Hi gang,
The DX is rolling and we'll be talkin"
Those of us with export rigs with heat sinks on back should be aware of heat build-up with our power turned up to max (is there any other setting? 
) and with doing lots of talking. With more or less constant use, about any of these rigs - heat sinks will get HOT !! Even too hot to touch. Better to be safe than sorry so add a simple stand-alone fan to blow across the heat sink. Here's what I've done.
Add several typical 12vdc 4" box fans in the junk box. You can get them anywhere. The one I picked up was a take off out of a home PC. I'm running it off my my stations power supply so it is having 14.0 volts brought to it.
Now these fans will run just fine off of 12~13.8 volts....but here they're running full speed and will be relatively noisy. I didn't want the noise and running full speed is actually excess air than what is needed to simply push a little breeze over the Magnum's heat sink.
These Brushless DC motors will work fine off of a lower voltage and 8 volts works out as a great slower speed and with considerably less noise.
I employed a very common 7808 type fixed 8 volt regulator transistor is the common TO 220 package. Ran a line from the power supply, added a small switch to the + leg, from there to the 7808...and on o the fan. The 7808 is mounted in a typical TO 220 heat sink of it's own and there ya go. The radio is sitting on the desk up on about a 4" tall box (something to elevate it off the desk). The fan is just sitting on the desk behind the radio and up under the radio's heat sink. I've glued 1 inches worth of rubber feet material on the bottom side of the fan to raise the fan up off up off of the desk so it can pull in air. Blows upward. I turn on the fan switch if I'm going to be doing some continuous talking. At full output (45-50) watts, the rig's heat sink WILL get hot. So me little fan cools 'er down and keeps it cool.
These voltage regulator transistors, heat sinks, plastic separator tabs & heat sink compound grease are very common and obtainable at any electronic parts outlet. Even Radio Shack should have them where you find a RS that still carries electronic parts.
Finally got the wife's camera hooked up to the computer so here's some pics. You'll notice I don't care how things LOOK too much. The 7808 & Switch could be installed in a little project box for super neatness, but this open arrangement suits me.
So that's the base at the moment
Magnum OmegaForce S45
Astatic EchoMax 2000
Old junky Kenwood SP820 Speaker w/filters
Oh well, I tried to upload several other pics but the system said I was over the limit.
The DX is rolling and we'll be talkin"
) and with doing lots of talking. With more or less constant use, about any of these rigs - heat sinks will get HOT !! Even too hot to touch. Better to be safe than sorry so add a simple stand-alone fan to blow across the heat sink. Here's what I've done.Add several typical 12vdc 4" box fans in the junk box. You can get them anywhere. The one I picked up was a take off out of a home PC. I'm running it off my my stations power supply so it is having 14.0 volts brought to it.
Now these fans will run just fine off of 12~13.8 volts....but here they're running full speed and will be relatively noisy. I didn't want the noise and running full speed is actually excess air than what is needed to simply push a little breeze over the Magnum's heat sink.
These Brushless DC motors will work fine off of a lower voltage and 8 volts works out as a great slower speed and with considerably less noise.
I employed a very common 7808 type fixed 8 volt regulator transistor is the common TO 220 package. Ran a line from the power supply, added a small switch to the + leg, from there to the 7808...and on o the fan. The 7808 is mounted in a typical TO 220 heat sink of it's own and there ya go. The radio is sitting on the desk up on about a 4" tall box (something to elevate it off the desk). The fan is just sitting on the desk behind the radio and up under the radio's heat sink. I've glued 1 inches worth of rubber feet material on the bottom side of the fan to raise the fan up off up off of the desk so it can pull in air. Blows upward. I turn on the fan switch if I'm going to be doing some continuous talking. At full output (45-50) watts, the rig's heat sink WILL get hot. So me little fan cools 'er down and keeps it cool.
These voltage regulator transistors, heat sinks, plastic separator tabs & heat sink compound grease are very common and obtainable at any electronic parts outlet. Even Radio Shack should have them where you find a RS that still carries electronic parts.
Finally got the wife's camera hooked up to the computer so here's some pics. You'll notice I don't care how things LOOK too much. The 7808 & Switch could be installed in a little project box for super neatness, but this open arrangement suits me.
So that's the base at the moment
Magnum OmegaForce S45
Astatic EchoMax 2000
Old junky Kenwood SP820 Speaker w/filters
Oh well, I tried to upload several other pics but the system said I was over the limit.
Last edited:
