Marlborough Flea 2008

[W1IA]

Under Station Links & Photos sec...check out Marlborough Flea pics

Brent W1IA

[K0ARA]

Brent
 More pic's of K1KBW's RF deck. Were are the shunt caps?

                                        Mike

[W1IA]

Brent
 More pic's of K1KBW's RF deck. Were are the shunt caps?

                                        Mike

weren't installed yet...They went to QIX's to finish last night.

Brent

[WA1GFZ]

So did it make juice or fire?

[W1IA]

So did it make juice or fire?

They had it running...vac cap was junk though

[steve_qix]

So did it make juice or fire?

The rig worked !!!    The vacuum variable was bad.  JS'ed in an air variable; found some wiring anomalies; fixed those, messed around with the input tuning network, and it worked!!

Now, Bob has to finish the modulator.  The P/S is done.

Good stuff!

Regards,

Steve

[W1IA]

Resized all pics for 800X600 so dial-ups have a chance!

Brent W1IA

[WA1GFZ]

Too bad about the Cap. I think Murphy surplus has some the same size. They came out of Harris antenna tuners.
What size is Bob's modulator module. I've been trying to come up with a module size to build a self contained modulator and filter. I quickly found it won't fit in an 8 3/4 panel and hold the filters. Next panel size is looking a bit small too.

[Carl WA1KPD]

How was the flea?

Went to the ARC Show in Westford today. Usual stuff for that show. Picked up  real nice looking small box AK20 and a box of literature.

Saw Larry NE1S Jon K2TQN to speak with. Mike W1RC had a booth.

Saw HLR and UJR but did not get a chance to speak with them.

[WA1GFZ]

I missed it for the first time since my Daughter was born 17 years ago. I worked late Friday and was too crapped out.
Later took my first ride to the beach this year with a heavy load of building materials. I went to home Depot for angle aluminum to build my modulator and was shocked at the price of lumber. Doug Fir 2 X 4 X 8 under $2. It hasn't been that cheap since about 1980. now is the time to stock up on lumber before the fake economy boost checks arrive driving prices back up.

[WA1GFZ]

I'm just talking about those checks we receive in May and have to pay back next year. Now that is bogus.

[steve_qix]

Brent
 More pic's of K1KBW's RF deck. Were are the shunt caps?

                                        Mike

Oh, even if the shunt caps were installed, you would not be able to see them 

This transmitter uses the new multi-layer ceramic capacitors from American Technical Ceramics.  I've been experimenting with these little beauties - they are INCREDIBLE.  So, there is one (1) .3x.3 inch (very small) multilayer ceramic capacitor, 1000pF per module, installed.  These capacitors have a silver strip approximately 1/2 inch long attached to each end for easy installation.

If you want to look them up, they are the 100C series with the MS (micro strip) termination. 

These caps cost less than a doorknob, are CONSIDERABLY smaller, and appear to work much better (lower ESR).  They are available in voltages up to 2500 volts, so for you high voltage junkies, you'll still need doorknobs    but they work GREAT in the class E rigs, where the peak voltage is less than 500 volts.

I am standardizing on these for all of my class E rigs, and they are used in all of my more recent RF amplifier prototypes.

Regards,

Steve

[steve_qix]

Darn! I've passed on some of those caps cheap because I didn't know anything about them or anyone that had used them. Won't make that mistake again.

Just make sure they're the right ones.  The only caps of this type I've seen work correctly are the ATC caps.  Others do not have the very, very low ESR rating.

Also, these same caps are available without the microstrip termination, and they are more common, and less expensive.  However, they are MUCH harder to work with - at least in the class E rf amplifier environment - because there are no leads for soldering.  Too much force on the non-microstrip variety will crack them   

Regards,

Steve

[n1ps]

It was cool seeing Bob's new work at the restaurant...not to mention catching up with the AM gang.  This fester is becoming one of my favorites of the year, especially with the get-together after at "Diccapillies"...per Tim's vocabulary.   

Caught up with Mr. Mike...sounds like Deerfield will be another great one to look forward to.  Of course assuming that the snow is gone by then! 

Pete
n -1-prime-suspect