Sometimes ya gotta go big

[N8YX]

At the risk of being called a "Rat Bastard", I went after a couple of these on FleaBay fairly aggressively:

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/fm_txvrs/ps30ic.jpg

I averaged $320 apiece for them. Which is a lot of mazoola, right? And the popular argument goes that one may simply find said items at their neighborhood hamfest, instead of buying them online.

The problem is...I've never seen one, let alone TWO of the PSUs for sale at any of our area venues. Of course, there are the elusive Classified Ads which pop up once every year or so - and the PS30s which are advertised therein are sold within minutes of being posted.

So...let's perform a little mathematical exercise. Assume that at one of these mythical hamfests, an IC-PS30 with a selling price or $200 awaits. Assume also that it takes 6 months or so worth of travel to actually find one:

2 hamfests per month x 6 months = 12 hamfests.

12 hamfests x $6 admission = $72.

Average round-trip distance to hamfest = 75 miles (most are more).

12 x 75 = 900.

Assume 25MPG in 'DSG's car. Worse if she's driving.

900/25 = 36 gallons of gas (excluding other wear and tear on the vehicle).

36 x $3.19 (87 octane) = $114.84

$114.84 + $72 + $200 = (someone who advocates mining the 'fests for these items is on crack. You may travel further before laying your hands on one of the supplies, however...so these figures are merely a starting point.)


Assume there's such a beast at Dayton:

400-mile round trip = $50 in gas

2 nights at 'DSG's idea of a suitable hotel = $350

Weekend admission x 2 = $50

Food, parking, etc at the church = $50

We're at $500 and we haven't even bought the damned supply.


Yes, I'm a Rat Bastard...but I haz Icom PSUs. :yes:

[kd8dey]

Might not match BUT I find Astrons to be much cheaper and have better availability :)

[N8YX]

Might not match BUT I find Astrons to be much cheaper and have better availability :)
I have several of them in capacities of 50A and up. The neat thing about the Icom supply is that it's a switcher and has three auxiliary outputs on the back. Thus, your IC-751A, R-71A, AT-500 and another piece of equipment which draws less than 10A may all be powered from it without the rat's nest that forms around the Astron's binding posts.

Both of my big (70A) units are going to be put into service powering VHF/UHF amps. The VS-50M which is under the desk currently powers 16 receivers/scanners, a TS-440S, TS-660, TM-221A, a 19-1210 MURS radio, 2 DSP-599zx, 2 ARB-704s and 3 SW-2000s "on demand". All of that equipment is connected to the PSU via a pair of Powerpole strips and those are going to get battery backups in the near future.

[PA5COR]

I buildt my own 80 amp PSU 29 years back to feed the 2 x MRF 247 2 meter homebrew amp.
Never let me down, i only changed the "heart"from the LM 723 to the L 200 voltage and Amp regulating.
Total cost then about 300 Dollars mainly for the 19" rack i bought new then for it.

Believe me i abused it, from running amps, transceivers, charging car batteries, etc.
8 x 2N 3772, forced air cooling etc, main trick on our ham evenings was to short circuit the output on 80 amps and let it be for an hour.
Nice heater ;)

Now mostly using the small SEC 1223....

[N9FE]

How clean.. Or do they have birdies. I've never had good luck with switchers.

[N8YX]

How clean.. Or do they have birdies. I've never had good luck with switchers.
Extremely. Like, lab-grade clean...

[KG4CGC]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/1cef1360.jpg