[Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuit finished
Boys and girls. as anyone with a drake TR series rig knows, loose the bias and you cook your finals. It's a simple as that. I've been working on the problem for a while and while I have yet to build the circuit, I have a conceptual design that seems to solve the problem. If lost of bias is observed, the AC4 simply shuts off. There's no blown fuses, popped circuit breakers nor arcs or sparks. There's no crowbar that's jammed into the works. There's that old saying about thinking outside the box, well at the end of the day, everything still has to go back into the box. Herein lies the problem. If you used one of my AC4R rebuild kits, there's plenty of room left on the other side of the transformer to a pcb to go. That being said, if you already have the AC4R installed, your odds of a bias failure is rather remote. So, the problem right now is trying to shoehorn the circuit inside the original AC4. I'll tighten the design, build a few to see how they work. Right now: Totally transparent to the user. You won't know the protection is there. Trying to get it inside the original AC4 case Should lost of bias be detected, power supply simply shuts off. Soft start on AC primary side Once tripped, power supply will NOT turn back on till problem is fixed Thinking about Along with lost of bias, low bias (adjustable set point) would trigger shut down A few LEDS so you can peek inside to see status of control circuit A sense wire could be run to the transceiver to monitor the plug got loose on the radio Boys and girls, how about some input? MIke, WB8VGE Mike, WB8VGE SunLight Energy Systems The Heathkit Shop http://www.theheathkitshop.com/ J e e p o|||o A man with one clock knows what time it is. A man with two clocks is never sure. ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
Re: [Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuitfinished
Mike, I'm new to Drake equipment, own a T-4XB, T-4X, and an AC-4. The previous AC-4 owner claimed to have recapped it. A cost-effective solution preventing damage to expensive components from bias failure would be attractive. And, your concept seems useful, except that correcting the AC-4 shutdown would likely ( for me ) just involve installing an AC4R. My thoughts would be that if the bias failed, everything in the AC-4 is suspect. So... If the AC4R makes bias failure a remote probablility as compared to that of a recapped AC-4, wouldn't I be advised to just install the kit to preempt failure? 73, Curt KB5jO - Original Message - From: Mike Bryce To: drakelist Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:59 AM Subject: [Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuitfinished Boys and girls. as anyone with a drake TR series rig knows, loose the bias and you cook your finals. It's a simple as that. I've been working on the problem for a while and while I have yet to build the circuit, I have a conceptual design that seems to solve the problem. If lost of bias is observed, the AC4 simply shuts off. There's no blown fuses, popped circuit breakers nor arcs or sparks. There's no crowbar that's jammed into the works. There's that old saying about thinking outside the box, well at the end of the day, everything still has to go back into the box. Herein lies the problem. If you used one of my AC4R rebuild kits, there's plenty of room left on the other side of the transformer to a pcb to go. That being said, if you already have the AC4R installed, your odds of a bias failure is rather remote. So, the problem right now is trying to shoehorn the circuit inside the original AC4. I'll tighten the design, build a few to see how they work. Right now: Totally transparent to the user. You won't know the protection is there. Trying to get it inside the original AC4 case Should lost of bias be detected, power supply simply shuts off. Soft start on AC primary side Once tripped, power supply will NOT turn back on till problem is fixed Thinking about Along with lost of bias, low bias (adjustable set point) would trigger shut down A few LEDS so you can peek inside to see status of control circuit A sense wire could be run to the transceiver to monitor the plug got loose on the radio Boys and girls, how about some input? MIke, WB8VGE Mike, WB8VGE SunLight Energy Systems The Heathkit Shop http://www.theheathkitshop.com/ J e e p o|||o A man with one clock knows what time it is. A man with two clocks is never sure. -- ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
Re: [Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuit finished
The loss-of-bias protector sounds like a great idea. I have a couple of Original AC-4s and one rebuilt with the kit, I also have a kit in inventory just waiting for the moment when another AC-4 starts going south. If the proposed protector is very very inexpensive and very easy to install, then the idea of if it isn't broken, then don't fix applies and the safety would be worth it. BUT, I think that the present kit to recap and all is not that expensive and might not really take that much extra effort to install as long as the AC-4 box is opened. If the proposed Gizmo were a coupling that would go between the powersupply and the Xmiter - say a male and female Cinchblock, that would be a protector w/o the effort of opening the Box. There the gizmo's LEDs could be seen. Why not go whole hog - build an RS 232 connector into the gizmo with a total diagnostic software that would tie into Ham Radio Delux Pardon the reductio ad absurdum. I've been out of the box too long. 73, Kris (KA2OIG) htmlbody style=word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; Boys and girls.divbr/divdivas anyone with a drake TR series rig knows, loose the bias and you cook your finals. It's a simple as that./divdivbr/divdivI've been working on the problem for a while and while I have yet to build the circuit, I have a conceptual design that seems to solve the problem./divdivbr/divdivIf lost of bias is observed, the AC4 simply shuts off. There's no blown fuses, popped circuit breakers nor arcs or sparks. There's no crowbar that's jammed into the works./divdivbr/divdivThere's that old saying about thinking outside the box, well at the end of the day, everything still has to go back into the box. Herein lies the problem./divdivbr/divdivIf you used one of my AC4R rebuild kits, there's plenty of room left on the other side of the transformer to a pcb to go. That being said, if you already have the AC4R installed, your odds of a bias failure is rather remote./divdivbr/divdivSo, the problem right now is trying to shoehorn the circuit inside the original AC4. /divdivbr/divdivI'll tighten the design, build a few to see how they work./divdivbr/divdivRight now:/divdivbr/divdivTotally transparent to the user. You won't know the protection is there./divdivTrying to get it inside the original AC4 case/divdivShould lost of bias be detected, power supply simply shuts off./divdivSoft start on AC primary side/divdivOnce tripped, power supply will NOT turn back on till problem is fixed/divdivbr/divdivThinking about/divdivbr/divdivAlong with lost of bias, low bias (adjustable set point) would trigger shut down/divdivA few LEDS so you can peek inside to see status of control circuit/divdivA sense wire could be run to the transceiver to monitor the plug got loose on the radio/divdivbr/divdivbr/divdivBoys and girls, how about some input?/divdivbr/divdivMIke, WB8VGE/divdivbrdiv apple-content-edited=true span class=Apple-style-span style=border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; div style=word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; span class=Apple-style-span style=border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; div style=word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; divdiv style=margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font face=Helvetica size=3 style=font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; Mike, WB8VGE/font/divdiv style=margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font face=Helvetica size=3 style=font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; SunLight Energy Systems/font/divdiv style=margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font face=Helvetica size=3 style=font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; The Heathkit Shop/font/divdiv style=margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font face=Helvetica size=3
Re: [Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuit finished
Mike Bryce wrote: Boys and girls, how about some input? Hi Mike, Could you redesign the AC4R to include the bias fail mode protection? Anyone who has already done the AC4R upgrade probably won't need the additional protection. Anyone who has NOT done the AC4R upgrade would probably appreciate the bias fail mode protection. I've done one upgrade and have a spare AC4 that needs an upgrade. I'd be very happy to pay a bit more to install an AC4R-II that included the bias fault protection. At that point, the supply with the AC4R would become the back up supply and the AC4R-II would become the primary supply.. 73 and THANK YOU, -Doug, W7KF ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
[Drakelist] Drake mn-2000
anyone looking for a Drake MN-2000 I have a lead on one still in the BOX,.. I am going to go tomorrow and if so I shall buy it put mine up for sell. Joey A.R.S. W5TFW Richard J. Fiero II www.w5tfw.com www.6mt.com Life's Tough,.. Its even tougher if you are Stupid ! John Wayne___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
Re: [Drakelist] Drake AC4 loss of bias voltage conceptual circuit finished
Everyone! thanks for all the input... like I said in my first post, this is a conceptual design. right now, there's not enough room to put the circuit on the ac4r pcb, it just won't fit. I've been asked about a price, Well it is way to early for that. I don't have a clue, remember this is only a paper design. To make the circuit stand alone, that's not going to work. You need to monitor the bias voltage so there has to be someway to do that, and I don't like the idea of breaking the radio cable and inserting a black box. If I used two connectors, and another hunk of wire, then perhaps, but that's a real cluster and the cost/benefit is not there. I mean, really do you want a black box and extra cables between the rig? Sounds like a PITA to me. I don't favor running a wire from the rig back to a black box either. That's just tacky. And like I mentioned in my first post, if you indeed have done the upgrade, the chance of loosing the bias is very low, so this will be a project for those that still use the original version. However that being said, the bias protection circuit will require some wire cutting and working of the basic circuit. and if you're going to do that, you may as well put in the upgrade. I'll work some more on the design. I have a un-touched ac4 and will break out the ruler and take some measurements. the project continues... mike Mike, WB8VGE SunLight Energy Systems The Heathkit Shop http://www.theheathkitshop.com/ J e e p o|||o A man with one clock knows what time it is. A man with two clocks is never sure. ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
[Drakelist] KW0J w/Drake C line twins
Listening on 7.150 tonight (yep, it's past my bedtime). KW0J Gary hitting me with crystal clear audio whether from the end fed dipole or the Gap vertical. 20 over S9 the whole time. Said he's running barefoot with a plain jane Shure mic. Sure is nice to hear Drake twins in action. :) 73,Brett ___ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist
