question about power supplys and radios

[Rwb]

i got 3 scanners going off their own supply,2 -2 meter radios hooked to mjf 30 amp switching power supply a mirage 2 meter 200 watt amp,and stryker 955 hp and a opticom [texas star ] hooked to same amp.
i only run 1 rado and amp at a time . just started acting up yesterday but key mic (silver eagle ) up on ssb all is well but i key up on am and as i speak im getting a buzzy sond coming from the power supply. i unhooked everything but stryker and turned it on keyed up same buzz.oddly no other radio does this. i took mic apart no wires out of place in plug or board.
put original stryker mic on same buzz. i talked a short bit last nite nobody noticed any odd sound from my signal amp on or off on am and ssb.
swr by big meter shows almost flat 1:1 across band.and radio meter agrees. no matter where i set mic gain i got this buzz on am.
is power supply bad or what? ive had this supply 3 years n its always worked just fine for me.

 

[Justme]

A 200 watt 2 meter amp will run 30 amp easy so it looks like you run the PSU a max amps
I use a 60 amp PSU for just the FTdx 10 and IC 9700 both running 100 watts max amps used if both radios are on max power 38 Amps having some headroom.
Now the FTdx 10 runs max 20 watts in the Acom 500 S amplifier tha has it's own supply.

Might be mechanical buzzing, make sure of that first and see what power level causes it to start humming to get an idea, if you ran the PSU long time max amps it might start to get faulty, dried up Electrolitics etc.

Always run PSU's under max load/amps, hey are relative cheap and easily replaced your gear not.

 

[Lkaskel]

i got 3 scanners going off their own supply,2 -2 meter radios hooked to mjf 30 amp switching power supply a mirage 2 meter 200 watt amp,and stryker 955 hp and a opticom [texas star ] hooked to same amp.
i only run 1 rado and amp at a time . just started acting up yesterday but key mic (silver eagle ) up on ssb all is well but i key up on am and as i speak im getting a buzzy sond coming from the power supply. i unhooked everything but stryker and turned it on keyed up same buzz.oddly no other radio does this. i took mic apart no wires out of place in plug or board.
put original stryker mic on same buzz. i talked a short bit last nite nobody noticed any odd sound from my signal amp on or off on am and ssb.
swr by big meter shows almost flat 1:1 across band.and radio meter agrees. no matter where i set mic gain i got this buzz on am.
is power supply bad or what? ive had this supply 3 years n its always worked just fine for me.

Ok, so I had this same issue with my 30 amp supply. It's a TP30SWII. It was only powering a 150 watt amp and it did not do this at 1st. Something internally became loose, not broken though. I am anticipating that it is the transformer or an inductive coil as there are no moving parts except for the meter and it was on voltage so it was not moving. I guess I should take it apart to try to figure it out....

 

[Rwb]

A 200 watt 2 meter amp will run 30 amp easy so it looks like you run the PSU a max amps
I use a 60 amp PSU for just the FTdx 10 and IC 9700 both running 100 watts max amps used if both radios are on max power 38 Amps having some headroom.
Now the FTdx 10 runs max 20 watts in the Acom 500 S amplifier tha has it's own supply.

Might be mechanical buzzing, make sure of that first and see what power level causes it to start humming to get an idea, if you ran the PSU long time max amps it might start to get faulty, dried up Electrolitics etc.

Always run PSU's under max load/amps, hey are relative cheap and easily replaced your gear not.

the mirage wasnt ran at 200. i fed 5 watts into it developing 160 out
the 955 same way about 9 watts ssb to get 150 out. odd thing its only on am lower power . radio alone on ssb pep is 77 watts on am full power 50 watts. if i feel up to it im putting my radio shack ps only 25 wats and see if it is still there.

 

[Justme]

Running 160 watts from my pa on 2 it will draw 24 amps add radio on 5 watts 5 amps and you are close to max amps from he PSU.
Most P.As are only 50 % efficient so draw more power as most expect.....
In your case 150 watts out is 300 watts in on 14 volt is 21 amps minimum... rest is heat...
Most PSU will be branded 30 amps but can only deliver 25 or 26 amps continuously max 30 amps intermittently.
My 60 amp is stated 55 amps continuously 60 amp max .
First things first see inside if a coil or glued part came lose and causes internal vibration in the case.
Look for any part that might have discoloured and see if output terminals have RF chokes preventing RF getting in the PSU through terminals.
If all is good it is time to use ferrite and see if that solves the problems more or less.

 

[somicide]

swr by big meter shows almost flat 1:1 across band.and radio meter agrees. no matter where i set mic gain i got this buzz on am.
is power supply bad or what? ive had this supply 3 years n its always worked just fine for me.

dont use the radio meter, ignore it. not trying to tell you what to do either, trust me

it sounds like the power supply has a ground loop somewhere. if both the radio and an swr meter placed halfway between two 18ft pieces of coax say the same thing, you should be worried. something is not right

 

[Rwb]

dont use the radio meter, ignore it. not trying to tell you what to do either, trust me

it sounds like the power supply has a ground loop somewhere. if both the radio and an swr meter placed halfway between two 18ft pieces of coax say the same thing, you should be worried. something is not right

The meter matches my big meter.tad higher tham my big meter.

 

[Rwb]

I reopened it seen no problem but used air hose blew it out again.it was quiet on am. Im thinkin a dust bunny was hiding in it n i missed the lil wabbit.
We will see if it works ok for a while

 

[somicide]

I reopened it seen no problem but used air hose blew it out again.it was quiet on am. Im thinkin a dust bunny was hiding in it n i missed the lil wabbit.
We will see if it works ok for a while

very odd but yeah, like i said: sounds like you had a ground loop. it wouldnt surprise me if it actually was just dust at all lol

not sure what to say about the SWR though which is kinda concerning since it involves an amplifier - unless youre plugging the radio directly into the antenna (and NOT the amplifier) the reading should be different at the radio compared to a coax tap

usually (and dont take my word for it) the reading between the radio and amp is somewhere between 1.5 and 2 (this is "set" or tuned by the amps manufacturer, obviously), THEN you get the actual reading between the amp and the antenna

also, dumb question: are the readings the same with the amp off?

 

[Rwb]

very odd but yeah, like i said: sounds like you had a ground loop. it wouldnt surprise me if it actually was just dust at all lol

not sure what to say about the SWR though which is kinda concerning since it involves an amplifier - unless youre plugging the radio directly into the antenna (and NOT the amplifier) the reading should be different at the radio compared to a coax tap

usually (and dont take my word for it) the reading between the radio and amp is somewhere between 1.5 and 2 (this is "set" or tuned by the amps manufacturer, obviously), THEN you get the actual reading between the amp and the antenna

also, dumb question: are the readings the same with the amp off?

thats with amp off .it rises to 1:4-5

 

[Rwb]

well the buzz came back. i was setting looking at power wires n TING it went off. remove ferrite bead on ground wire. it cleaned itself real well. that ferrite bead had 3 cracks inside the half sleeve. and a half grown kitten was playing with wires which are tied up now out of his sight n my mind