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May 3, 2024. If you were born in early February blame Cinco de Mayo

Just a bit of Calendar magic today! But a fact that the 5th of May celebrations are just around the corner and is soon to be upon us. So, look at the calendar and see who was born in early February and count backwards. One of mine has a February 8th birthday.

So, what was in the Gold Box? You have some serious clues provided to you. It is an accessory and is small in size. It needs power but has no Computer or MCU. 

I could have been a "sneaky Pete" and dropped all sorts of hints like could it be a small enclosure with a 6" powered speaker inside. How about a Station Control Box? I keep saying I need these two things and certainly these two items fit the clues. 

Maybe it is a microphone patch panel to switch between a Dynamic or Condenser Microphone and includes a Two-Tone Test Generator along with the microphones?

I always wanted a SWR Bridge with a 4-inch 50uA meter on the front panel. That would be a really nice station accessory. 

In addition to not being a new SSB Transceiver it is not any of the aforementioned suggestions. But cutting to the chase it is shown in the schematic below. (The two schematics for the RF Linear Power Amplifier below are similar but slightly different.)




This project satisfies the criteria mentioned in yesterday's blog entry. Basically, it will be a small physically sized amp with an output of about 50 watts and perfect for following a QRP transmitter. 

The 50-watt level is significant for use alone or driving the SB-200 would give 400 watts or more into the antenna. It is a new topology for me using a passive grid input. My approach would be to have two or three bands like 40, 20 and 17M. 

See the link above from W8JI. 

Now I do not intend to have a series of continuous posts on the project but will occasionally provide an update. 

The burning question why a tube (5894) instead of solid state. Well, I looked in the junk box and found a lot of the parts including the power supply. A tube and socket cost me $15 which makes it competitive with real RF devices that would produce 50 watts on 20M. The end state objective was a small sized tube RF Linear Amplifier capable of producing 50 watts at 20M. I also find metal bashing is extremely therapeutic.

Final note. The 50 Ohm resistor is a 15-watt 1% non-inductive product from Caddock Engineering in Oregon. What a perfect device for a QRP Dummy Load. Digi-Key has them for a single lot price of $7. They also sell 50- and 100-watt versions, BUT you do need a heat sink!


73's
Pete N6QW

 

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