Kaar Engineering FMB-50A Power Supply
 

Picked up a Karr Engineering p.s. for free (abandoned in one of the
barns) at Hosstraders.

I am interested in learning what transmitter this paired up with. I
have some use for it, but as I
like to help complete sets, I am willing to part with it for a
reasonable price - warning, it is REALLY rusty.

David Goncalves

Kaar Engineering FMB-50A Power Supply
 

It probably is engineered to work with a variety of sets. What are its
output voltages and currents?

Kaar Engineering FMB-50A Power Supply
 

I don't know - that is the thing...

I've pulled off the largest transformer (reasoning that it would be the
HV xmfr) and measured a step-up to ~2.4 kV. I think this was a power
supply for a Kaar transmitter; I don;t recal any power supplies from
that era being built for a variety of transmitters.

BTW, still available.

David Goncalves

Kaar Engineering FMB-50A Power Supply
 

Dave Goncalves wrote:
I don't know - that is the thing...

I've pulled off the largest transformer (reasoning that it would be the
HV xmfr) and measured a step-up to ~2.4 kV. I think this was a power
supply for a Kaar transmitter; I don;t recal any power supplies from
that era being built for a variety of transmitters.


I actually hadn't heard of a Kaar transmitter until this.


Third party supplies were available to run several transmitters in the
late 50s and early 60s. Actually most any tube power supply will run
almost any rig with a cable change for transceivers and twins of the
era. They all used 6.3 or 12.6 V heater circuits-usually rigged so
either would work so the box could go into a 6 or 12 V car-
usually250-300V for the primary B+ and 600-800 for the final plate
supply. They were also used for some PA equipment and by CB
"home"brewers for linears-actually they were usually TV repair guys or
even hams working out of their basement, because CBers have low IQ so
frequently-quite common even when I was a youngster during the "Convoy"
boom. I turned down a job at minimum wage at a TV shop when I figured
out I would wind up spending all my time assembling these things
instead of working on TVs. Six weeks later the joint was raided and the
FCC smashed every goddamned piece of test equipment in the shop whether
or not it could be used for CB, legal or otherwise, along with his
inventory, test fixtures, everything that wasn't a TV.

FWIW you see third party supplies in ads in the ARRL Handbooks in the
JFK/MM era or thereabouts. Most were for mobile operation but some were
three-way-low volt DC, 110 VDC or 110 AC.