with Greg and invited him inside. At some point the agitator gave Greg the Varmint XL-1000 in trade for his non-working Varmint XL-600. I suspect he did it just to make Greg go away. Greg definitely had that hard core and somewhat dangerous redneck air about him when he wanted to. It seems like the guy's handle was Leadfoot or Chickenfoot or something like that, but I don't remember for sure. Ha ha This is a picture of Greg (The Devil/The Phoenix). Night Ranger
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 17, 2016 20:33:25 GMT -5
That would be a good story to tell. Greg's antics were almost as legendary as ol' Zero-Five....... Ok. Here is the story. There was a high power agitator in Charlotte, N.C. about 20+ something miles away. His signal was strong enough in Rock Hill, S.C. to cause problems for the locals. I don't remember his handle. Anyway the agitator got under Greg's (The Devil/The Phoenix) skin, so Greg drove all the way up to Charlotte, N.C. to find him. Well Greg did manage to track him down. Greg proceeded to park across the street from him and dead key him endlessly. There is definitely one thing you can say about Greg, and that is he had balls. When the agitator walked out of the house to see where the 30+db dead key was coming from Greg just smiled and waived at him from his car on the other side of the street. Greg was not going anywhere. Finally the agitator decided to make nice with Greg and invited him inside. At some point the agitator gave Greg the Varmint XL-1000 in trade for his non-working Varmint XL-600. I suspect he did it just to make Greg go away. Greg definitely had that hard core and somewhat dangerous redneck air about him when he wanted to. It seems like the guy's handle was Leadfoot or Chickenfoot or something like that, but I don't remember for sure. Ha ha This is a picture of Greg (The Devil/The Phoenix). Night Ranger It's funny how radio situations unfolded back in the day. You might have thought there would be a fight, or some other altercation. You never would expect a "Here, I have an amp I'll trade you" in the list of possible outcomes.....
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Post by Night Ranger on May 23, 2016 5:54:03 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 23, 2016 12:42:27 GMT -5
And wonder upon wonders..... it sold.
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Post by Night Ranger on May 23, 2016 13:17:50 GMT -5
And wonder upon wonders..... it sold. Wow. I wonder if the new owner knows it has 8950 tubes? I wonder if he knows how much they costs? I bet not. Night Ranger
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 16, 2016 6:30:25 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 16, 2016 8:19:49 GMT -5
$170 for a non-working amp, that needs 4 pricey 2879's? Someone is smoking crack.......
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Post by Night Ranger on Jun 16, 2016 9:59:43 GMT -5
$170 for a non-working amp, that needs 4 pricey 2879's? Someone is smoking crack....... Those Toshiba 2sc2879a transistors are up to $65.00 each now on RFParts.com. I'll take my $7 to $12 6km6's and $5 22jg6a tubes any day over that. The DEI equivalents are $30.00. Junebug at BMK amplifiers said the DEI's were not as robust as the Toshiba's, but he like most CB amp builders tries to make them put out more than the rated 100 watts PEP per transistor. I wonder if the DEI's hold up if run as specified in the datasheet (100 watts PEP per transistor at 12 volts) instead of the the usual over voltage and over driven treatment imposed upon them by most CB'ers. Night Ranger
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Post by BBB on Jun 16, 2016 10:56:40 GMT -5
Hold out for a used Toshiba 2sc2879 amp if you want to go solid state. They are out there, you just have to be patient. Took me 2 years to locate an old school Dave Made 8 at a fair price. Or you can pony up for some of the new large scale 50 volt MO$FET $tuff.
I would not go for the Chinese (DEI or Power Pill, etc) transistor copy stuff for daily use. Just not up to par yet and may never be. Like any of that Chinese crap that's labeled to do "this" and in reality only does "that" Their specs are skewed if not down-right lies, trust me. Different story if all you wanted to do was to experiment and the like, but you would still be to$$ing dollor$ away.
There are a few tell-tale side by side internal photos circulating on the interweb of the Chinese transistors including the "fake eBay" 2sc2879s. Word.
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Post by BBB on Jun 16, 2016 11:05:34 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 16, 2016 18:42:00 GMT -5
This is the way to go with solid state amps. But they're not cheap. Some of the devices mentioned go for $200-$300 a piece. You can get substantially cheaper Chinese knock offs, but you get what you pay for......
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Jun 16, 2016 18:47:09 GMT -5
$170 for a non-working amp, that needs 4 pricey 2879's? Someone is smoking crack....... Those Toshiba 2sc2879a transistors are up to $65.00 each now on RFParts.com. I'll take my $7 to $12 6km6's and $5 22jg6a tubes any day over that. The DEI equivalents are $30.00. Junebug at BMK amplifiers said the DEI's were not as robust as the Toshiba's, but he like most CB amp builders tries to make them put out more than the rated 100 watts PEP per transistor. I wonder if the DEI's hold up if run as specified in the datasheet (100 watts PEP per transistor at 12 volts) instead of the the usual over voltage and over driven treatment imposed upon them by most CB'ers. Night Ranger As you've stated, the DEI's and not nearly as rugged as the Toshiba's, and they are more prone to failure. I am sure, as with any device, the harder you push it, the easier it is to blow it. I would imagine that the DEI's would probably work acceptably well at 13V and not trying to overdrive the stuffing out of them. Running 4 of them at 150 watts of carrier and 600 watts peak would probably not kill them.
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