John Sandin wrote:

Here's the link to my project website..

http://www.kcnet.com/~oyster/transmi...ansmitter.html


Your heatsink (at least, I think it's the heatsink) is
inefficient (finless), and you mentioned using lots of
heat sink grease. You *can* have too much grease.
Putting in a bigger sink with fins and a small amount
of heatsink compound won't fix your problem - but it may
be a good idea, once you have fixed it.

The fact that the xsistor is heating up at least means that
the rig is "making power". If we assume that the power
it's making is RF at the right frequency, then suspect the
output circuit from the collector outwards up to and
including the antenna. And, with your antenna at 7 feet,
and fed by a questionable mix of coax, it may be the source
of the trouble.

Try feeding the rig into a good 50 ohm dummy load and see if
that allows the transistor to run cooler.

(John Sandin) wrote in message ...
I am a new technician with code privileges. I built the following CW
transmitter for 40 meters:

http://cs.okanagan.bc.ca/ve7ouc/eng/...nsmitter2.html

It's a solid state 3-watter, based on an article in QST in June 1967.
I used a printed circuit board instead of wiring everything together
directly, as the QST article suggests. So, there are many wires
running from various parts mounted on the chassis to the circuit
board.

I think all those wires, and the stray L and C they introduce, is the
heart of your problem with getting it to work right.

I'd try building it as close to the way the original article showed as
possible. An inexpensive bread or cake pan can be a good chassis, and
easy to wrok.

I am
running this into a dipole cut for 40 meters, which is 7 feet off the
ground. I'm using fundamental frequency HC6/U crystals for 7110 and
7125 kHz. I've been trying for 2 weeks, at all hours of the day and
night, and have had no indication that anyone hears me. I've called
CQ, and I've attempted to answer CQ's. Nothing, after about 100
tries.

7 feet off the ground is less than 1/16 wavelength on 40 meters.
That's just too low.

One of the transistors (Q2) is supposed to be heat sinked. I have put
a large homemeade heat sink on this, using plenty of heat sink grease,
and it gets so hot I can barely touch it.

That's not right. You may have cooked that transistor.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY

(John Sandin) wrote in message ...
I am a new technician with code privileges. I built the following CW
transmitter for 40 meters:

http://cs.okanagan.bc.ca/ve7ouc/eng/...nsmitter2.html

It's a solid state 3-watter, based on an article in QST in June 1967.
I used a printed circuit board instead of wiring everything together
directly, as the QST article suggests. So, there are many wires
running from various parts mounted on the chassis to the circuit
board.

I think all those wires, and the stray L and C they introduce, is the
heart of your problem with getting it to work right.

I'd try building it as close to the way the original article showed as
possible. An inexpensive bread or cake pan can be a good chassis, and
easy to wrok.

I am
running this into a dipole cut for 40 meters, which is 7 feet off the
ground. I'm using fundamental frequency HC6/U crystals for 7110 and
7125 kHz. I've been trying for 2 weeks, at all hours of the day and
night, and have had no indication that anyone hears me. I've called
CQ, and I've attempted to answer CQ's. Nothing, after about 100
tries.

7 feet off the ground is less than 1/16 wavelength on 40 meters.
That's just too low.

One of the transistors (Q2) is supposed to be heat sinked. I have put
a large homemeade heat sink on this, using plenty of heat sink grease,
and it gets so hot I can barely touch it.

That's not right. You may have cooked that transistor.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY