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Paul_Morphy April 6th 04 04:33 AM


"Uwe" wrote in message
...

The dips in plate current are nearly imperceptible and they are not aided

by
my 250mA full scale meter. They may be 2 or 3 mA.
I tune with the help of my scope.


The pi network should be able to match a wide range of impedances but it
would help to connect a known resistive load. Five, 2-watt, 270-ohm
resistors in parallel would be close enough. If you're getting a dip in
plate current the circuit is resonating somewhere, and you say you've worked
people, so it's putting some rf on the band.

See if you're getting two dips. A lot of those pi networks would resonate on
the operating band with the plate tuning cap almost completely meshed, but
there was enough range in the cap that it would also tune to the second
harmonic. If your LC meter is right you may be dipping at a harmonic, not
the fundamental.

OTOH, if your calculation of what the original coil was is correct, the
plate tuning capacitor should resonate when its value is about 20 pF -- for
a 22-uH coil. That doesn't mesh with the range of your plate tuning cap. A
2.7 uH coil would resonate with the plate tuning cap at about 185 pF, which
seems more reasonable.

This is one of those rare occasions when a grid-dip meter is handy. Is there
a ham club in your area? Someone may have one to lend. Meanwhile, hook it up
to a dummy load and see what you get.

There's something else you could try, but I don't know how well it would
work. With the AC-1 unplugged you could connect your receiver antenna to the
top of the plate tuning cap and adjust the plate tuning cap while listening
for a peak in the noise level. That would tell you the circuit was
resonating at 7 MHz. If NG, try 20 meters and 10 meters.

In the olden days I had a 6BE6 connected inside my Viking Valiant, such that
it turned on and bridged the receiver antenna input when transmitted rf
appeared at the grid. When the key was up, rf from the antenna passed into
the receiver. This allowed for full break-in CW, and I could dip the plate
tuning cap just by listening to the noise level. Real handy when moving
around the band in a contest. You would probably pop the front end of a
solid-state receiver doing this, so don't try it. The circuit was in an old
Radio Handbook, which was edited by Bill Orr, W6SAI. That's what made me
think that you could try this with your receiver, but exercise appropriate
caution.

You know, I think you can get coil forms to fit your rig from Antique Radio
Supply, and also maybe Ocean State Electronics (oselectronics.com). You
could even make one for 30 meters. Ocean State has a power transformer in
their catalog that may do for a power supply for your rig, too. Or look for
an old tube-type hi-fi receiver in a thrift shop or at a tag sale. If you're
going to do, you may as well do it! :

73,

"PM"



N2EY April 6th 04 05:29 PM

Uwe wrote in message ...
in article , N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe
writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.


Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and the
dip
is clean and pronounced.



Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns

The coil which works best with my tx is 8 turns on a 1,125" ceramic core.


But do you get a dip?

Be aware that the AC-1 went through some changes in its lifetime. Some
models used a filter choke, others did not. Some used a 730 uuf
loading capacitor, others just a single-section 365 uuf one. Coils
changed too.

To get guess work out of it I just bought and built a L/C meter and
measured my coil to have 2.7 microhenry. So I am way off, but it works, sort
of.

The air caps are 36 to 420pf at the plate and 15 to 728pf at the antenna, so
that seem right.

All this happens with B+200V and 35 mA plate current.


LC = 25,330/(f * f)

so for 7 MHz, the LC constant is 516. Your 2.7 uH coil should resonate
with 191 uuf.

Older ARRL handbooks give typical values for pi network for 50 Ohm antenna
loads and my values are in range for the caps but my coil is too small.

The ouput voltage on my antenna measured with a scope is up to 75 volts peak
to peak, with a 50 Ohm load that would mean I get more out of the tx than I
put into it and I am not of the sort who says this might happen.

So my conclusion is, and tell me if this sounds right, that I have an
antenna which is far from 50 ohm resistive at 40m and that that makes
everything weird.


That's defintitely part of the problem. What antenna are you using?
Have you tried a resistor or lamp load?

The dips in plate current are nearly imperceptible and they are not aided by
my 250mA full scale meter. They may be 2 or 3 mA.
I tune with the help of my scope.


The meter tells more. You can use a pilot light (#47, 150 mA) instead
of a meter.

Sudden thought: Where is the meter connected? Are you reading plate
current, or plate-and-screen current combined?

Here's something else to try:

Often trouble of this sort is due to the RF choke used. What RFCs are
you suing, particularly in the plate circuit? Although the LC meter
may say they are a certain L, in real life they may have all sorts of
unwanted resonances.

To test this idea out, do the following:

- Remove the plate RFC
- Connect the antenna end of the plate coil to the B+ where the RFC
used to be connected. This point should already be bypassed to ground
through a disk capacitor of about .01 uF
- Disconnect the "loading" capacitor
- Remove the plate coupling capacitor.

What you will then have is the 200 volts being fed to the plate
through the coil, with one end of the coil going to the plate supply
and the other end connected directly to the plate of the 6V6. The
plate tuning capacitor is connected between the plate of the 6V6 and
ground.

End result is no plate RFC and a parallel resonant circuit. There's no
connection for an antenna yet, but that's not important right now.

Test out the rig and look for the plate current dip. It should be very
obvious because there is no load connected.

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY

N2EY April 6th 04 05:29 PM

Uwe wrote in message ...
in article , N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe
writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.


Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and the
dip
is clean and pronounced.



Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns

The coil which works best with my tx is 8 turns on a 1,125" ceramic core.


But do you get a dip?

Be aware that the AC-1 went through some changes in its lifetime. Some
models used a filter choke, others did not. Some used a 730 uuf
loading capacitor, others just a single-section 365 uuf one. Coils
changed too.

To get guess work out of it I just bought and built a L/C meter and
measured my coil to have 2.7 microhenry. So I am way off, but it works, sort
of.

The air caps are 36 to 420pf at the plate and 15 to 728pf at the antenna, so
that seem right.

All this happens with B+200V and 35 mA plate current.


LC = 25,330/(f * f)

so for 7 MHz, the LC constant is 516. Your 2.7 uH coil should resonate
with 191 uuf.

Older ARRL handbooks give typical values for pi network for 50 Ohm antenna
loads and my values are in range for the caps but my coil is too small.

The ouput voltage on my antenna measured with a scope is up to 75 volts peak
to peak, with a 50 Ohm load that would mean I get more out of the tx than I
put into it and I am not of the sort who says this might happen.

So my conclusion is, and tell me if this sounds right, that I have an
antenna which is far from 50 ohm resistive at 40m and that that makes
everything weird.


That's defintitely part of the problem. What antenna are you using?
Have you tried a resistor or lamp load?

The dips in plate current are nearly imperceptible and they are not aided by
my 250mA full scale meter. They may be 2 or 3 mA.
I tune with the help of my scope.


The meter tells more. You can use a pilot light (#47, 150 mA) instead
of a meter.

Sudden thought: Where is the meter connected? Are you reading plate
current, or plate-and-screen current combined?

Here's something else to try:

Often trouble of this sort is due to the RF choke used. What RFCs are
you suing, particularly in the plate circuit? Although the LC meter
may say they are a certain L, in real life they may have all sorts of
unwanted resonances.

To test this idea out, do the following:

- Remove the plate RFC
- Connect the antenna end of the plate coil to the B+ where the RFC
used to be connected. This point should already be bypassed to ground
through a disk capacitor of about .01 uF
- Disconnect the "loading" capacitor
- Remove the plate coupling capacitor.

What you will then have is the 200 volts being fed to the plate
through the coil, with one end of the coil going to the plate supply
and the other end connected directly to the plate of the 6V6. The
plate tuning capacitor is connected between the plate of the 6V6 and
ground.

End result is no plate RFC and a parallel resonant circuit. There's no
connection for an antenna yet, but that's not important right now.

Test out the rig and look for the plate current dip. It should be very
obvious because there is no load connected.

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY

Paul_Morphy April 7th 04 05:01 AM


"N2EY" wrote in message
om...

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.


My recollection is hazy but I seem to recall that when the loading cap was
open too far for the load the pi net was seeing, the dip got very shallow.
I'll bet his antenna is outside the range it can match. Time for Uwe to
gather up some of that coil-winding stuff and make a tuner.

73,

"PM"



Paul_Morphy April 7th 04 05:01 AM


"N2EY" wrote in message
om...

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.


My recollection is hazy but I seem to recall that when the loading cap was
open too far for the load the pi net was seeing, the dip got very shallow.
I'll bet his antenna is outside the range it can match. Time for Uwe to
gather up some of that coil-winding stuff and make a tuner.

73,

"PM"



Uwe April 7th 04 09:33 PM

in article , N2EY at
wrote on 4/6/04 12:29:

Uwe wrote in message
...
in article
, N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe

writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.

Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t
right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and the
dip
is clean and pronounced.



Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns



Well, the way I use the formula is 1.25*1.25*15*15/((9*1.25)+(10*0.45)) =
351.5/15.75 = 22.3

O.45 is the length of the 15 windings.

Do I not use the formula properly??



My meter is built into my bench power supply (thats why it reads up to
250mA), so I am measuring plate and screen current.

I put in a second meter which would only measure the plate current but its
reading is practicly identical to the first one, as if there was no grid
current.

My antenna is a dipole of about 75ft. length each side, connected with a 50
ohm coax, no balun or such things.


I will need a few days to try out some of the things you and also Paul
suggested and it might really be a good idea to get an SWR meter and a
tuner.

All in due time and I will surely get back to you.

Thanks for the help


Uwe


The coil which works best with my tx is 8 turns on a 1,125" ceramic core.


But do you get a dip?

Be aware that the AC-1 went through some changes in its lifetime. Some
models used a filter choke, others did not. Some used a 730 uuf
loading capacitor, others just a single-section 365 uuf one. Coils
changed too.

To get guess work out of it I just bought and built a L/C meter and
measured my coil to have 2.7 microhenry. So I am way off, but it works, sort
of.

The air caps are 36 to 420pf at the plate and 15 to 728pf at the antenna, so
that seem right.

All this happens with B+200V and 35 mA plate current.


LC = 25,330/(f * f)

so for 7 MHz, the LC constant is 516. Your 2.7 uH coil should resonate
with 191 uuf.

Older ARRL handbooks give typical values for pi network for 50 Ohm antenna
loads and my values are in range for the caps but my coil is too small.

The ouput voltage on my antenna measured with a scope is up to 75 volts peak
to peak, with a 50 Ohm load that would mean I get more out of the tx than I
put into it and I am not of the sort who says this might happen.

So my conclusion is, and tell me if this sounds right, that I have an
antenna which is far from 50 ohm resistive at 40m and that that makes
everything weird.


That's defintitely part of the problem. What antenna are you using?
Have you tried a resistor or lamp load?

The dips in plate current are nearly imperceptible and they are not aided by
my 250mA full scale meter. They may be 2 or 3 mA.
I tune with the help of my scope.


The meter tells more. You can use a pilot light (#47, 150 mA) instead
of a meter.

Sudden thought: Where is the meter connected? Are you reading plate
current, or plate-and-screen current combined?

Here's something else to try:

Often trouble of this sort is due to the RF choke used. What RFCs are
you suing, particularly in the plate circuit? Although the LC meter
may say they are a certain L, in real life they may have all sorts of
unwanted resonances.

To test this idea out, do the following:

- Remove the plate RFC
- Connect the antenna end of the plate coil to the B+ where the RFC
used to be connected. This point should already be bypassed to ground
through a disk capacitor of about .01 uF
- Disconnect the "loading" capacitor
- Remove the plate coupling capacitor.

What you will then have is the 200 volts being fed to the plate
through the coil, with one end of the coil going to the plate supply
and the other end connected directly to the plate of the 6V6. The
plate tuning capacitor is connected between the plate of the 6V6 and
ground.

End result is no plate RFC and a parallel resonant circuit. There's no
connection for an antenna yet, but that's not important right now.

Test out the rig and look for the plate current dip. It should be very
obvious because there is no load connected.

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY



Uwe April 7th 04 09:33 PM

in article , N2EY at
wrote on 4/6/04 12:29:

Uwe wrote in message
...
in article
, N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe

writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.

Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t
right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and the
dip
is clean and pronounced.



Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns



Well, the way I use the formula is 1.25*1.25*15*15/((9*1.25)+(10*0.45)) =
351.5/15.75 = 22.3

O.45 is the length of the 15 windings.

Do I not use the formula properly??



My meter is built into my bench power supply (thats why it reads up to
250mA), so I am measuring plate and screen current.

I put in a second meter which would only measure the plate current but its
reading is practicly identical to the first one, as if there was no grid
current.

My antenna is a dipole of about 75ft. length each side, connected with a 50
ohm coax, no balun or such things.


I will need a few days to try out some of the things you and also Paul
suggested and it might really be a good idea to get an SWR meter and a
tuner.

All in due time and I will surely get back to you.

Thanks for the help


Uwe


The coil which works best with my tx is 8 turns on a 1,125" ceramic core.


But do you get a dip?

Be aware that the AC-1 went through some changes in its lifetime. Some
models used a filter choke, others did not. Some used a 730 uuf
loading capacitor, others just a single-section 365 uuf one. Coils
changed too.

To get guess work out of it I just bought and built a L/C meter and
measured my coil to have 2.7 microhenry. So I am way off, but it works, sort
of.

The air caps are 36 to 420pf at the plate and 15 to 728pf at the antenna, so
that seem right.

All this happens with B+200V and 35 mA plate current.


LC = 25,330/(f * f)

so for 7 MHz, the LC constant is 516. Your 2.7 uH coil should resonate
with 191 uuf.

Older ARRL handbooks give typical values for pi network for 50 Ohm antenna
loads and my values are in range for the caps but my coil is too small.

The ouput voltage on my antenna measured with a scope is up to 75 volts peak
to peak, with a 50 Ohm load that would mean I get more out of the tx than I
put into it and I am not of the sort who says this might happen.

So my conclusion is, and tell me if this sounds right, that I have an
antenna which is far from 50 ohm resistive at 40m and that that makes
everything weird.


That's defintitely part of the problem. What antenna are you using?
Have you tried a resistor or lamp load?

The dips in plate current are nearly imperceptible and they are not aided by
my 250mA full scale meter. They may be 2 or 3 mA.
I tune with the help of my scope.


The meter tells more. You can use a pilot light (#47, 150 mA) instead
of a meter.

Sudden thought: Where is the meter connected? Are you reading plate
current, or plate-and-screen current combined?

Here's something else to try:

Often trouble of this sort is due to the RF choke used. What RFCs are
you suing, particularly in the plate circuit? Although the LC meter
may say they are a certain L, in real life they may have all sorts of
unwanted resonances.

To test this idea out, do the following:

- Remove the plate RFC
- Connect the antenna end of the plate coil to the B+ where the RFC
used to be connected. This point should already be bypassed to ground
through a disk capacitor of about .01 uF
- Disconnect the "loading" capacitor
- Remove the plate coupling capacitor.

What you will then have is the 200 volts being fed to the plate
through the coil, with one end of the coil going to the plate supply
and the other end connected directly to the plate of the 6V6. The
plate tuning capacitor is connected between the plate of the 6V6 and
ground.

End result is no plate RFC and a parallel resonant circuit. There's no
connection for an antenna yet, but that's not important right now.

Test out the rig and look for the plate current dip. It should be very
obvious because there is no load connected.

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY



N2EY April 7th 04 11:59 PM

In article , Uwe
writes:

in article , N2EY at
wrote on 4/6/04 12:29:

Uwe wrote in message
...
in article
, N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe

writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.

Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably

too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t
right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and

the
dip
is clean and pronounced.


Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns



Well, the way I use the formula is 1.25*1.25*15*15/((9*1.25)+(10*0.45)) =
351.5/15.75 = 22.3

O.45 is the length of the 15 windings.

Do I not use the formula properly??


You used the coil *diameter* where you should have used the coil *radius*. A
coil with diameter of 1.25 inch has a radius of 0.625 inch.

Compute

0.625*0.625*15*15/((9*0.625)+(10*0.45)) =

and see what you get.

My meter is built into my bench power supply (thats why it reads up to
250mA), so I am measuring plate and screen current.

I put in a second meter which would only measure the plate current but its
reading is practicly identical to the first one, as if there was no grid
current.


That's odd.

My antenna is a dipole of about 75ft. length each side, connected with a 50
ohm coax, no balun or such things.


150 feet total length? That's not resonant on 40 meters, and your SWR with 50
ohm coax is probably quite high.

A half-wave 40 meter dipole is about 66-67 feet long (33 feet each side), and
will have a fairly low SWR on 40 meters when fed with 50 ohm coax. The next
length that will give a fairly low 40 meter SWR is about 205 feet overall (102
feet each side). Such a dipole is one-and-a-half waves long.

These are "ballpark" figures, not exact ones.

How high is your dipole?

I agree with Paul Morphy that a simple dummy load is best for testing. His
suggestion of paralleled noninductive resistors is excellent.

I will need a few days to try out some of the things you and also Paul
suggested and it might really be a good idea to get an SWR meter and a
tuner.


That will work, but first get the rig working correctly into a dummy load.

All in due time and I will surely get back to you.


If it takes me a while to respond, it's because I'm away from the computer.

Thanks for the help

You're welcome.

73 de Jim, N2EY


N2EY April 7th 04 11:59 PM

In article , Uwe
writes:

in article , N2EY at
wrote on 4/6/04 12:29:

Uwe wrote in message
...
in article
, N2EY at
PAMNO wrote on 4/5/04 18:59:

In article , Uwe

writes:

I will just have to fiddle a bit more
with the pi network (since at the B+ voltages suggested here my plate
current would be way high) and I will have to live with the chirp.

Are you getting a "dip" in plate current? If not, the coil is probably

too
large or too small. Unless you get a real dip, the output network isn;t
right.

I have used a very similar transmitter with 350 volts on the plate, and

the
dip
is clean and pronounced.


Jim, the original docs I got for this tx call, at 40 m, for a 15 turn coil
on the coil form provided with the kit, which I hear was 1.25" diameter.
If I use the formula for air coils this turns out to be roughly a 22
microhenry coil.


22 microhenries? I get more like 8 microhenries using the formula

L = (a * a * n * n)/([9 * a] + [10 * b])

where
a = radius of coil in inches
b = length of winding in inches
n = number of turns



Well, the way I use the formula is 1.25*1.25*15*15/((9*1.25)+(10*0.45)) =
351.5/15.75 = 22.3

O.45 is the length of the 15 windings.

Do I not use the formula properly??


You used the coil *diameter* where you should have used the coil *radius*. A
coil with diameter of 1.25 inch has a radius of 0.625 inch.

Compute

0.625*0.625*15*15/((9*0.625)+(10*0.45)) =

and see what you get.

My meter is built into my bench power supply (thats why it reads up to
250mA), so I am measuring plate and screen current.

I put in a second meter which would only measure the plate current but its
reading is practicly identical to the first one, as if there was no grid
current.


That's odd.

My antenna is a dipole of about 75ft. length each side, connected with a 50
ohm coax, no balun or such things.


150 feet total length? That's not resonant on 40 meters, and your SWR with 50
ohm coax is probably quite high.

A half-wave 40 meter dipole is about 66-67 feet long (33 feet each side), and
will have a fairly low SWR on 40 meters when fed with 50 ohm coax. The next
length that will give a fairly low 40 meter SWR is about 205 feet overall (102
feet each side). Such a dipole is one-and-a-half waves long.

These are "ballpark" figures, not exact ones.

How high is your dipole?

I agree with Paul Morphy that a simple dummy load is best for testing. His
suggestion of paralleled noninductive resistors is excellent.

I will need a few days to try out some of the things you and also Paul
suggested and it might really be a good idea to get an SWR meter and a
tuner.


That will work, but first get the rig working correctly into a dummy load.

All in due time and I will surely get back to you.


If it takes me a while to respond, it's because I'm away from the computer.

Thanks for the help

You're welcome.

73 de Jim, N2EY


Uwe April 8th 04 07:45 AM

Jim, after my calculation of the coil were wrong I thought it was about time
to check everything and I did and to try and distinguish between radius and
diameter...

Using the L/C meter I wound a proper coil, I checked the calibration of my
plate current meter, I did a more thorough check of the grid current (it is
between 1 and 2 mA) and so on and so forth.
And I did connect a dummy load (even though they don't respond or send out
QSL cards when you tranmit into them).

None of the thing did make any real difference and the dip, the elusive dip,
was in the order of magnitude of maybe 2 mA, nearly impossible to see on my
meter.

Then I changed the circuit around as you suggested, testing the RFC and I
got a dip the likes of which I had never seen. The meter went slowly from
about 30 mA to 50 mA and then dropped to about 25 mA, I couldn't miss it.

But what does it mean. I gather my RFC is not ok. What is wrong??

I used a Series 4590 high current filter inductor I had around, it has the
Digi Key number DN 4528.


Happy about the dip but still not clear on the deeper reasons...

73 Uwe



Here's something else to try:

Often trouble of this sort is due to the RF choke used. What RFCs are
you suing, particularly in the plate circuit? Although the LC meter
may say they are a certain L, in real life they may have all sorts of
unwanted resonances.

To test this idea out, do the following:

- Remove the plate RFC
- Connect the antenna end of the plate coil to the B+ where the RFC
used to be connected. This point should already be bypassed to ground
through a disk capacitor of about .01 uF
- Disconnect the "loading" capacitor
- Remove the plate coupling capacitor.

What you will then have is the 200 volts being fed to the plate
through the coil, with one end of the coil going to the plate supply
and the other end connected directly to the plate of the 6V6. The
plate tuning capacitor is connected between the plate of the 6V6 and
ground.

End result is no plate RFC and a parallel resonant circuit. There's no
connection for an antenna yet, but that's not important right now.

Test out the rig and look for the plate current dip. It should be very
obvious because there is no load connected.

This is just a temporary setup to see if the RFC is OK.

73 es GL de Jim, N2EY




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