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Author Topic: Home Made Amp  (Read 9335 times)

KC9CWP

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Home Made Amp
« on: June 17, 2003, 12:52:22 AM »

I recived a Home made Amp. from a new friend. It says it covers 150 tru 174 mhz. Can any one tell me How I would check this and then possible modify it for ham use.
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WB2WIK

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Home Made Amp
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2003, 11:26:41 AM »

No way to confirm it without powering it up and driving it, assuming it's a solid state amp.  If it's a tube type amp, you might be able to check its plate tank resonance using an ordinary grid-dip meter loosely coupled to the tank coil, and tuning through the range of the plate tuning capacitor.

How do you know it needs any modification at all to work in the amateur band?  Many "150-174 MHz" solid-state amplifiers work fine down to 144 MHz without modification, especially if they were last peaked in the 150 MHz end of the range.  If last peaked in the 174 MHz end of the range, possibly the input and output tuning caps can be re-peaked at 146 MHz, using a driving source, wattmeter and dummy load.

WB2WIK/6
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KC9CWP

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Home Made Amp
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2003, 12:01:01 PM »

Thank You I'm new to Radio (I should have stated that)but I dont have a dip meter yet. All i have for a radio is a Yaesu HT and im worried about hooking it all up and then having the unknown amp messup my radio.
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WA9SVD

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Home Made Amp
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2003, 02:32:07 PM »

Hello Andrew,
    Give us a bit more info on the amp.  (is it solid state or tube?)  What are it's input/output ratings?  Or at least manufacturer and model number!
    It might be that your H-T will not provide sufficient drive to make the amp efficient enough to use.  I doubt it would cause damage to your H-T (most H-T's are made to tolerate a wide SWR range, even if at the expense of [highly] reduced power output.)
73, and good luck,
Larry WA9SVD
Another 9 (in 6 Land!)
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