"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...

And don't go mountain climbing. And don't drive race cars. And don't
learn how to do aerobatics.

Well, I've only done the first two. I was just trying to persuade him to
take up solid-state stuff. He keeps talking about the HV power supply on his
bench and that makes me think of how nice it is to work at 12 V.

BTW, I found mountaineering and racing a helluva lot more exciting than
working with vacuum tubes.

73,

"PM"

in article ,
Paul_Morphy at wrote on 4/3/04 19:24:


"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...

And don't go mountain climbing. And don't drive race cars. And don't
learn how to do aerobatics.

Well, I've only done the first two. I was just trying to persuade him to
take up solid-state stuff. He keeps talking about the HV power supply on his
bench and that makes me think of how nice it is to work at 12 V.

BTW, I found mountaineering and racing a helluva lot more exciting than
working with vacuum tubes.

73,

"PM"



12V, holy cow!
If I go low voltage I keep it at around 5. I am building a controller board
with basic stamps and recently fried an A/D chip by letting it have 12V, it
was lethal.

By the way, talking about overload. The issue of crystals breaking has been
mentioned a few times, but how do I measure what the crystal "sees" for
current and what is tooo much???


73
Uwe

in article ,
Paul_Morphy at wrote on 4/3/04 19:24:


"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...

And don't go mountain climbing. And don't drive race cars. And don't
learn how to do aerobatics.

Well, I've only done the first two. I was just trying to persuade him to
take up solid-state stuff. He keeps talking about the HV power supply on his
bench and that makes me think of how nice it is to work at 12 V.

BTW, I found mountaineering and racing a helluva lot more exciting than
working with vacuum tubes.

73,

"PM"



12V, holy cow!
If I go low voltage I keep it at around 5. I am building a controller board
with basic stamps and recently fried an A/D chip by letting it have 12V, it
was lethal.

By the way, talking about overload. The issue of crystals breaking has been
mentioned a few times, but how do I measure what the crystal "sees" for
current and what is tooo much???


73
Uwe

12V, holy cow!
If I go low voltage I keep it at around 5. I am building a controller
board
with basic stamps and recently fried an A/D chip by letting it have 12V,
it
was lethal.

By the way, talking about overload. The issue of crystals breaking has
been
mentioned a few times, but how do I measure what the crystal "sees" for
current and what is tooo much???


73
Uwe

You can use a panel lamp in series with the crystal to limit the current
(too much current causes the lamp to glow, increasing the resistance,
limiting the current)... Check some of the earlier handbooks for the
proper lamp to use... A 47 might be a good start. This is really a bigger
problem when crystals other than the older pressure mount FT243 are
used (modern plated lead connections) or with larger PA tubes used
as oscillators (6L6, 807, etc.)

Pete

12V, holy cow!
If I go low voltage I keep it at around 5. I am building a controller
board
with basic stamps and recently fried an A/D chip by letting it have 12V,
it
was lethal.

By the way, talking about overload. The issue of crystals breaking has
been
mentioned a few times, but how do I measure what the crystal "sees" for
current and what is tooo much???


73
Uwe

You can use a panel lamp in series with the crystal to limit the current
(too much current causes the lamp to glow, increasing the resistance,
limiting the current)... Check some of the earlier handbooks for the
proper lamp to use... A 47 might be a good start. This is really a bigger
problem when crystals other than the older pressure mount FT243 are
used (modern plated lead connections) or with larger PA tubes used
as oscillators (6L6, 807, etc.)

Pete

"Paul_Morphy" wrote in message
...

" Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news:vQnbc.9210$pM1.6556@lakeread06...

I suggest he put all his radios on a shelf, and get a cell phone. No
dangerous
RF levels, no deadly voltages...

NOT

Gee, Unc, have a tough week? : I don't want him to give up radio, I just
don't think an Ameco AC-1 is worth the trouble. I didn't want one when I
was
15 and they were new, and I wouldn't waste my time fiddling with one now.

73,

"PM"


No, but you have some issues. The other guy is "having fun" with his Ameco,
why don't you give it a rest? That isn't exactly the most dangerous
boatanchor I can think off. Thank god you don't frequent the boatanchor
group, you'd be flipping out.

Pete

"Paul_Morphy" wrote in message
...

" Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news:vQnbc.9210$pM1.6556@lakeread06...

I suggest he put all his radios on a shelf, and get a cell phone. No
dangerous
RF levels, no deadly voltages...

NOT

Gee, Unc, have a tough week? : I don't want him to give up radio, I just
don't think an Ameco AC-1 is worth the trouble. I didn't want one when I
was
15 and they were new, and I wouldn't waste my time fiddling with one now.

73,

"PM"


No, but you have some issues. The other guy is "having fun" with his Ameco,
why don't you give it a rest? That isn't exactly the most dangerous
boatanchor I can think off. Thank god you don't frequent the boatanchor
group, you'd be flipping out.

Pete

" Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news:b0Xbc.10404$pM1.5246@lakeread06...

No, but you have some issues. The other guy is "having fun" with his
Ameco,
why don't you give it a rest? That isn't exactly the most dangerous
boatanchor I can think off. Thank god you don't frequent the boatanchor
group, you'd be flipping out.

What makes you think I don't? I've horsetraded quite a few BAs in my time,
many of which stuck around for my own use. My point was, and is, for the
time spent, there may be greater rewards from pursuing a different aspect of
the hobby. Ie, he's stuck on mountain climbing, and he might enjoy racing,
too.

I find it fascinating that some people project my concerns about obvious
newbies fooling with HV into a condemnation of trying something different,
especially when 'trying something different' was my point from the outset.

Uwe is certainly as free to accept or disregard my advice as I am to give
it.

73,

"PM"

" Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news:b0Xbc.10404$pM1.5246@lakeread06...

No, but you have some issues. The other guy is "having fun" with his
Ameco,
why don't you give it a rest? That isn't exactly the most dangerous
boatanchor I can think off. Thank god you don't frequent the boatanchor
group, you'd be flipping out.

What makes you think I don't? I've horsetraded quite a few BAs in my time,
many of which stuck around for my own use. My point was, and is, for the
time spent, there may be greater rewards from pursuing a different aspect of
the hobby. Ie, he's stuck on mountain climbing, and he might enjoy racing,
too.

I find it fascinating that some people project my concerns about obvious
newbies fooling with HV into a condemnation of trying something different,
especially when 'trying something different' was my point from the outset.

Uwe is certainly as free to accept or disregard my advice as I am to give
it.

73,

"PM"

In article , Uwe
writes:

12V, holy cow!
If I go low voltage I keep it at around 5. I am building a controller board
with basic stamps and recently fried an A/D chip by letting it have 12V, it
was lethal.

Heh heh heh...you low-voltage kids are all alike. Us vacuum veterans
would not think twice about the +120 VDC (the "B+") in the old
"All-American Five" cheap table model AM BC radios.... :-)

By the way, talking about overload. The issue of crystals breaking has been
mentioned a few times, but how do I measure what the crystal "sees" for
current and what is tooo much???

Seriously, folks, the websites for International Crystal, Corning
Frequency Control division, etc., all give specs on various sizes
and cuts of their quartz crystal units. Few really "measure" the
crystal drive levels since that can be done analytically...if one
knows how to do this. If not, there are several hints on the
various crystal unit websites for approximating that, such as
typical circuits.

The best approach at the beginning is to take advice from others
on what works and what doesn't...such as the old, old FT-243
holder crystals can take more power dissipation (thicker slice of
quartz) than most of the smaller HC-6 holder units. The newer
SMD quartz crystal units have very low power specs and should
not be used with most vacuum tube circuits because of that.

Having been in the electron-pushing racket for better than a half
century and bridging the tube and transistor eras, I've never
experienced any quartz crystal physically "breaking." If a
quartz crystal circuit stopped working, the quartz unit just sat
there without a sound, same as it did when it worked OK. :-)
Only the oscilloscope trace knew what was in the hearts of
such circuits...

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person