Palomar TX100 Relay Chattering

[Stubby460]

Hello all. Was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction to figure out why the relay chatters when trying to TX. The RX seems to be working ok. I'm new to all this and thought this would be a good one to experiment with. Any info would be greatly appreciated--Thanx in advance.

 

[15minigrass]

Does it do this on SSB?

 

[Beetle]

Hello all. Was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction to figure out why the relay chatters when trying to TX. The RX seems to be working ok. I'm new to all this and thought this would be a good one to experiment with. Any info would be greatly appreciated--Thanx in advance.

Correct voltage with enough current to hold it in?

 

[9C1Driver]

Are you on AM or SSB when this happens? If SSB it might have no or a faulty SSB delay.

 

[Stubby460]

I dont' have a radio with SSB to check and see if it does it on SSB. Only been on AM. Have a steady 13v feeding it, only drops around .3v when keyed up.

 

[Sonwatcher]

How many amps is your power supply ?

 

[Stubby460]

Don't know what the amp draw is. Supposed to be around a 100w output I think.

 

[Sonwatcher]

I'm guessing you are using a power supply to power the amp. Do you know the amp size of your power supply ? As Beetle suggested it would chatter if the power supply was not supplying sufficient amperage to run the amplifier.
Also, are you using the power supply to power both your transceiver and amplifier ?

 

[Bionic Chicken]

On an outside chance you do not have the antenna and transmitter reversed do you? This will cause the relay to chatter. Will the relay stay keyed while not saying anything or does it do it all the time?

 

[Stubby460]

Im using a battery with a charger hooked up to it right now. I checked for the proper connection of my coax cables, so that isn't the problem. And the relay chatters as soon as I key up.

 

[Sonwatcher]

Make sure you do not happen to have the amp switched to SSB.

Have you checked your SWR ? You may be getting a lot of stray RF. What kind of antenna are you using ?

 

[Stubby460]

The switch is on AM. Using a 102" whip with SWR at 1.2

 

[Sonwatcher]

The switch is on AM. Using a 102" whip with SWR at 1.2

Is that SWR reading the same with the amp on ?

Does it chatter hooked to a dummy load ?

How many watts are you dead keying from the radio ?

Im using a battery with a charger hooked up to it right now.

Are you sure the battery is fully charged ?

 

[Stubby460]

With the amp on and dead key the relay chatters and the SWR needle is above three.
I don't have a dummy load to test it with.
Dead keying about 1.5 watts
Yes the battery is fully charged.

Thanks for sticking with me

 

[Bionic Chicken]

If your radio is keying 1 1/2 watts try raising the dead key. Does the amp stay keyed if you modulate into the mike? If it stays keyed when you talk and not when you just dead key you need to raise the key of the radio in order to keep it keyed.