Yesterday I spent a productive afternoon at the club shack.  We had been left a number of very cool items by
a former member who is now SK.  Two towers... one of which is already installed.  Also, get this, TWO,
count 'em, TWO Astron RS-70M power supplies.  One was new in the box, the other looked near new.  I pulled
the two power supplies we had on the HF rigs and put the RS-70Ms there, made up power cords, etc.  These
are hernia makers, just be warned.

Also placed on the desks, not yet hooked up, an Ameritron ALS-600 "no tune" amp and its associated power
supply, and with it, an LDG AT-1000 tuner.  I'll need to write up a procedure for how to use these, set the radio
to the correct drive power, etc.  And we can check that drive power, and output power with a NEW in the leather
case Bird power meter with all the slugs.

Ahhh... the smell of ozone in the afternoon!  The hum of the transformers!  

So, I spent the day rearranging the furniture there.  

On another note, one of our new club members, and new ham, climbed our tower and determined our rotator is
fine, no problem.  It had just been overhauled a few months before.  It is the bearings on the stinger that are frozen.

At least it is frozen in a good direction, for us on the Texas Gulf Coast, the Tribander is pointed to the north east.

On a funny note... Yesterday morning our neighbor across the street came over and talked to my wife in the
driveway as she was leaving for work.  I talked to my wife later that morning.  Our neighbor had seen someone
put something in her mailbox... which is on the same post as ours, all boxes on our side of the street.  

She found that it was a large manila full of rifle brass (5.56 to be exact).  She was all upset and called the
Sheriff's Office.  They sent a Deputy to pick it up, and he commented to her it was the same kind of brass
that they shot in their rifles at the SO.  That really upset the dear gal.

I knew just what it was all about.  A good friend, fellow church member, shooting buddy, and fellow ham, a
Detective with the SO called me a few days before, told me he had some brass for me (I reload) and would
drop it off at the house for me.  Apparently he got the wrong mailbox... hahaha...  I called the SO and told
the dispatcher to just have the Deputy give it back to the Detective.

Poor lady... she thought the brass was dangerous, might go off or something.  Empty brass.  

Is this her?



Score on the PS. I have the Astron 35, and it is a load, I can imagine what the 70 is like.

Then I got a SSB1223, OMG!  I can't believe how good it works and is so small!

Still use the Astron on my home rig.

uh.....pics?

Yeah, a couple of hernia makers (Astron supplies).  I had one of my Samlex 1223s there
at the club powering my person IC-7200.  It will now be powered by one of the RS-70Ms, so
I brought the Samlex home.  It is like new.  When I put the LDG AT-1000 in service I'll take
back my IT-100.  

Yeah, the Samlex supplies, as far as being noisy I can't find any.  I've switched from the
Samlex to battery and back and am not finding there is any difference.  

I need to get club approval to buy some West Mountain Rig Runner powerpole strips to
take advantage of the Astrons.

I have to make up some cables, power from one Astron supply to one of the two IC-7200s (done) and a cable for
power from power supply to the AT-1000 tuner.  Will be doing that this afternoon.  It is not all in place yet.  I think
in the store room, there is a box of jumpers with the SK stuff, so I won't have to make up any.

Having 600 watts at our fingertips, and being solid state "no tune", plus the automatic tuner, should make it near
idiot proof... no, but should be easier.

+1 pics!

Can you wait until I'm done?  Sheesh!!!

 

For you "pics or it didn't happen" guys...

HF Station 1



HF station 1 includes a very fresh Icom IC-7200 purchased this past year.  The deal included the Heil
mic just to its right.  I've done a mod to its stock mic.  Some club members prefer the hand mic, some
prefer the desk mic.  So we can accomodate either preference.

The LDG IT-100 tuner there before was just replaced today with an LDG AT-1000 (rated 1000 w) tuner
from a former member who is now SK.  We are proud to use his excellent gear.  He spent his money
wisely, choosing gear with lots of "bang for the buck", and took care of it.  Nothing "cheap", all good
quality, long lasting, high performance gear.

The Astron RS-70M on the shelf replaces the former RS-50A.  The 50A goes back in the storeroom for
possible sale or backup.  This RS-70M was still in its original box.  It appears to have never been used.



The Ameritron ALS-600 is a solid state "no tune" amp.  It is rated at 600 watts.  It has its own power
supply.  It was obvious that the power supply would create the most heat, and its vents were on top of
its case.  The amplifier's vents were on the sides, so I make the assumption that they stack with the
power supply on top.  There is a big multi pin connector connecting the two units.  

I still need to add a RCA phono cable from the radio to the amp to trigger PTT during transmit.

I went back into the IC-7200's menus and turned the "Tune on PTT" menu to Off.  This feature will not
work with this tuner as it did with the IT-100 tuner.

There is a patch panel for our three HF antennas on the wall just above and to the right of this IC-7200.  
The HF antennas include a Moseley 20-15-10 m "Tribander" on a rotator atop the 60' Rohn commercial
grade tower.  Also a 75 m dipole tuned exactly to our regional traffic net, which becomes a hurricane
net when needed.  The third antenna is an OCFD described further down.  No antenna switches, just
connect the jumper from the radio to the desired antenna.  No chance of crossing things up.

In the SK stuff I found a "wall wart" to power the LDG AT-1000 tuner, and a Daiwa CN-801 power meter.  
The amp has its own SWR/Power meter, as does the tuner, but this Daiwa is easier to read and will
really help at low power levels when setting up for digital.

Here is the other HF Station.



This IC-7200 is my personal radio.  I have another 7200 in a portable kit, too.  So, we have enough
7200s in this club that everyone should be able to familiarize themselves with them for club events.

The second Astron RS-70M was placed above this station to power it.  I removed the Samlex
SEC-1223 from this stack and brought it back home, along with the IT-100 tuner from the other
HF rig.  My other IT-100 tuner will still be used for this radio, and the club's Daiwa CN-702b serves
for setting up for digital and checking SWR.  This radio connects to a longer coax jumper that
goes across to the patch panel above the first HF rig.  It can be connected to any of the three
HF antennas, but is usually connected to the 80 m OCFD (aka "Windom").  It can work 80/75, 40,
20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and 6 meters.  It cannot work 160 or 60 meters.  This rig also has a mic mod.

We have, for contests and Field Day, headsets with boom mics.  Also, a box of assorted headsets
for loggers.  We keep the two Heil headsets along with needed cables and foot PTT pedals in
these boxes to keep them clean and not lose or misplace cables.



The gallon size Ziplock bag contains smaller baggies which have spare fuses.  Each baggie is marked
as to which piece of equipment the fuses go to.  There is not an excessive number of fuses, just a
few each.  If an item blows one fuse, OK.  If it blows a second replacement something is wrong and
more serious than just a blown fuse.  Continuing to waste fuses in it is not going to fix it.  In such a
situation that item will be taken out of service and repaired when possible.






And we have some assorted power meters we don't need right away.  Yes, that is a new in leather
case Bird meter.  These will remain on the shelves in the store room, for sale or whatever.  I've already
put the Daiwa CN-801H into service with the first rig, the one with the amp.



Well, guys, that's a rundown of the club HF gear.  Just the HF gear.  The other side of the room
has 2m gear, computers and radios for IRLP, APRS, Echolink, etc.  Our repeater is in the old Sheriffs
Office building with its antenna up on their tower.

NICE!  thx for pics....those Astrons are Beasts

You're welcome.

I came home and took some aspirin for my aching back...

Finished installation of the amp, adjustment and testing.  

I met up with a fellow club member to finish installation and testing of the amp at the station.

I had made up two more jumpers, and had some RCA phono patch cords (like used for stereo gear) for the new amp.

I dug around in the boxes as suggested by the club president and found a 12 v wall wart to power the LDG AT-1000 tuner.
We also came up with another wall wart for the backlight on the Daiwa CN-801H meter.

The signal chain is

IC-7200 Txcvr > ALS-600 amplifier > Daiwa 801 SWR/power meter > LDG AT-1000 tuner > antenna.



First, with the amp off, which puts it in Bypass mode we set the radio to 20 watts power and RTTY mode.  This
generates a carrier.  If you use CW mode you must have a key connected to get a signal out.  Simply keying the
mic won't do it.  So, RTTY mode, key the mic, and with the Daiwa meter set to the 0-20 scale, we had about 18
watts out.

The radio was set to 3.900 mhz, antenna connected was the 75 m dipole.  Band switch on the amp was set
accordingly, but at this point it did not matter with the amp off.

The Tune button on the tuner was pushed and it tuned quickly to about 1.3:1 SWR.  That was further touched up
manually using the Up/Dn L and C buttons.  When it was down to 1:1 SWR, I pressed the two Up buttons to save
that setting into memory.  I did the same every 20 khz from 3.800 to 4.000.  Now it will tune with just one "click" of
the tuner relays all through the 75m band.

My fellow ham and I read the amplifier manual together carefully.  We made the interconnections between the transceiver
and amp correctly, double checked that they were all correct.  The ALC adjustment on back was set as instructed.

We started with radio power setting of 20 watts, and via the amp had 100 watts out.  We transmitted again after adjusting
the radio up to 40 watts, then 60 watts, 80 watts, and finally 100 watts.

ALC set on back was adjusted from 475 watts up to 550 watts (maximum rating of this amp is 600 watts).  We figured
that was close enough.

Now, with the ALC knob on the front the output can be adjusted down, but it will not go over 550 watts, even with 100
watts drive from the radio.  That's good.

We then switched to Lower Side Band mode, and giving the club call sign, we had voice peaks at about 500 watts
using the peak setting on the meter.  All good.

The ALC light was not flashing on the amp (also good).

There is no power switch on the amp's power supply.  When the amp power switch is turned on, the supply turns on,
too.

There is a switch on the amp's supply, "RTTY" and "Normal".  "Normal" is used for CW, SSB, AM, etc.  Since RTTY is a
high duty cycle mode, putting the power supply in "RTTY" will reduce voltage from about 50 volts to 40 volts, and power
from max down to about 325 watts.  For all that we do, we'll leave the power supply set to "Normal."

It is not necessary to adjust the transceiver's power below 100 watts.  You may, but not necessary.  It will not hurt the amp.

The amp has a number of protection features... thermal, SWR, etc, that will protect it from most faults.  Again, for a club
rig this is ideal.

I've placed the amp power supply to the side of the amp, and have both units angled toward the station operator.

We are going to put some additional support under the shelf above the rigs and eventually move the amp's
power supply up onto that shelf with the other two supplies, freeing up desk space for logging, computers, etc.

That's the "After Action Report".

~ Jup

Going with plan B, we are going to get some more shelf brackets up to support the weight of the
two Astron RS-70s as well as the Ameritron ALS-600's power supply.

What monsters!

We will be asking for club approval to buy some West Mountain Radio Rig Runners to use along
with the two RS-70s.

I've been operating the Ameritron ALS-600 amp.  I like it!  I think I will put my AL-811H up for sale and put
the proceeds toward an ALS-600.

Talked to some hams about 6 pm local time on 75 meters.  They are a little over 200 miles away.  They were the
only ones on the band at that time.

Good signal reports.  Barefoot, 100 w, report of S9 or so.  Kicked in the amp, 550 w, S12 to S15.  After turning off
Mic Compression they told me the audio was "near broadcast quality".  

They thought it sounded good at 100 w, but amp really jumped up the signal.

That's good enough for me!

Sounds like you got it dialed in!

Congrats, great stuff.



 

Thanks!

I had previously done everything except a QSO asking for signal and audio quality report.

That was all through the plain center fed 75 m dipole.

Also noted that the amp and power supply didn't even feel warm, unlike my Ameritron AL-811H
back at home which can keep you warm on a cold winter's day with it's four Svetlana 572Bs.

Both amps have that nice "thunk-hmmmmmmm" on turn on.    I like that with a big audio
amp I have, turn on, "thunk-hmmmmmm" and the lights dim for a second.  Yeah, Buddy!  
MORE POWER!!!!  Could only be better if there were a big knife switch on the wall, some
sparks.  "Zzzzt! Thunk-hmmmmmmm..."


More shelf brackets put up under the power supplies, and the amplifier's supply was also moved up to the shelf with brackets under it.

A little update...

Switching the Icom 7200 down to 15 watts, changing mode to RTTY, activating the LDG AT-1000 tuner, then switching
everything back was a pain in the drain.

I have added this to the 7200.

http://w2eny.com/tenatunerplus/



This is the W2ENY Ten-a-Tuner Plus.  With this little gadget plugged into the tuner control socket in the back of the Icom 7200
you just push the Tuner button on the radio, the radio switches to 10 watts, carrier, and transmits for about 12-14 seconds.  
After pushing the Tune button on the radio, you immediately push the Tune button on the LDG AT-1000.  It will tune long
before the radio stops transmitting its 10 w carrier.  When the radio stops transmitting it automatically switches back to
the previous mode and power setting, which in our case will be 100 w SSB most of the time.  All parts are under the rubber
boot on the plug.

Aside, the Ten-a-Tuner also works with the Icom IC-718.

A nice addition to the radio, and a nice tuning aid for manual tuners, too.  

I didn't get permission to add Rig Runners, but I did make up two short 10 ga pigtails, each about 6"-8" long, with
ring terminals on one end, Powerpoles on the other.  I connected these to the terminals on back of both Astron
supplies.

In addition I made up a longer 10 ga jumper, red/black zip, about 6' long, also with Powerpoles on each end.  This
is stored in one of the desk drawers.  Should one supply go down it can be unplugged, and the jumper connect
between the two supplies, thus supplying power from the one 70 amp working supply over to the rig on the other side.

I've also picked up some Philmore power plugs, and made up some power cables with 18 ga red/black zip cord, to
Powerpoles on the other end.  These bring power to the Daiwa SWR/Power meters backlight and the LDG AT-1000
tuner.  Now we don't have to plug / unplug the "wall warts" for those two devices.  When the Astron supply is powered
up, they come on.  I added these using a 4-way Powerpole thingy.  Little red plastic clips were put on all connected
Powerpole pairs so they won't come unplugged accidentally.

There, it's done!  



No applause... no applause... just throw money!

I was starting to think I had died and left my stuff to your club for a minute.

I have two of those power supplies as well as one of those amps

You also might find some .223 brass lying around here and a Bird meter.

Sounds like a great club. We are lucky to have meetings in the back of a restruant.

Yep, found your Bird meter.




I'm still looking for the brass.