I let the smoke out......(Part two of three)

[koØm]

My Radio room / Workshop is in the small unused bedroom that I have. My operating position was at a pre-fab desk that you get at Wally Mart and, a six foot long table that doubled as a workbench at times; It was ugly and old.

I was offered and acquired (see part one (https://forums.hamisland.net/showthread.php/27165-Human-Nature?p=615096&viewfull=1#post615096)) a new desk unit and, I decided to replace the old furnishing in the radio room with this new desk. The removal of the old table and desk required that I do a clean up of the room and a strategy of disconnecting the radio equipment, audio interfaces, Serial to USB CAT cables, computer and, monitors had to be developed. Plus, there were at least 40 pieces of stuff that needed to be put back in it's proper place.

Importantly, I unhooked all the radio equipment from it's chassis ground, leaving the connecting coax attached to one side of the device and moved everything out of the room. I did not unhook the antenna tuner from the antenna outside, I chose to sit the tuner on the window sill where the feed-line goes out the window.

I put in the new desk and repopulated the room with the radio equipment in the same configuration as before with the same coax connections and individual grounds tied to a common point.

When I went to the preset spots for the different frequencies, the SWR was way off on every frequency, I could not tune the antenna to any band; in what was the setting for the 10 meter band, the 20 meter band tuned there and, I could not tune any higher frequency than that. Even there, the SWR was 1.7 to 1 UNTIL I put my hand on the Dentron tuner and the SWR dropped down to 1.2 to 1 ; I move my hand, it went back up. This only happened when i touched the tuner, not the radio, coax or meter, only the tuner.

I put one test clip lead on the tuner chassis and when I touched it, the SWR also went down during transmit; I clipped two alligator leads together to extend the wire to my operating position but, when I keyed the transmitter, I received a nasty RF burn from the ground of my tuner!

I let the smoke out, my station will not transmit properly and bites me when I touch it.

.

[PA5COR]

Looks like a grounding problem and rf in the shack.
Check antenna connections, grounding ( you do use the right antenna? check all connections if they make proper contact.
It is easy with lots of gear daisy chained to forget a grounding cable to connect to a central grounding point...
Hot tuners/gear point to RF feedback into the shack.

[K7SGJ]

Sounds like maybe Tina needs to move in to your place? :stickpoke:

[koØm]

Sounds like maybe Tina needs to move in to your place? :stickpoke:

The Idea of bad "Ju-Ju" has entered my mind....

13448

.

[K7SGJ]

Her religion shouldn't be important.

[KJ3N]

The Idea of bad "Ju-Ju" has entered my mind....

13448

.

Is that the new setup, or the old one?

[K7SGJ]

Is that the new setup, or the old one?

That poor Heathkit sure looks lonely, doesn't it?

[NQ6U]

That poor Heathkit sure looks lonely, doesn't it?

If that's an SB-200, it's gonna get even lonelier when it comes time for new tubes—no one makes the 572B tube anymore. I almost bought one last year but ended up passing on the deal when I discovered that.

[koØm]

Is that the new setup, or the old one?

That's the new setup after assembly but before I put the rest of the gear back inline.

[PA5COR]

RF parts has a new batch of 572B's again.
But thn I opted for the Heathkit SB-1000 and put a new 3-500ZG from RFparts in it.

[KJ3N]

Getting back to the problem(s) at hand....

I would strip down to a very basic setup and start simple. Start with the 706, power supply, tuner and antenna. Forget any grounding stuff. In fact, I'd leave it out at the start and see what you get. I've seen more people get in trouble by over-engineering things.

[NQ6U]

RF parts has a new batch of 572B's again.
But thn I opted for the Heathkit SB-1000 and put a new 3-500ZG from RFparts in it.

Not according to their web site (http://www.rfparts.com/tubes/tubes-572b.html), unless they haven't updated it yet.

[PA5COR]

RF Parts Co. is not accepting orders for 572B tubes at this time.There will be a major announcement regarding availability of the new RF Parts 572B no later than December 19, 2014.


Yup....sorry

[W3WN]

If that's an SB-200, it's gonna get even lonelier when it comes time for new tubes—no one makes the 572B tube anymore. I almost bought one last year but ended up passing on the deal when I discovered that.Really? Oh, nutz. That was a good, solid amplifier tube for decades.

[NQ6U]

Really? Oh, nutz. That was a good, solid amplifier tube for decades.

Referring to the "What Would You Do With Five Trillion Dollars?" thread: I'd buy all the tooling and equipment from the now-shuttered Svetlana tube factory in Russia, move it all to the US and start manufacturing again.

[K7SGJ]

Referring to the "What Would You Do With One Trillion Dollars?" thread: I'd buy all the tooling and equipment from the now-shuttered Svetlana tube factory in Russia, move it all to the US and start manufacturing again.


Hmmm...........I wondered who you could get to suck all the air out of the glass envelope?

[KJ3N]

Hmmm...........I wondered who you could get to suck all the air out of the glass envelope?

Burt comes to mind...

[NQ6U]

Burt comes to mind...

No, I think he'd be better suited for inflating the tube envelopes in the glass blowing department.

[koØm]

Getting back to the problem(s) at hand....

I would strip down to a very basic setup and start simple. Start with the 706, power supply, tuner and antenna. Forget any grounding stuff. In fact, I'd leave it out at the start and see what you get. I've seen more people get in trouble by over-engineering things.

Yes, that is a problem, I don't know how to "not over-engineer" my work.

First thing I did was to go to the common grounding point (metal window frame) of the equipment clean it up and make sure it was tight and then made sure that the 'radial' lead from there (three stories down to ground rod) was intact. Next, I took a 50 ohm cantenna and I checked the SWR at the radio at each connection along the line to the tuner and finally, I looked at each power cord, if it had only 2 wires and I was able to reverse it in the AC plug, I did and then checked; I found that the plug on the SB 200 has been modified, the ground pin removed. I moved that plug to another surge protector and, I am not getting bitten anymore.

I've known for a while that at certain frequencies, the coax and feed to the tuner are part of the "Antenna", what I mean is, there are two SWR meters inline, one in the radio and one at the input of the antenna tuner. When they both agree, then I know that coax from the radio and the accessories in between the tuner are not affecting the signal to the antenna.

Then, there are times when I tune the antenna for the lowest reflected watts back and, the meters disagree; I go with the meter in the radio because the one at the tuner is showing what it sees at that point in the line where it is a bump in the transmit road.

Anyway, what used to be the setting for the old installations are close to where they were but, because the coax position has changed, the setting on the tuner have also changed for each band. It's back transmitting but, under a watchful eye for a while.

.

PS: BTW, I wouldn't get involved with the Ex-Wife, Ex-Girl-friend or, his Ex-Mistress if I knew he had one; and that includes his niece. I have seen a couple of spiteful women use some stupid men (and women) to get back at their significant other. I kinda believe that my radio woes were caused by "bad vibes" surrounding purge of the household items; maybe I should call in an Exorcist just to be sure.

.

[NQ6U]

RF Parts Co. is not accepting orders for 572B tubes at this time. There will be a major announcement regarding availability of the new RF Parts 572B no later than December 19, 2014.

Yup....sorry


Looks like RF Parts now has some 511A tubes in stock, but only if you have already placed an order. Full info here (http://www.rfparts.com/tubes/tubes-572b.html).

[W3WN]

Referring to the "What Would You Do With Five Trillion Dollars?" thread: I'd buy all the tooling and equipment from the now-shuttered Svetlana tube factory in Russia, move it all to the US and start manufacturing again.That, and add all the tooling and equipment that Taylor Tubes had purchased from Eimac.

[W3WN]

No, I think he'd be better suited for inflating the tube envelopes in the glass blowing department.Ummm, no.

Put him in the orchestra. After all, he does appear to prefer blowing his own horn... :twisted:

[W3WN]

Ahem.

Not to diverge too far off topic, but...

When we had to have the furnace replaced a few weeks back (and there's a lot of shekels that would have been better spent on radios & antennas, but I digress), I had to move a lot of stuff out of the way. Which led to the Boss making some suggestions about permanent re-arranging of all the stuff in the basement. So, it means I finally got the shack rebuild project un-stalled and back in business, albeit slowly.

To make room for my "work" desk, I had to remove some shelving and what had been planned as part of the operating bench. Next step will be to add some (better designed) shelving above the desk, and figure out how to move the Omni VI+ next to it, leaving the current spot for the VI for the Omni VII. This means that I'll be able to run 2 transmitters simultaneously when a friend comes over, if I want to. Or even 3, once I get the Corsair fully operational again & relocate it.

I also need to start making some coax jumper cables, and re-arrange the antenna switches, so that any of the 3 HF antennas could be switched to any rig.

I'd originally planned to get a small copper pipe from HD and run that under the bench for a common ground. I'm still planning on doing something like that, I'll just need a little more of it now.

[NQ6U]

I'd originally planned to get a small copper pipe from HD and run that under the bench for a common ground. I'm still planning on doing something like that, I'll just need a little more of it now.

That's how I have my station ground set up. In my case I mounted the copper pipe vertically since, in the tiny space I have available for my shack, I was forced to lay out my gear on a series of narrow shelves. It works pretty well; low RF impedance and very flexible—I can attach ground straps from my gear wherever it's most convenient.

[K7SGJ]

That's how I have my station ground set up. In my case I mounted the copper pipe vertically since, in the tiny space I have available for my shack, I was forced to lay out my gear on a series of narrow shelves. It works pretty well; low RF impedance and very flexible—I can attach ground straps from my gear wherever it's most convenient.

And when you get that water cooled kilowatt, you're all set to go. Now you won't have to hose it off to keep it cool.

[KG4NEL]

Ummm, no.

Put him in the orchestra. After all, he does appear to prefer blowing his own horn... :twisted:

I never trusted French horn players. Their hands naturally go places they shouldn't...

[K7SGJ]

I never trusted French horn players. Their hands naturally go places they shouldn't...

Don't mess with them. They are liable to hit you with a tuba four.

[NQ6U]

Don't mess with them. They are liable to hit you with a tuba four.

You'll look like a real bassoon.

[K7SGJ]

You'll look like a real bassoon.

Don't give me that same ole glockenspiel.

[NQ6U]

That was just viol. Don't be such an f-hole.

[K7SGJ]

That was just viol. Don't be such an f-hole.

Yeah yeah yeah. You keep trying to drum that into my head. Why don't you go fiddle with your radios instead of trying to string me along?

[W7XF]

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.

[W3WN]

Don't mess with them. They are liable to hit you with a tuba four.As long as it's not a sharp instrument.

[kb2vxa]

If you can't b# at least don't Bb.