I went to the Kitsap ARC hamfair in Silverdale, WA on Saturday. I found this RS-50a for $70, the seller mentioned the crowbar circuit was removed and I thought nothing of it, after further inspection, two of the 2N3772's are missing. So not quite the hamfair or hamfair deal I was dreaming of. One thing for sure, it is a basic power supply and seem to be lots of info out there in regard to the Astron power supplies. I first plugged it in and watched the voltage go up to almost 18vdc! Glad I didn't plug a radio into it. After a few minutes of the voltage jumping around it settled down to a solid 13.8vdc. First fix attempt was replacing the LM723 voltage regulating IC. Being a little older, this regulator board had the LM723 soldered directly on the pcb. I de-soldered the IC and installed a 14pin socket, making IC replacement easy. I have a few Astron power supplies so I tried one of the known good LM723, and still had the power on voltage problems! So still not trusting this supply, even though after about 5 minutes of being plugged in, voltage flattens out. I have a few ideas of where the problem could be, and I'll continue to work on it until I know it's perfect.
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I had purchased a Larsen NMO 2m antenna & install kit last fall, before I even had the Suburban. After my father-in-law gave me the drill bit I went to work on this install. After reading and researching I figured how I would do the install.
I pulled down the center light assembly and drilled a small pilot hole from the interior. Once the pilot was drilled I got up on the ladder, the Suburban is a little tall, then drilled my main NMO mounting hole making sure to strip down the paint for a nice ground plane connection. I fed the coax from above, pulling it out from the headliner with a wire coat hanger, ran the wire down the center column near the seat belt then up to the dash under the floor molding. Tighten the mount to the roof, solder the PL-239, add antenna. Next, I moved to running the power. I decided I would drill through the firewall to run the wire. Making sure I wouldn't hit anything critical on the other side, I pushed a drill bit through the firewall on the driver side. Against the recommendations of some, I ran the positive to my suburbans auxiliary 30amp power source under the hood, and used a frame ground from inside the cabin. I didn't have any fancy grommets so I made a "redneck grommet" by wrapping some electrical tape around the wire into a cone shape then pulling it through the drill hole until nice and tight. A few zip ties to hold the wires, it looks good, and works great, I am considering doing another NMO antenna on the Suburban. I'm sure if/when I do I'll share it. -73 Bryan KG7CUL My wife loves the dollar store and is trying to convince me it's the place to shop for stuff, considering I was just about to spend $20 on some decals, she broke out these letters & numbers. I can't complain, I know I can make them look good in my back window. I drove to Seatac today and couldn't catch anyone on 146.520 I had purchased the MF-4416B battery booster and decided that I wanted to use the Anderson Powerpole connectors. I ordered 10 pairs off the internet for $10. I also figured my 2 pin molex connectors are a little dated too. Well, today I broke out the soldering iron and grabbed up a bunch of my radio power wires. After checking out the directions online, I got started. Minutes later I have up-to-date power connectors. I really would like to install chassis mount Powerpole connectors on my power supplies, but to do that requires a nicely cut rectangle on the chassis, according to others who have tried it. With so many power connectors I regret not ordering 25 pairs. I haven't used them hardly at all, but I surely would recommend the upgrade. I run a Icom-765 to a MFJ antenna tuner for my main home station, a tuned dipole & random wire to cover all of HF. I keep wanting to make upgrades but cost is always prohibiting.
Here is some of my custom call sign work, I've enjoyed learning how to embroider. I'm not that great at it yet, but it sure has been cheap to learn, the shirts were $3 each at goodwill. The more I do this, the more I enjoy it. I have quite a few sewing machines and the more I use them the more I enjoy sewing. My portable HF setup consists of a Icom 738, Icom AH-3 Tuner, MFJ 1965 telescopic mast, Walmart flag pole hitch adapter, Kirkland 115AH deep cycle batter, MFJ-4416b Battery booster, and of course the fishing pole and lead weight. It's fun going portable can't wait to do it some more.
Spent some time today doing some fine tuning on my 75m dipole. I really want to have my SWR lowest on 3.97 for W6CCN. It's funny how a few inches on a antenna that is over 120ft long makes such a difference. But that's how it works! This dipole runs from a very short mast on the roof to a cedar tree in the backyard. Although it's up there a little bit, I wish it was higher. Here is a list of my supplies.
Took me a couple times to get the hang of tossing a lead weight into a tree and getting it over the perfect branch. I have been doing it a lot lately so getting better, guess it will help with my fishing skills too. I used a online dipole calculator to help me figure my length. Using coated solid wire made it easy to leave a little extra length and adjust with ease to said frequency. First I tossed the line over a branch about 40ft up. Cut the weight off the end and tied the fishing line to the rope. I then reeled in the line over top of the branches. The rope ran from the ground to the top of the tree and back down, approximately 80 ft of rope. I tied the two ends together and attached a pulley. The pulley had another length of rope ran through it and over to my wire antenna lying on the ground. I pulled the first rope with the attached pulley to the top of the tree while feeding enough rope through the pulley that the wire antenna stayed on the ground. After getting the pulley as high up as possible I tied off to the tree than began to pull the other rope raising the antenna in the air then tying it off too. Very simple to drop the dipole to tune or maintain. Since I first put this antenna up I have made a few changes adjusting height and length. I really enjoyed this project and am considering doing a fan dipole next and possibly installing a slightly taller mast on the roof. . . 73 . . .
-Bryan I got a box of documents from grandpa's old ham shack, I know there is some stuff in there worth sharing and I'll get to that this week. Had a fun time with family this week, here are a few photos. I spent a few days in Concrete, Wa. I ran portable off battery power, set up in the garage & ran a long wire up into one of the trees. Didn't do much more than check into the Country cousins nets. I thought I was going to set up 2m also but left some of my gear behind.
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