The Magnum series we used to get from Charlie had adjustable electronic voltage regulation, high and low drive settings and a all grey face with Hi Med Lo switch.
73
Jeff
73
Jeff
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Palomar 300 ? 4 x 1446's
- Thread starter Switch Kit
- Start date
Didn't want to start another thread so I'll just try here .........Something is not kosher with the Pal 300 ..........it's certainly drawing amps ! the numbers on the bird around 250 rms, about 300 pep ..........the power wire and fuse in are getting hotter then hell ! ? it almost seems as if something is choking the amp ? it finally destroyed the 30 amp fuse that was inline .........I have seen 4 x 1446's really put out in other amps with small drives , not this one ! although they call it a 300 and it's at least doing that , but something really feels like the amp is being choked so to speak ........I'd say the power wire is at least 10 gage coming out of the amp but on fire hot ! Something just isn't kosher. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Switch
Switch, do you have a dummy load? How much drive, what is the swr, and what dead key?
I would not ask more than 80 dead key and go up with modulation on AM with 1446's.
They are only rated for about 80 watts each at 27 Mhz.
250 AVG is that swing on AM?
I have a 4 x 1446amp vertical transformer amp I am using in the pickup at the moment and I run a external 40 amp fuse at the battery. 1446's can draw as much as 12 amps if you hit them hard.
I don't drive this one hard at all. I run it at 250/300 watts SSB on a peak reading digital meter.
The power wires are upgraded to 8 gauge on the amp main board, and the power wires up to the front of the truck are big.
I added a fan because the heat sink is really too small but all if them are like that if you get long winded.
73
Jeff
I would not ask more than 80 dead key and go up with modulation on AM with 1446's.
They are only rated for about 80 watts each at 27 Mhz.
250 AVG is that swing on AM?
I have a 4 x 1446amp vertical transformer amp I am using in the pickup at the moment and I run a external 40 amp fuse at the battery. 1446's can draw as much as 12 amps if you hit them hard.
I don't drive this one hard at all. I run it at 250/300 watts SSB on a peak reading digital meter.
The power wires are upgraded to 8 gauge on the amp main board, and the power wires up to the front of the truck are big.
I added a fan because the heat sink is really too small but all if them are like that if you get long winded.
73
Jeff
Dummy load cantenna , 8 gage wire ,meter ,70 amp Astron ..........I knew something wasn't kosher when I was testing it , it went to a local who is pretty good with radios and amps , did the same thing to him and that's when he noticed the pos wire and fuse burning up hot and finally destroying the 30 amp glass fuse (we both basically got the same numbers AM/SSB ..........about 2 watts on AM 15 watts on SSB , just your basic old school 148GTL ........as far as those 1446s go , (what little I do know) 70 watts and can be rated higher on HF bands I believe , I have seen those do over 400 happy watts and run smoothly on low drives , those trannies have always seemed to like swinging for the stars .........I've ran the Motorola and Toshiba 80 x 4 over the years as well and never have seen what this amp is doing and acting like ........Oh it's sucking up the amps alright , no problem there it just seems like it's being choked for some reason ..........I mean finally blew that 30 amp glass fuse and just wanted to melt the power wire from the inside out ?
Toll_Free
Well-Known Member
Well, here we go:
Messenger was built in San Diego. I played it off for quite some time, but I worked at their 'factory' as a high school snot nosed kid in the 80s. Built quite a few, and that's how I was able to score the first M2000 built, the first M16, etc. I knew who they where sold to, and when they would leave radio, I bought them.
Billy Dean Ward bought Messenger after Victor got out of the game, so to speak. In truth, he moved to Washington. Now you know why the amps from Washington look so much like Messenger.
Their where a few amplifiers that where built, with no transistors. Those where sold off, as has been reported. However, a few years ago a prominent tube box builder I worked with for a time found another cache of them, and that's why there is another run of them. There are the original Victor boards making new rounds as well as the BDW newer boards. I'm not sure how these where sourced, never found out. But the 2 pill and 4 pill amps he was selling (may still be) on Ebay, sans transistors. He had amps with no transistors, bare pc boards, heat sink and case combos, etc.
Billy died on the side of the road. I know the story behind it, but I'll let his memory be whatever it is, and that's that. He was in SoCal, outside Bakersfield working on radios outside the truckstops on the Grapevine.
Incidentally, he used to have MR455 as his license plate. At one point he was selling more Motorola transistors than anyone else.
As to the other companies: Palomar (not Palomar Engineers, btw. I see them get confused a lot) originally had their amp parts sourced from CPI. CPI also built a few amplifiers for them, but CPI got their start building those magic input and output transformers and peddling them to every company that wanted to build solid state amps in the 70s.
Swan was selling their 1011 and pissing the ARRL off and when the ARRL came down, Palomar bankrolled the Siltronix branding. That was the beginning of the 10 meter craze. When the elder Lewis left San Diego and took Sam (who was working at Buddy Sales in Reseda, Ca at the time), a group of Palomar guys left and went with him. Another group of guys went to Arizona and founded Kachina. Kachina did great for awhile, built a 10/6 meter combo radio that is pretty rare nowadays. They got into Military contracts, built an HF rig (rebranded actually), built a HT for the military and ultimately built one of, if not the, first computer controlled DSP rigs. They got out of ham radio a couple decades ago and ultimately left radio altogether and are an ISP now, of all things.
Palomar also became Clear Channel (AR3300 / 3500 fame), Road Noise, etc. All those where based out of Oregon and Washington.
RF Parts got it's start selling transformers and 'rf parts' to the local amplifier companies, Messenger, Texas Star, Palomar, etc. Merrit is a very smart guy. He also is "Westcomm Engineering", which REALLY overbuilt their amplifiers. I had a Westcomm TXL-250 for awhile that would PEP close to 700 watts. A 1x4 250 watt linear. I see a lot of the old amps he had in storage and his personal collection going on the market now. I believe his wife is liquidating what she can, while she can. Commanding a premium price, too.
RF Parts was also a big distributor of export radios. I have a President Jackson Engineering Sample back home in the states. Cool radio, just says "Jackson" on the front. No serial number, plate, etc. No holes for the serial plate, nothing.
Ray (Farm Boy), who was Galaxyradios tech support for quite some time had a lot to do in the socal linear scene too. He, Victor, Dr Rigormortis (11 meter times and journal) a few other guys (one in San Bernadino, in particular) are the guys that taught me radio and amplifiers. Just a snot nosed kid that really wanted to learn.
Mud Shack (whom owned all the 'shack' cb shops at one time) was also building 4CX250B amps after Pride stopped building the dx300 / kw-1. If you have an old Dahl catalog you can see the transformer we where stuffing in there. That was Roger who ran those shops. Back when even talking about a linear would get you booted out of the shop and cause the FCC Field Office to start an investigation. Lots of linears where sold out of the back of Cadillacs back then, to be sure!
I miss old Charlie Three. I still talk to his daughter now and then. Jesus, if you ever showed up at his house you where in for conversation until the sun went down: And that's if you showed up at 5 am! He was really a great guy though. A questionable past, but a great guy while I knew him.
There's more, but I won't bore anyone with a long drawn out post
73
--Toll_Free
Down Here in the Bootyfull Caribbean Oh-Chin.
Messenger was built in San Diego. I played it off for quite some time, but I worked at their 'factory' as a high school snot nosed kid in the 80s. Built quite a few, and that's how I was able to score the first M2000 built, the first M16, etc. I knew who they where sold to, and when they would leave radio, I bought them.
Billy Dean Ward bought Messenger after Victor got out of the game, so to speak. In truth, he moved to Washington. Now you know why the amps from Washington look so much like Messenger.
Their where a few amplifiers that where built, with no transistors. Those where sold off, as has been reported. However, a few years ago a prominent tube box builder I worked with for a time found another cache of them, and that's why there is another run of them. There are the original Victor boards making new rounds as well as the BDW newer boards. I'm not sure how these where sourced, never found out. But the 2 pill and 4 pill amps he was selling (may still be) on Ebay, sans transistors. He had amps with no transistors, bare pc boards, heat sink and case combos, etc.
Billy died on the side of the road. I know the story behind it, but I'll let his memory be whatever it is, and that's that. He was in SoCal, outside Bakersfield working on radios outside the truckstops on the Grapevine.
Incidentally, he used to have MR455 as his license plate. At one point he was selling more Motorola transistors than anyone else.
As to the other companies: Palomar (not Palomar Engineers, btw. I see them get confused a lot) originally had their amp parts sourced from CPI. CPI also built a few amplifiers for them, but CPI got their start building those magic input and output transformers and peddling them to every company that wanted to build solid state amps in the 70s.
Swan was selling their 1011 and pissing the ARRL off and when the ARRL came down, Palomar bankrolled the Siltronix branding. That was the beginning of the 10 meter craze. When the elder Lewis left San Diego and took Sam (who was working at Buddy Sales in Reseda, Ca at the time), a group of Palomar guys left and went with him. Another group of guys went to Arizona and founded Kachina. Kachina did great for awhile, built a 10/6 meter combo radio that is pretty rare nowadays. They got into Military contracts, built an HF rig (rebranded actually), built a HT for the military and ultimately built one of, if not the, first computer controlled DSP rigs. They got out of ham radio a couple decades ago and ultimately left radio altogether and are an ISP now, of all things.
Palomar also became Clear Channel (AR3300 / 3500 fame), Road Noise, etc. All those where based out of Oregon and Washington.
RF Parts got it's start selling transformers and 'rf parts' to the local amplifier companies, Messenger, Texas Star, Palomar, etc. Merrit is a very smart guy. He also is "Westcomm Engineering", which REALLY overbuilt their amplifiers. I had a Westcomm TXL-250 for awhile that would PEP close to 700 watts. A 1x4 250 watt linear. I see a lot of the old amps he had in storage and his personal collection going on the market now. I believe his wife is liquidating what she can, while she can. Commanding a premium price, too.
RF Parts was also a big distributor of export radios. I have a President Jackson Engineering Sample back home in the states. Cool radio, just says "Jackson" on the front. No serial number, plate, etc. No holes for the serial plate, nothing.
Ray (Farm Boy), who was Galaxyradios tech support for quite some time had a lot to do in the socal linear scene too. He, Victor, Dr Rigormortis (11 meter times and journal) a few other guys (one in San Bernadino, in particular) are the guys that taught me radio and amplifiers. Just a snot nosed kid that really wanted to learn.
Mud Shack (whom owned all the 'shack' cb shops at one time) was also building 4CX250B amps after Pride stopped building the dx300 / kw-1. If you have an old Dahl catalog you can see the transformer we where stuffing in there. That was Roger who ran those shops. Back when even talking about a linear would get you booted out of the shop and cause the FCC Field Office to start an investigation. Lots of linears where sold out of the back of Cadillacs back then, to be sure!
I miss old Charlie Three. I still talk to his daughter now and then. Jesus, if you ever showed up at his house you where in for conversation until the sun went down: And that's if you showed up at 5 am! He was really a great guy though. A questionable past, but a great guy while I knew him.
There's more, but I won't bore anyone with a long drawn out post
73
--Toll_Free
Down Here in the Bootyfull Caribbean Oh-Chin.
Ray from Galaxy used to be a member on the old forum, user name GTRS.
So Cal was the hot spot back in those days.
73
Jeff
So Cal was the hot spot back in those days.
73
Jeff
I was wondering what was up with the new old stock transistorless messenger I bought awhile back! Just needed finals installed from what I could tell.
Great read Toll_Free ,brought back some memories , the stories Charlie would tell me with his buddy Randy Novack by his side . Switch
Toll_Free
Well-Known Member
I believe it was GRTS.
Picking some nits here.Also, Monika passed away a few years back
Shortly after Ray.Ray was instrumental in RCI as well. Before Bill Good. RCI, although beginning using fab shops in the far east, was originally a San Diego company as well.
AFAIK, their main tech //guru// is still in Ramona, Ca. Just down the road away from where Fireball lived. He lived (the guru) almost on top of R Lee Ermy (gunny).
Small world.
--Toll_Free