I forgot to tell my "parasitic" story..see below...

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 wrote:

Date: 13 Jul 2005 14:05:17 -0700
From:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Subject: QUESTION: Fun with Svetlanas or Staying alive with kV power supplies

My knowledge of vacuum tubes and kV power supplies is limited. I have
been reading an article in the ARRL Handbook detailing the construction
of a 1kW HF Linear. I'd like to try my hand at building something like
this. I found the article a little intimidating: Ceramic insulators,
parasitic suppressors, thermal and mechanical engineering etc. Is
there some book that details this type of thing with an explanation of
the whys as well as the whats and hows. My priorities a

1) Safety. I'd like to be alive to make my first 1kW QSO
2) Avoiding equipment destruction, arc overs, black smoke, explosions
etc
3) Safetly troubleshooting this kind of equipment, loading testing
etc.
4) How to deal with tubes: warm up, care, etc...
5) Avoiding TVI (ITV), parasitic oscillations etc.

I built this two 811-a linear amplifier way long ago. Basically ave power
300 watts DC input. So, I made my own parasitic suppressors (turns of wire
over, say, a ten ohm two watt carbon resistor. Or adjust turns). This was
for a 75 meter phone band.

So, on launch day it sits there like a scared bird. Turn on fil power,
plate power (this is grounded-grid for stability and minimal if not zero
need for neutralizations), and tune (no drive) the plate capacitor.
Result: dang, RF output through the power meter AND smoke comes out the
top of the amp and I stand up, look down, and the coils of wire (made of
#22 or 24 gauge wire, can't remember) around the resistors are glowing red
hot! Too many turns of wire, so next time around I cut back to half and
all was OK. Including no self-oscillation in the two 811-As.

That's called trial and error. Or, try, smoke, fix. Like if ready, fire,
aim does not work, change the order to ready, aim, fire.

Art, W4PON


6) Longevity and Duty Cycle issues etc.
7) Costs and sources.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks,

Tim

From: straydog on Fri 15 Jul 2005 00:48


That's called trial and error. Or, try, smoke, fix. Like if ready, fire,
aim does not work, change the order to ready, aim, fire.

All electronics works on smoke. If the smoke leaks out,
it won't work...

On Fri, 14 Jul 2005 wrote:

Date: 14 Jul 2005 20:48:16 -0700
From:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Subject: QUESTION: Fun with Svetlanas or Staying alive with kV power
supplies

From: straydog on Fri 15 Jul 2005 00:48


That's called trial and error. Or, try, smoke, fix. Like if ready, fire,
aim does not work, change the order to ready, aim, fire.

All electronics works on smoke. If the smoke leaks out,
it won't work...


;-) Reminds me of another joke I can't quite remember: something
dealing with the proof that electricity is really smoke, or something like
that. Maybe someone has a reference to that joke. It was pretty funny,
too.

Art, W4PON

All electronics works on smoke.
If the smoke leaks out, it won't work...

;-) Reminds me of another joke I can't quite remember: something
dealing with the proof that electricity is really smoke....

A local (and now retired) engineering faculty member has an after-dinner
speech in which he "proves" that "electricity is black and heavy"!

For example, in an automobile, electricity is stored in the battery.
What color is the battery? Black!
And it is quite heavy for its size.

And on and on and on!

--Myron.
--
--Myron A. Calhoun.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge
PhD EE (retired). "Barbershop" tenor. CDL(PTXS). W0PBV. (785) 539-4448
NRA Life Member and Certified Instructor (Home Firearm Safety, Rifle, Pistol)

Myron wrote:


A local (and now retired) engineering faculty member has an after-dinner
speech in which he "proves" that "electricity is black and heavy"!

For example, in an automobile, electricity is stored in the battery.
What color is the battery? Black!
And it is quite heavy for its size.


Sounds logical to me.

My favoite is the Dark Sucker Theory (light is the absence of dark, and
light bulds suck dark). Do a google on it for lots more info, probably more
than you ever wanted to know... :-)

And thusly another thread morphs far off topic...

straydog wrote:



On Fri, 14 Jul 2005 wrote:

Date: 14 Jul 2005 20:48:16 -0700
From:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Subject: QUESTION: Fun with Svetlanas or Staying alive with kV power
supplies

From: straydog on Fri 15 Jul 2005 00:48


That's called trial and error. Or, try, smoke, fix. Like if ready, fire,
aim does not work, change the order to ready, aim, fire.


All electronics works on smoke. If the smoke leaks out,
it won't work...


;-) Reminds me of another joke I can't quite remember: something
dealing with the proof that electricity is really smoke, or something
like that. Maybe someone has a reference to that joke. It was pretty
funny, too.

Art, W4PON

But electricity _is_ really smoke. They burn coal at the generating
station and it travels through the wires to your house, where it makes
everything work. Then the used smoke goes _back_ through the wires (why
do you think they call them "return" wires, eh?) to the generating
station where it goes up the smokestack.

If something should break then some of the smoke will leak out right
there in your house right before the thing stops working.

And that's how you know that electricity is smoke.

--
-------------------------------------------
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005, Tim Wescott wrote:

Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:51:21 -0700
From: Tim Wescott
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Subject: QUESTION: Fun with Svetlanas or Staying alive with kV power
supplies

straydog wrote:



On Fri, 14 Jul 2005 wrote:

Date: 14 Jul 2005 20:48:16 -0700
From:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Subject: QUESTION: Fun with Svetlanas or Staying alive with kV power
supplies

From: straydog on Fri 15 Jul 2005 00:48


That's called trial and error. Or, try, smoke, fix. Like if ready, fire,
aim does not work, change the order to ready, aim, fire.


All electronics works on smoke. If the smoke leaks out,
it won't work...


;-) Reminds me of another joke I can't quite remember: something
dealing with the proof that electricity is really smoke, or something like
that. Maybe someone has a reference to that joke. It was pretty funny, too.

Art, W4PON

But electricity _is_ really smoke. They burn coal at the generating station
and it travels through the wires to your house, where it makes everything
work. Then the used smoke goes _back_ through the wires (why do you think
they call them "return" wires, eh?) to the generating station where it goes
up the smokestack.

If something should break then some of the smoke will leak out right there in
your house right before the thing stops working.

And that's how you know that electricity is smoke.

That's pretty good, but I seem to recall another slightly different
version of the joke but with some really clever line about the purpose
of insulation (and a half-believable rationale [rationale does not mean
scientific, however). Anyone else remember more of the details of this joke?


Art, W4PON

--
-------------------------------------------
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

But electricity _is_ really smoke. They burn coal at the generating
station and it travels through the wires to your house, where it makes ....

Did you notice that coal is BLACK? And most smoke is BLACK, too.

Insofar as water-generated electricity is concerned, it comes from rain
which has FALLEN (it's heavy) out of BLACK clouds and flowed downward
(heavy, again) to a sort of centrifuge which spins the HEAVY electricity
out of the water and forces it into the wires....
--
--Myron A. Calhoun.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge
PhD EE (retired). "Barbershop" tenor. CDL(PTXS). W0PBV. (785) 539-4448
NRA Life Member and Certified Instructor (Home Firearm Safety, Rifle, Pistol)