Always check under the hood. First.

[nomadradio]

Always check under the hood before getting serious with the money.

This guy was not pleased with the repair estimate.

At least now he knows why we call a 30-Amp fuse a "No-Blow" fuse. The 15 or 20 Amp breaker that feeds the wall outlet will trip first.

73

 

[Crusher]

I have one here, not that bad though. Guy put in a “new” tube. Lol. Sure had a lot of wear on it for new. I think RF Parts still has some of those transformers available.

 

[Crawdad]

Surprised the fried varnish smell didn't nix that deal, even with the hood closed. Transformer that size contains a lot of magic smoke.

73

 

[nomadradio]

The big transformer was okay, still had high voltage to the anode circuit.

The small one wasn't cheap when RF Parts had it, but they sold out years ago. Pretty sure I got the last one of these. Went into a Pride that lives in shaky-land now. Nearest Hammond part is a bit bigger, but can be made to fit. For around $130 bucks. Add even a modest markup and shipping cost to that and the price of that smoke gets impressive.

We use a cheaper toroid transformer, but getting it mounted and wired up is labor intensive. The low-voltage board has to be modified to work with it. Bottom line ends up less than the Hammond option, but not by a lot.

I won't so much as lay hands on one of these to fix it without adding a 1-Amp breaker to that small transformer. Don't want my name associated with seeing one of them get croaked. Roaching a part made from unobtanium is just bad juju.

73

 

[nomadradio]

Guy put in a “new” tube.

A new one his buddy found cleaning out his garage? This scenario comes up over and over. I tell them there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you successfully tested and found a bad tube.

The bad news is you successfully tested and found a bad tube.

73

 

[Jay Mojave]

Good advice from experience no dought. Got a chance to buy a used Ameritron Amp using the 3CX1500 tube. Local pick up only. Ok 2 Hrs plus drive into the big city of LA. Armed with my own Watt Meter and Dummy Load and Jumper Coax, I go.

A disappointing way low output measurement with a 100 watts plus of drive. Oh the hard to get expensive tube must be flat. The price just dropped a bunch. No thanks I said and have a good day. Adding another non working linear amp to my collection of non working amplifiers isn't what I had planed.

A good Easter Egg inspection and a output measurement with my Watt Meter saved me a bunch of time/grief/money. I believe its cheaper and easier to spend the money for what you want at times to enjoy the equipment. The amp was for a friend that had been burned on amps before, so he was guy shy and asked for help. A brand new amp for 4 thousand dollars plus, and for years he's a big strap on 80 and 40 meters.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert.... "Next Gas 150 Miles"

 

[unit_399]

This is the reason I am so glad that I am out of the repair business. Customer brings in a piece of equipment that has the smoke smell. Open it up and it's fried to a crisp. Pull out the fuse and it's wrapped in tin foil. Give them the estimate and they bitch at me. Go figure.
- 399

 

[Crusher]

Well the “ new tube” was bad too. Popped another electrolytic capacitor. This ones getting a 350V MOV and a 1/4 W 47ohm resistor going to screen. I will do like you said and put a 1A fuse inline with transformer. This amp has all the old original boards. Might be calling Chris for new boards. As I’m sure they have more protection built into boards than original that had nothing.

 

[nomadradio]

Reached the point where the only way I'll sell an amplifier is for the buyer to bring his wattmeter and the radio he wants to drive it with.

That way if he's going to feed it double the safe drive power, I'll know it. And there won't be any crying about wattmeter readings after the fact. If you don't like what the meter reads when we demonstrate it, just walk away. No harm, no foul.

It's the only way I see to make the sale final.

If I wanted it back after it got "tried" I wouldn't have sold it in the first place.

73

 

[Crawdad]

Reached the point where the only way I'll sell an amplifier is for the buyer to bring his wattmeter and the radio he wants to drive it with.

That way if he's going to feed it double the safe drive power, I'll know it. And there won't be any crying about wattmeter readings after the fact. If you don't like what the meter reads when we demonstrate it, just walk away. No harm, no foul.

It's the only way I see to make the sale final.

If I wanted it back after it got "tried" I wouldn't have sold it in the first place.

73

A very wise policy.........................

73