10 Meter Amp

[kb2vxa]

"I have a Communications Power HF-150 here in the shack. ... That amp works very well with a 10W-class HF transceiver."
That's a whole different story than throttling back a ham rig to drive a CB amp. That's like the 100W P-P 80-10M broadband solid state amp I had back in the day, only it lacked a RX preamp. Fine with me, like I said if you have a good RX to begin with all it does is drag in more noise.

While on the subject of amps, Motorola made a 5W in 50W out VHF Class C amp for use with police HTs in a mobile Convertacom, a shoe with contacts for antenna and power. When I was living in West Creek working the world at K2PG Superstation I found that amp at a hamfester, bought it for a song, re-tuned it for 2M and hooked it up to Phil's antique packet station using an HT. That sure sped things up, ack and frack finally got together and sent resend pack(et)ing.

[KG4CGC]

The resistors have arrived and as soon as I get a couple of other things done this weekend I'll get back on this project.

[KG4CGC]

The delay: weather.
If it's not raining too much tomorrow (Monday) I should get the new 10m antenna hoisted back up in the air. Today I was able to get the supports up in the trees before it got too dark to see.
The antenna will consist of either 8ga wire or 4 strands of 12ga twisted together. Haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll use both.
The new 10m ant will occupy the previous space that the OCF was in. It will be higher than the old one, stronger and more wide banded. I hope. Once that's back in the air I will further test the relays on the amp. I know what you're all saying: Dummy Load. I have an old Heathkit Cantenna that is a little over half full. Not sure what to put in it. I was warned however that, the current liquid is the dangerous (toxic) stuff and I really don't like keeping it around. I think they have superfund sites full of transformers that have the same stuff in them. If I knew the proper way to get rid of it without the hazmat guys coming out it would have been done, hihi.
I'll take pictures of the other side of the board and I think the best thing to do with regard to the preamp is to just bypass it. Any advice towards that end would be very much appreciated.

After I get that done I will revise the OCF in the hopes that I will be able to load it up on 160m. If not, no worries. Last time I had a 160m antenna that was agreeable with the tuner, it was NVIS and just a dandy worm toaster. The tuner is an MFJ-948. If the antenna for 160m isn't close to size, it will arc the caps.
With regard to running the Corsair at 5 watts: it was designed to run at whatever level you set to from 3 watts to 100 watts without any degradation in overall performance. Ask me how I know.

[WØTKX]

Cantenna, then and now

[KG4CGC]

Cantenna, then and now

Thank you.
Mine is red. Was told it was bad stuff. Can mineral oil be mixed with the other stuff?

[WZ7U]

Red? That sounds like automatic transmission fluid.

[KG4CGC]

Red? That sounds like automatic transmission fluid.

Or transformer oil from the 1970's.

[WØTKX]

Or Marvel Mystery Oil.

Drain it all out, with appropriate mystery recycling.

Wipe it clean, maybe rubbing alcohol on the rags.

If there isn't much of the old stuff left mixing it with plain mineral oil won't hurt anything.

Mineral oil in bulk is cheaper at feed or farm stores. Like for horses.

Used my MFJ clone the past week. My amp is back up and running. Yay!
.

[WZ7U]

I would think Marvel would flash over at some point, but point taken. I suppose the mystery fluid could've started out as off road diesel and gets thicker with each application.

[KG4CGC]

Thank you, Dave.

The antenna is back up at 70' in a almost perfect inverted-V configuration. I decided on twisting 4 strands of solid 12ga. I started with a total of almost 10' and twisted it down to 8' 3". Used an aluminum mobile mirror mount to attach the legs and coax in a neat and strengthy package. Choke balun and a heavy ferrite collar near the PL-259. It was heavy. Probably the heaviest antenna I've built to date. 100' of coax adding to it swinging like chimp in the breeze. Stress relief to the feedpoint with heavy dacron cord through the balun and mount.
It's broadbanded.

And now to break the amp down further ...