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Rocket Box 1000XL
- Thread starter Shadetree Mechanic
- Start date
Hell....ain't nuth'n made w/o Cheesey parts these days. Let's see what reviews come to pass, I'm interested, but sceptical.
I guess I would like to see what his definition of "built" or "assembled" in the USA means. If the entire amp board is already stamped out in China and all he is doing is mounting it o a heat sink and adding the power and coax line I don't really consider that to be custom built.
Hey snippits is this true ? I am talking with a dude in Vegas that claims to be "Rocketbox" I have also made a thread based on the info I have gathered . I believe he designs the boards but outsources ONLY the construction of the board itself with the traces he designed . He then receives them in bulk and builds up his amps on the platform he designed . If you know different please share before I order one of these thing lol .
Honestly even if the boards are made in china if the technology is working the way it should that just saves the consumer money . Its expensive to build circuit boards in bulk but if you can design it on CAD or something and have it delivered I say why not . Its the tech , the components and the knowledge that makes things work for me but Im no genius lol
73's 4-2-zero NJ
Studying the layout of this board has caused me to become a little more skeptical. Missing are any large conductive areas around the transistors and output transformers. The RF currents flowing trough the ground plane of the PC board in this area are high enough to cause heating. The absence of any, adds to oscillation problems and distorted output. While I can't see the back side of the PC board, there do not appear to be enough feed through connections to place a substantial ground plane on that side and it is in use for other traces.
The board is very small, placing all transistors close together. This concentrates heat into a smaller area as it's trying to dissipate though the heatsink. Effort should be made to mount the board on the heatsink so that the row of transistors are not inline with a small number of fins and are laid out perpendicular to the fins for best cooling. Regardless of the size of the board, it should not be mounted to a heatsink that is any smaller than what you would see being used in an old school 10 pill because we actually have more heat to dissipate here.
The area provided to mount the main output combiner, is not large enough for any part that could handle a KW. The suitable part would have to be raised above the board or relocated off to the side of it. The same holds true for the output relay and five output transformers. All being very small for the power level of the board. A quick look at the unloaded board might suggest inverter or AF applications rather than RF, based on layout.
The board is very small, placing all transistors close together. This concentrates heat into a smaller area as it's trying to dissipate though the heatsink. Effort should be made to mount the board on the heatsink so that the row of transistors are not inline with a small number of fins and are laid out perpendicular to the fins for best cooling. Regardless of the size of the board, it should not be mounted to a heatsink that is any smaller than what you would see being used in an old school 10 pill because we actually have more heat to dissipate here.
The area provided to mount the main output combiner, is not large enough for any part that could handle a KW. The suitable part would have to be raised above the board or relocated off to the side of it. The same holds true for the output relay and five output transformers. All being very small for the power level of the board. A quick look at the unloaded board might suggest inverter or AF applications rather than RF, based on layout.
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Hello and welcome, please keep us updated on the Rocket 1000XL. I am very interested on how this box will perform.
Cheers!
Snake oil. Not impressed. Those kind of mosfets will not work properly in this application. I want to see one of these fully tested with a spectrum analyzer, and also see how they perform. I'd also bet they drop power significantly when they get hot from use, too. Not saying the T/S amps are much better (right now), since T/S is still using the junk DEI transistors. But, time will tell, and the proof is in the pudding.
~Cheers~
~Cheers~
Welcome to the forum.
As you are just starting this project be aware that there is a lot of RF knowledge here on the forum.
Shockwave and others here have extensive background in design and building RF amps from the ground up.
And you will find that many here are very helpful if/when you run into problems.
73
Jeff
As you are just starting this project be aware that there is a lot of RF knowledge here on the forum.
Shockwave and others here have extensive background in design and building RF amps from the ground up.
And you will find that many here are very helpful if/when you run into problems.
73
Jeff
What's up Rocket box !! Glad your here to join us finally . I did my best to play middle man with information from you , but I'm glad your here to answer yourself now lol
Thanks for hanging in there I told ya I would figure SOMETHING out !
73's WINKDOGG 4-2-ZERO NJ
Ill hit you up on facebook so we can decide on my first "Rocketkit" haha
Lots of cool , smart people here I think you will enjoy it
Brian Winks