From: "Jim Candela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
At the following link is a schematic of an AM rig that uses similar
tubes. You could replace the 6AG7 with a 6V6 or 6K6, and replace the two
6LF6's with four 6DQ6's. This rig is good for 25 watts AM, and doesn't
need
a modulation transformer. The downside is the Class A series modulator,
and
the need for a +1100v B+. It sure is simple though, and should be easy to
home brew.
I wouldn't recommend replacing a 6AG7 that is used as a straight-through rf
amplifier with a 6V6 or 6K6. 6AG7's are too easy to find, and the 6AG7 is
extremely well shielded internally, and rarely requires neutralisation. The
6V6, 6K6, 6F6, 6L6, 41, 42, 47, 59 and similar tubes were designed to be
used as audio output tubes in broadcast receivers. Even though they are
pentodes or beam power tetrodes, the screen and suppressor grids in those
tubes do not provide very good internal shielding, since that was not
required in audio amplifiers. These tubes may become unstable when used as
rf amplifiers where the input and output frequencies are the same. This
instability can be eliminated by neutralising, but it is cumbersome to go to
the trouble to neutralise tubes in low power intermediate rf stages.
This is exactly why the audio output tubes listed above used to be so
popular as crystal oscillators. There is enough internal feedback due to
the poor shielding that they can easily be made to oscillate without
additional rf feedback circuitry - just put the xtal in the grid circuit,
and tune the plate to the crystal frequency, and it should go into stable
oscillation near the resonant point. The screen and/or suppressor grids
provide just enough shielding to limit the crystal current to a safe value.
If a well-shielded tube such as the 6AG7, 802, 807, etc. is used, it is
sometimes necessary to add a small coupling capacitor between plate and
control grid, or use some of the more exotic oscillator circuits that
provide the feedback external to the tube. The coupling capacitor need be
nothing more than a "gimmick", a couple of short pieces of hookup wire
twisted together.
I once had a most mysterious problem with a transmitter - it would go into
(very stable) self-oscillation on 160m with nothing but the filaments on, in
standby mode with the HV power supply completely turned off by cutting off
the a.c. voltage to the HV power transformer. At first I noticed it as an
unidentified carrier that kept popping up near my operating frequency. It
was very stable, so I assumed it to be someone tuning up near-by, but they
never ID'ed. This drove me up a wall for a couple of weeks, as I thought it
must be someone local, since the s-meter did not move to indicate any QSB.
One time I just happened to adjust one of the tuning knobs on the rf
exciter, and the carrier went away. Upon further investigation, I
discovered that turning the tuning knob changed the frequency of the
carrier! It would have made a good VFO, it was so stable. But how could
the stage go into oscillation with no DC voltage on the tube?
The offending stage used a 6V6, as a buffer stage to the external VFO. The
power supply used a 5R4 rectifier tube. I started to measure voltages, and
discovered that the plate of the 6V6 stage had about +15 volts. I could
short out the B+ line to that stage, and the oscillation would stop. I
pulled out the 5R4 rectifier, and the oscillation would stop, but shorting
out the transformer winding did not kill the DC voltage or the oscillation.
Therefore, it was not due to the plate transformer picking up stray 60~ a.c.
by magnetic coupling to another transformer. After some head-scratching, I
finally figured out what was happening. I killed the DC voltage by opening
a relay in the a.c. line to the transformer, but the filament of the 5R4
stayed on all the time. With no transformer voltage, there were enough
stray electrons randomly hitting the rectifier tube plates from the heated
filament, to generate about 15 volts DC.
My solution to the problem was to change the 6V6 buffer stage to a 6AG7.
That took care of the oscillation. That 6V6 stage must have been very prone
to self-oscillation. I still use that rf exciter unit to drive my lower
power homebrew transmitter, usually tuned to 40m.
Don k4kyv
_______________________________________________________________
This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/
http://gigliwood.com/abcd/
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