I've fixed two Astrons for friends. One had a burned-out IC and the other had a damaged board where the capacitor mounting screws had loosened and generated heat. Both failed without producing overvoltage.
I have one that I've been using for perhaps 15 years with no problems. On 9/18/12 2:14 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > I guess it depends upon which Astron model you are working with. I've worked > with a great many RS and RM Astron supplies in Ham and Commercial systems > over the years and have never encountered one that made more than a very, > very quiet hum. > > I'm not sure what you mean about the regulator not being "quiet". The LM723 > is a simple linear I.C.; no switching noise and no acoustical noise. > > The popular RS and RM series have both automatic over-voltage and > over-current shut-down that protects both the power supply and any equipment > connected to it. > > In decades of use working with a great number of Astron supplies - many of > which are in 24/7 service operating commercial equipment - I've yet to see a > regulator failure - or any Astron failure for that matter. I'm not > suggesting that they won't fail, but I've yet to see it happen in, > conservatively, tens of thousands of operating hours. > > My station Astron resides on a shelf out of the way under the operating > table so having a matching appearance with the rest of the K-line is not an > issue for me. > > 73, Ron AC7AC > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > Being linear regulators, the Astron supplies are probably pretty RF quiet, > but for what they cost they are big and can be acoustically noisy (I have > heard several buzzing transformers), not to mention containing antiquated > circuitry. LM723 regulators are not the quietest nor most stable linear reg > ICs available these days, and have limited regulation bandwidth in stable > implementations. Considering these factors i have been reticent to buy one. > > I bet Elecraft can outdo what is available in a pretty little matching > package. > > Howie - WA4PSC -- Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
