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![]() You will probably be best off winding your own. My advice is this: find the core size required to handle an amount of power at 60HZ equal to the audio power needed, find an old power transformer of that core size, and unwind it. Count the turns on the 117VAC winding to get turns per volt, and figure the wire size from the DC input to the modulator for the primary windings, and from the DC input to the PA(for each side), and turns from the turns per volt for power. Do not push wire size the the limit(small) becuase the windings also must handle the peak currents produced by the audio power, which are higher than the DC average. This transformer will have more than enough iron in the core to handle the AC power, as audio is at a higher frequency and the inductive reactance higher. DC in the secondary will lower the inductance, but you should still have enough. If you were trying to handle deep bass frequencies(not needed nor wanted in a "communications" app as they eat percentage of modulation), you would use a still larger core, figuring audio power PLUS the power represented by a 60HZ AC current whose RMS value is equal to the current drawn by the PA. This "overkill" transformer would give less distortion on deep bass. For a ham or any other communications application, frequencies below 300 HZ or so are far less important than they are to a broadcaster, but be SURE not to allow frequencies to pass the modulator's driver that the output transformer is not efficient at, or heavy currents will be drawn and efficiency will suffer badly. If you design a modulation transformer only to handle a narrowband voice range, the modulator input transformer should also reject any frequencies lower than the output transformer can handle, or these frequencies can be filtered out elsewhere. Otherwise, just speaking too close to the mike(which produces a deep bass response) will heat up your modulator. garigue wrote: Well I havn't heard any AM on the HF bands in a long time, but I stand corrected that some people still use it. Granted it's in the minority and on "calling frequencies". I don't think those screen grid modulators found in novice rigs were of much use though. They didn't have much punch and poor audio. If you are going to go AM, a real plate modulator is the only way to go. (I shudder to think what a plate modulation transformer would cost these days....) |
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