Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 10, 2017 7:33:14 GMT -5
Well, you never know what to expect on any given CRR. This week's (2/8) CRR was another less than hopping affair. I was hopeful that the approaching snow storm and radical temperature drop would enhance the possibility of regional skip conditions, and to an extent that happened. But it was weak, and never strong enough to work. In fact I mistakenly thought a couple of guys talking down in Florida were part the Delco crew, as they were just on the threshold of my receive, and I couldn't really make out whole sentences. The lack of usable skip wasn't our only issue. Both Pete and Sparky were MIA again, which meant that local activity was lighter. We did have Slammin' Sam, Skeeter, Ramrod, Operator Ron, Ghost, Lug Nut, Tickle, Grease Monkey, Skippy, Ranger, and even Night Train and 1/4 wave Dave showing up for cameo appearances. I was running my Realistic TRC-453. I ran it briefly last week, but it had a problem with the transmit audio, where it was "chopping" rapidly, which I quickly identified as a probable issue with the modulation limiter. Turns out this radio was a victim of the 10V blues, as there was a bad 10 V electrolytic cap in the limiter. While I was correcting that problem, I noticed that the speaker was getting hot. Speakers don't usually heat up, so I immediately pulled the electrolytic cap (another 10V) that couples the audio amp to the speaker and sure enough that cap was nearly shorted. So after correcting its ills the radio was working in fine style. One little artifact I noticed is that when using a D-104 mic on the radio, the limiter will clamp hard initially and then slowly back off, giving the first syllable of transmission a "thump". Switching to the Echomax eliminated that problem. The same issue used to happen back in the days of my TRC-458 Navaho. Evidently the D-104 sends out a "spike" when it first keys up which causes a fast attack limiter to clamp down. The Turner mic's (and the Echomax) don't seem to have the same problem.
|
|
|
Post by whitetail on Feb 10, 2017 12:10:10 GMT -5
Does anyone Know who 048 is, from Daytona Beach Florida? He was on The video that I posted, in there with night ranger, calling Norristown, Pottstown & Montgomery county. After the video ended, She recorded again and 048 said, out there in dx land it sounds like the night train in potstown PA. I know I herd night train mentioned around on the forum here. just courious if anyone knows who 048 may be?
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 10, 2017 13:41:37 GMT -5
Does anyone Know who 048 is, from Daytona Beach Florida? He was on The video that I posted, in there with night ranger, calling Norristown, Pottstown & Montgomery county. After the video ended, She recorded again and 048 said, out there in dx land it sounds like the night train in potstown PA. I know I herd night train mentioned around on the forum here. just courious if anyone knows who 048 may be? My memory is not as great as it once was and I forget names, and especially unit numbers, so I don't know exactly who his is. He's probably been in there during those times when the skip was running during the roundup and talked with some of the guys. Either that or he's been in there on other nights and talked with the local crew. Since I'm usually only on the radio one or two nights a week, I'm out of the loop on many of the comings and goings.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 14, 2017 13:52:34 GMT -5
Looks like we might have a budding theme for this week's 2/16/2017 CRR. Someone (Ramrod I believe) suggested that we run those old temporary HELP Radios. Those radios that looks a little like a walkie-talkie, but was designed to plug into a cigarette lighter and had an attached magnet mount antenna. Since not all of us have one of those radios, I want to add standard Walkie-talkies as well. So if you have either a HELP radio or a walkie-talkie, dust it off and let's hear them Wednesday night (Knowing my luck, the skip will be running heavy that night).
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 16, 2017 9:31:12 GMT -5
Well, looks like I jumped the gun on calling for the HELP/Walkie-Talkie night, as no one was ready for it (except me). But since I took the time to set it up, I ran with my Realistic TRC-210 Walkie-Talkie for the first hour or so. It was pretty much indistinguishable from a standard radio with the D104 mic on it and connected to the base station antenna system. But I eventually got tired on not having an S-Meter to stare at so I switched during the second hour. After talking with Badger about the ills of his Yaesu FT-757, and remembering the ills of my own 757, I dug it out and wonder upon wonder, it fired up the first time (normally, I have to turn it on and off several times until the PLL synthesizer locks up and works). So I ran the Yaesu for the rest of the night. No one noticed any difference in audio quality from that radio over a typical classic CB. My 757 is pretty much a classic radio now, as I bought it new over 33 years ago. It was a lively turnout with a decent number of people showing up. The usual regular crew was in attendance including Night Train, Skeeter, Sparky, Slammin' Sam, Badger, Rooster, and Ranger (who's antenna took a dive in recent high winds). Top Gun showed up after being MIA for a several weeks. Also making an appearance were Blue Max, Gumby, and Renegade from the Delco Crew. Pete was once again MIA, hopefully he's ok.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Feb 20, 2017 9:57:30 GMT -5
Yes, nice turnout for sure. I ran my Montgomery Wards model 702 (40) Channel Base station. Looks like an 8 Track player haha. Here's the real deal...
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 23, 2017 8:31:02 GMT -5
Well, 2/22's CRR is history. Once again, it was a lightly attended affair with Spitfire (Pete) being conspicuously absent once again. Usually he and I communicate during the week and I know what's going on, but he's been MIA even on the morning ham radio chats for the last 2 weeks. He's been around on the internet though, so I guess whatever is going on, he doesn't want to talk about it. Hopefully he'll get through it and return to the land of the radio-active. We had some of the usual suspects show up, including Sparky, Slammin' Sam, Skeeter, Ranger, Ramrod, Operator Ron, Grease Monkey, Wrench, 101. From the Delco crew, we had Buffalo Bob and Scooby Doo checking in. Initially, I ran my TRC-451, as I wanted my table clear for my latest project. I was a little more preoccupied than normal, as I was going over a new radio acquisition. In response to my list of radios I'm looking to pick up, Night Ranger sent me a Royce 1-600 mobile radio. I had to do a little cleaning and adjustment of the channel selector and give it a quick alignment. And as (bad) luck would have it, the one crystal that was out of frequency tolerance was the one that generates channel 13. So I had to put a trimmer cap in series with the crystal to pull it back on frequency. I then gave it a quick receiver alignment, and saw that it really wasn't out at all. When I finally had it ready to go for the second hour, I set it up initially with the D-104 mic. Knowing the lack of microphone gain that this model radio has, I cranked the gain up on the mic. Audio reports gave the thumbs up for overall gain, but that the tone quality was on the bright side. The Turner +2 desk mic was tried and it had slightly better tone quality, but lacked sufficient gain. Finally the Super Sidekick was tried, and that mic provided the best match for gain and tone quality. I'll be revisiting the mic circuit and replacing any electrolytic caps that may have drifted in value, and maybe boosting the gain and low end frequency response. The Royce is a perfect candidate for "3 knob radio" night, and I'm sure I'll be running it again. Thanks again to Night Ranger!
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Feb 26, 2017 16:01:49 GMT -5
Ran a browning LTD 23 Ch AM / SSB mobile from the pile. To my amazement it worked and sounded very well! This is a second unit that is not hacked up. The first one I ran a few years ago has a large hacked extra knob sticking 1" out the bottom for extra channels.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Feb 28, 2017 7:48:50 GMT -5
Well, looks like I jumped the gun on calling for the HELP/Walkie-Talkie night, as no one was ready for it (except me). But since I took the time to set it up, I ran with my Realistic TRC-210 Walkie-Talkie for the first hour or so. It was pretty much indistinguishable from a standard radio with the D104 mic on it and connected to the base station antenna system. But I eventually got tired on not having an S-Meter to stare at so I switched during the second hour. After talking with Badger about the ills of his Yaesu FT-757, and remembering the ills of my own 757, I dug it out and wonder upon wonder, it fired up the first time (normally, I have to turn it on and off several times until the PLL synthesizer locks up and works). So I ran the Yaesu for the rest of the night. No one noticed any difference in audio quality from that radio over a typical classic CB. My 757 is pretty much a classic radio now, as I bought it new over 33 years ago. It was a lively turnout with a decent number of people showing up. The usual regular crew was in attendance including Night Train, Skeeter, Sparky, Slammin' Sam, Badger, Rooster, and Ranger (who's antenna took a dive in recent high winds). Top Gun showed up after being MIA for a several weeks. Also making an appearance were Blue Max, Gumby, and Renegade from the Delco Crew. Pete was once again MIA, hopefully he's ok. View Attachment View AttachmentOk, We're going to try this again. Pete's up for another go at Walkie-Talkie/HELP radio night, so this week's CRR will feature these portable radios. Hopefully we'll get a better turnout this week.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 2, 2017 8:01:09 GMT -5
What a difference a couple of weeks make..... On 3/1's CRR we tried walkie-talkie/HELP radio night again, and this time we had a decent turnout. Sparky, Ranger, Pete and myself were taking part in the handheld radio theme. Pete had both a Realistc walkie-talkie, and a HELP radio which he switched to during the first hour, and I started off with my "cheater" Realistic TRC-210 with the D104, but then dug out a Cobra HH35 out of a drawer. The modulation on the Cobra was pretty dismal, and I had to adjust the limiter just to get 100% out of it. Other people who showed up were Slammin' Sam, who was trying out a Cobra 21XLR, Rooster, Skeeter, Aqua-Man, Grease Monkey, and Night Train toward the end. During the second hour, I switched to my newly acquired Royce 1-600, and for the last 15 minutes or so I tried the Realistic TRC-453, just to make the gate. Pete did a good job recording the video gate with a Walkie-talkie, so look for the gate in the next day or so. Attachment Deleted
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 3, 2017 11:56:40 GMT -5
Started out talking to Doc Hammer on my Tram XL 23 CH mobile CB. It worked well and was even on frequency still. Later I switched to a Radio Shack 21-1679 HT for Walkie-Talkie night. Was able to converse at 750 milli-watts to Spitfire and Ranger. I don't have an 1/8" mic adapter yet, so I had to use the stock built in mic in the HT. Sandbagger mentioned this was a nice HT to have due to it's 4 pin mic jack:
|
|
|
Post by "Doc"Hammer on Mar 3, 2017 13:27:51 GMT -5
Only Sandbagger would put a D-104 on an HT!
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 3, 2017 13:29:31 GMT -5
Started out talking to Doc Hammer on my Tram XL 23 CH mobile CB. It worked well and was even on frequency still. Later I switched to a Radio Shack 21-1679 HT for Walkie-Talkie night. Was able to converse at 750 milli-watts to Spitfire and Ranger. View AttachmentI don't have an 1/8" mic adapter yet, so I had to use the stock built in mic in the HT. View AttachmentSandbagger mentioned this was a nice HT to have due to it's 4 pin mic jack: The 4 pin mic jack was not the main reason why this was a great WT to have. The main appeal for me (at the time, not so much any more), was that it has a PLL02A chip in it and you can turn your 40 channel WT into a 120 (or more) channel WT.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 3, 2017 13:31:38 GMT -5
Only Sandbagger would put a D-104 on an HT! I would have put the Super Sidekick on it, but those 4 wire desk mics short the audio wire to ground on receive and that plays hell on that walkie-talkie. So only my 6 wire D-104 works with it.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 8, 2017 12:31:58 GMT -5
Started out talking to Doc Hammer on my Tram XL 23 CH mobile CB. It worked well and was even on frequency still. View Attachmentlistened to the gate (thanks Spitfire) and that Trashy Tram XL sounded pretty darn good. Doc Hammer, you mentioned some mods that can be done on that radio to widen it up a bit more. Can you mention what those mods were again please? Thanks.
|
|
|
Post by "Doc"Hammer on Mar 8, 2017 14:44:54 GMT -5
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 9, 2017 7:48:43 GMT -5
Tonight I am attempting to run the "old setup" I used to use with the radio and computer synched...If that confuses you guys, just think what it does to me! LOL ...Basicly its a Radio into a dummy load, being recieved by another radio with the external speaker going into the computer running Skype using the Vox control on spitfire's radio to transmit over his antenna......that way, I'm "live" and can participate in the round-up..We call it "the link"...it sounds confusing, but it allows me to talk on my vintage radios and it comes out live in Pottstown....Tonight I'll attemt to use my Tram XL plus a G-stand D104 (outfitted with a dynamic cartridge)...A Robyn LB-23A ( thanks Sparky!) will do the job of recieving and feeding the audio to the computer...We'll see how it works tonight! See yaz at Round-up time! Your setup was sounding really good last night Doc. You disappeared at some point though. And what's with that big honkin' knob on the Console II? How do you know what channel you're on?
|
|
|
Post by "Doc"Hammer on Mar 9, 2017 8:37:26 GMT -5
Channel selector knob took a hit and broke on my Console !! during our move....I have a tub of spare knobs containing a new selector, but it's packed away and havn't found it yet...That knob was off my old ten tec and was handy so I threw it on there temp...better than a "stub" sticking out. The radio never moves from channel 13 and I have a freq. counter hooked up besides....so no worries. Last night was Survivor...I allocate 1 hour to Round-up and 1 hour to Survivor....wife likes it that way. (She's a Survivor fan too.)
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 10, 2017 17:22:39 GMT -5
Ran a Uniden Grant LT for the first half. For the second half my nomero dos Stryker novecientos cincuenta y cinco. #1 0-5'd last week.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 16, 2017 9:52:35 GMT -5
Was testing out an old Cobra 29 LTD Taiwanese made radio on the bench when for CRR came on. It seemed to work okay after a few sprays of De-oxit. I also reconnected the diode that was cut. This was one of Grumpy's For some reason it had the top and sides of the chrome face-plate painted Blue?? AM DK was at 2.5 watts so more than likely it was set up to drive an amp. After I button it up, operator Wrench can borrow this radio while his base station Uniden 980 CB is in the shop. He has a RM KL203 amp I believe, so it should match up okay. I was going to lend him a 2950 (Sommerkamp 2000 version) but the CPU started acting up when the back up battery died on the bench. Gotta source a button battery and external holder with some wire leads via the interweb. Update: Handed-off the the Grumpy Memorial Cobra 29 LTD with a new Aries coffin mic, new power cord and a working spare 29 LTD Classic. Thank you for your service to our community Wrench and please do keep all the stuff. Good luck with your base station setup!
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 16, 2017 11:44:36 GMT -5
Was testing out an old Cobra 29 LTD Taiwanese made radio on the bench when for CRR came on. It seemed to work okay after a few sprays of De-oxit. I also reconnected the diode that was cut. This was one of Grumpy's For some reason it had the top and sides of the chrome face-plate painted Blue?? AM DK was at 2.5 watts so more than likely it was set up to drive an amp. After I button it up, operator Wrench can borrow this radio while his base station Uniden 980 CB is in the shop. He has a RM KL203 amp I believe, so it should match up okay. I was going to lend him a 2950 (Sommerkamp 2000 version) but the CPU started acting up when the back up battery died on the bench. Gotta source a button battery and external holder with some wire leads via the interweb. The roundup was a little leaner (like a one legged midget) than usual, but we still had a decent turnout among the locals. Sparky, like he said, was running the Cobra 29LTD, Slammin' Sam was running a Montgomery Ward base. Everyone else was running their usual stuff. Buffalo Bob from the Delco crew said hello, and we also had Roach from the Devon area. Also heard were Night Train, Wrench, Lug Nut, Rooster and Operator Ron. I'm sure I missed a couple. I was running a Johnson Viking 4740, which was a fairly decent radio back in the day. A cousin to SBE (made by NDI), and the Tram XL5.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 23, 2017 10:43:07 GMT -5
I ran a classic Cobra 2K GTL for the first half. Since it had just a stock tune, it wasn't a huge modulator but sounded pretty clean. The freq. counter gave me a scare when it stuck at 36.... something MHz on receive, but a few flicks of the re-purposed extra channel switch (SPK 2) returned it back to normal. Since the radio is still on the bench, I may give it a little De-Oxit switch cleaner love. For the second half I ran an Alinco DX-10. This was Alinco's attempt at the low cost 10 meter US radio market. I got this one at HRO haha. It's actually a re-badged CRE 8900. Other sister radios are the Alinco DR-135UK & DR-135CBA. More than likely the same exact radio with different band plans in stock form. Of course this radio can be re-programmed via a USB cable. Even with dual finals it is not a big AM modulator, but has a nice tone and good receive. Like all similar computerized radios such as the Anytone 5555, Alpha Max & Stryker 955, I run the "Hi-Cut" audio feature that tames the white noise inherent in these receivers. This rig is quite small with a real DIN footprint. It's probably the smallest AM/FM/SSB 10/11 Meter radio out now. I believe local operator "Badger" ran one of the CRE 8900s a few years back and I recall him mentioning that the display was not bright enough for vehicular use. I run mine as a base station after I re-wired a standard "RCI 6 pin to Cobra 4 pin" barrel style mic adapter. The display works well for me... Pretty Christmas Lights Hey if ARRL reviewed it, it's got to be legal, right?
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Mar 23, 2017 14:01:40 GMT -5
...For the second half I ran an Alinco DX-10. This was Alinco's attempt at the low cost 10 meter US radio market. I got this one at HRO haha. It's actually a re-badged CRE 8900. Other sister radios are the Alinco DR-135UK & DR-135CBA. More than likely the same exact radio with different band plans in stock form. Of course this radio can be re-programmed via a USB cable. Even with dual finals it is not a big AM modulator, but has a nice tone and good receive. Like all similar computerized radios such as the Anytone 5555, Alpha Max & Stryker 955, I run the "Hi-Cut" audio feature that tames the white noise inherent in these receivers. This rig is quite small with a real DIN footprint. It's probably the smallest AM/FM/SSB 10/11 Meter radio out now. I believe local operator "Badger" ran one of the CRE 8900s a few years back and I recall him mentioning that the display was not bright enough for vehicular use. I run mine as a base station after I re-wired a standard "RCI 6 pin to Cobra 4 pin" barrel style mic adapter. The display works well for me... Pretty Christmas Lights I heard this one last night and it sounded really good. How's the build quality? If ever I replace my Pluto, one of these (or similar) is high on my list.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 23, 2017 15:44:20 GMT -5
Build quality is average to below average. Not to Ham radio standards by any means yet, but not the cheapest Chinese plastic junk either. Construction is typical newer all SMD components on a PC board with ample internal RF shielding and a big heat sink in the back. It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals and has had several revisions & production improvements over the last few years. I'm sure it will hold up as a base unit, but I'm not so sure about the dash of a semi-truck or Tri-axle overtime. The CRE 8900 is still sold in the UK as well as the other variants I mentioned previously. www.thunderpole.co.uk/10m-amateur-radios/cre-8900-amatuer-radio.htmlMy radio's externally adjustable RF power allows me to dead key anywhere from 2-10 watts and peaks at only 8-20 watts AM. So really only a 1:2 ratio on AM. I was able to wake it it up a bit with my power desk mic, but really got some gain in modulation via a few external amplifier stages This radio is rock stable and should shine on SSB.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 23, 2017 16:33:55 GMT -5
Build quality is average to below average. Not to Ham radio standards by any means yet, but not the cheapest Chinese plastic junk either. Construction is typical newer all SMD components on a PC board with ample internal RF shielding and a big heat sink in the back. It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals and has had several revisions & production improvements over the last few years. I'm sure it will hold up as a base unit, but I'm not so sure about the dash of a semi-truck or Tri-axle overtime. The CRE 8900 is still sold in the UK as well as the other variants I mentioned previously. www.thunderpole.co.uk/10m-amateur-radios/cre-8900-amatuer-radio.htmlMy radio's externally adjustable RF power allows me to dead key anywhere from 2-10 watts and peaks at only 8-20 watts AM. So really only a 1:2 ratio on AM. I was able to wake it it up a bit with my power desk mic, but really got some gain in modulation via a few external amplifier stages This radio is rock stable and should shine on SSB. "It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals" For that reason alone, I would stay far-far away.........
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Mar 23, 2017 18:41:31 GMT -5
Build quality is average to below average. Not to Ham radio standards by any means yet, but not the cheapest Chinese plastic junk either. Construction is typical newer all SMD components on a PC board with ample internal RF shielding and a big heat sink in the back. It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals and has had several revisions & production improvements over the last few years. I'm sure it will hold up as a base unit, but I'm not so sure about the dash of a semi-truck or Tri-axle overtime. The CRE 8900 is still sold in the UK as well as the other variants I mentioned previously. www.thunderpole.co.uk/10m-amateur-radios/cre-8900-amatuer-radio.htmlMy radio's externally adjustable RF power allows me to dead key anywhere from 2-10 watts and peaks at only 8-20 watts AM. So really only a 1:2 ratio on AM. I was able to wake it it up a bit with my power desk mic, but really got some gain in modulation via a few external amplifier stages This radio is rock stable and should shine on SSB. "It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals" For that reason alone, I would stay far-far away......... What's the disadvantage?
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 23, 2017 21:40:44 GMT -5
"It uses 2xIRF520 MOSFETS for the finals" For that reason alone, I would stay far-far away......... What's the disadvantage? Those parts are switching MOSFETS, which several manufacturers turned to when the old bipolar transistors became unavailable (Thanks RoHS). The manufacturers like the switching MOSFETS because they are cheap. But they really aren't designed to be used as RF amplifiers (they're designed to be used in on-off switching applications) and the window for linear amplification is VERY narrow and keeping the transistor's bias in that narrow window is tricky, and the parts are known to blow real easily. They also don't like high SWR and tend to pop out easier than their older bipolar counterparts. Ask Sparky, he's had two radios with those MOSFETS in them, that decided to let out the magic smoke rather suddenly. Conversely, I can't remember the last time I blew a bipolar final in any of my radios.
|
|
|
Post by MonkeyMan on Mar 24, 2017 7:49:14 GMT -5
Those parts are switching MOSFETS, which several manufacturers turned to when the old bipolar transistors became unavailable (Thanks RoHS). The manufacturers like the switching MOSFETS because they are cheap. But they really aren't designed to be used as RF amplifiers (they're designed to be used in on-off switching applications) and the window for linear amplification is VERY narrow and keeping the transistor's bias in that narrow window is tricky, and the parts are known to blow real easily. They also don't like high SWR and tend to pop out easier than their older bipolar counterparts. Ask Sparky, he's had two radios with those MOSFETS in them, that decided to let out the magic smoke rather suddenly. Conversely, I can't remember the last time I blew a bipolar final in any of my radios. Ah, good to know. So, I doubt one of those radios would take the abuse the Pluto has seen over the last 25 years.
|
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
|
Post by Sandbagger on Mar 24, 2017 8:05:47 GMT -5
Those parts are switching MOSFETS, which several manufacturers turned to when the old bipolar transistors became unavailable (Thanks RoHS). The manufacturers like the switching MOSFETS because they are cheap. But they really aren't designed to be used as RF amplifiers (they're designed to be used in on-off switching applications) and the window for linear amplification is VERY narrow and keeping the transistor's bias in that narrow window is tricky, and the parts are known to blow real easily. They also don't like high SWR and tend to pop out easier than their older bipolar counterparts. Ask Sparky, he's had two radios with those MOSFETS in them, that decided to let out the magic smoke rather suddenly. Conversely, I can't remember the last time I blew a bipolar final in any of my radios. Ah, good to know. So, I doubt one of those radios would take the abuse the Pluto has seen over the last 25 years. Most likely not.
|
|
|
Post by BBB on Mar 25, 2017 13:00:01 GMT -5
The IRF520 MOSFETs are about $2 each. All newer CB radios have similar devices in them now. Just buy 10+ of 'em from RF parts and keep a soldering gun handy if you want to dabble in the new stuff. Some MOSFETs are very robust for RF use but can cost $100+ each www.rfparts.com/irf520.htmlSeriously thinking of putting these devices in an easily replaceable receptacle inside the radio like a 3 pin phoenix screw connector. I'm assuming you would want to keep them as close to the main PC board as possible yet still be able to bolt up to the casing (or heat sink)
|
|