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Texas Star DX1600 - Impedance Matching

gameover

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Oct 10, 2015
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1. My brand new DX1600 blows the power switch 3A fuse depending on its output power. It seems that its starved for current. I upped the fuse value to 5A and that seems to not starve it as much although if I talk louder into the mic (driving it harder) the relay chatters a lot (like a trrrrrrrrr) eventually popping the fuse with a 5A fuse. Well I bypassed this fuse and the relay still chatters. I'm driving it with a 2970n2 with a 3.5W dead key that peaks at around 160W into a dummy load.

2. Also, can someone please tell me how to flatten out the input vswr for 10m and 11m? Am getting 2:1 The output matching seems to be fine but I'd like to make it wider.

Please help.
 

Listen closely to what Crusher says, he knows a thing or two about amps.
Also, is this a mobile install or base? If it's a mobile, what's the vehicle. If base what is the power supply rated at?
The more info the better. You can sometimes obtain a good match between the radio and amp by using different length of coax. This is really a band aid for the real issue, but it will at least give you better VSWR readings. And also has the amp had the conversion for 11m use done? If not, this may be part of your issue.
Also what type antenna system do you have. Antenna, coax, meters, and so on. The more info you can provide may help with trouble shooting issue better. JMHO.
 
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Listen closely to what Crusher says, he knows a thing or two about amps.
Also, is this a mobile install or base? If it's a mobile, what's the vehicle. If base what is the power supply rated at?
The more info the better. You can sometimes obtain a good match between the radio and amp by using different length of coax. This is really a band aid for the real issue, but it will at least give you better VSWR readings. And also has the amp had the conversion for 11m use done? If not, this may be part of your issue.
Also what type antenna system do you have. Antenna, coax, meters, and so on. The more info you can provide may help with trouble shooting issue better. JMHO.

The DX1600's output is mated to a Wilson 5000 magnet mount with the factory coax cable. A 4ft jumper cable is in between the 2970n2 and the amp. Current is supplied by a mechman 370 A alternator :) :)

The amplifier's CW crystal board has been removed; hence, I assume the amp has been converted to 11m.....is there something else that needs to be done to it to operate in 11m?
 
The DX1600's output is mated to a Wilson 5000 magnet mount with the factory coax cable. A 4ft jumper cable is in between the 2970n2 and the amp. Current is supplied by a mechman 370 A alternator :) :)

The amplifier's CW crystal board has been removed; hence, I assume the amp has been converted to 11m.....is there something else that needs to be done to it to operate in 11m?

So you have a straight 8 pill amplifier in a mobile application and not a plug in the wall base correct? If so a 3 or 5 amp fuse won't even run your radio so how can it possibly feed that amp? Your gonna need maybe a 150 amp fuse.

If it is a plug in the wall base amp you can't run that off a power inverter in a mobile application. I'm curious whats up here.
 
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IDK, but also a Wilson 5000 magnet mount is not going to cut the mustard for that much power. Not 2 ways about it!! You need to get a solid antenna setup!!! A good hard mount and the antenna should work. But the magnet mount is most likely the source of your issue currently. I wouldn't run anything over a 2 pill on a mag mount Wilson 5000 personally. I've seen a 4 pill used on one and that was on an older vehicle. But IMO, you need to get your antenna setup correct before you step up to an 8 pill amp!!! That much I do know for sure. That is JMHO.
 
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And If you are using the factory coax, is the connector on the end a 2 piece type connector. Like an adapter almost. It will look like an sma to pl259. I know the k40's use them, not sure about the Wilson mag mount. But seriously, you need to get some antenna work done before you make any further moves or keep keying the amp. You are going to eventually let the smoke out of something if you keep at it IMO. Get your antenna setup right and then we will talk about Amps again!!!
 
LOL,
its traditional to start a joke with something like "knock knock" or "there was an English man an Irish man & a Scotsman"
running a sweet 16 on a 3amp fuse through rg58 is a decent punchline but you need a better beginning.

My Texas Star sweet sixteen DX1600 has two internal 3A fuses. One of those fuses, the one that goes to the power switch is the one that was getting blown. Prior to the fuse getting blown, the relay had a lot of "chatter??" (sounded like being keyed and unkeyed very fast).The fact that the 3A fuse was getting blown told me that the amp was being starved for current; hence, I just bypassed that fuse completely. Now, even though the fuse has been bypassed, the amp's relay still "chatters" at times.

The Wilson 5000 does not have RG58 coax. It has RG-8X coax ;) (thats how they come).

Does anyone know what input trimmer cap value to use at the input of the amp prior to the input combiner? I've tried ARCO 460, 462, and 463 with no luck.
 
So you have a straight 8 pill amplifier in a mobile application and not a plug in the wall base correct? If so a 3 or 5 amp fuse won't even run your radio so how can it possibly feed that amp? Your gonna need maybe a 150 amp fuse.

If it is a plug in the wall base amp you can't run that off a power inverter in a mobile application. I'm curious whats up here.

I think there is some confusion here. I've never put a fuse on the power line from the battery. The 3A fuses I was talking about in my initial post are internal to the amp.
 
This Texas Star DX1600 came from the factory with one 3A and a 10A internal fuse; whereas my DX1600 came with two 3A fuses.

....but then again, according to the specs for the amp, if it is supposed to put out no more than 5W RMS then the 3A fuse that mine came with should not have been an issue...

 
Man you just won't listen. You are running way too much power for a damn magnet mounted antenna!! Bottom line. IDC what the coax is. The magnet is not rated for this kind of power. You may be putting the amp into oscillation with RF feedback thus causing the fuse to blow and relay to chatter. IMO, I would not even tnink of running an 8 pill amp on a magnet mount setup. But maybe I am the dumb one here?? Get a better antenna setup. Not the antenna itself, but the mount needs to be a hard mount. Not a magnet mount. I'll let some of the amp gurus explain it better maybe. But running a DX1600 into a magnet mounted antenna is just asking for trouble IMO!! Good luck and don't let the smoke out!!
 
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222DBFL is 100% correct. You shouldn't even be THINKING of trying to run that kind of power thru a magnet mount antenna. A hard mount is the ONLY way to go with that kind of power.

But... if that's the way you want to run it.... a fool and his money are soon parted.

Good luck.


~Cheers~
 
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My wilson 5000 came with rg58, even if it came with rg8x that's still not rated for the output a hard driven sweet 16 puts out neither is the wilson mag,

one of the 3amp fuses feeds the fan, 3amp should be plenty,
the other 3amp fuse feeds the relays keying circuit and bias circuit,

The bias circuit is a simple resistive divider setup with 25ohm series resistors, if you shorted all 4 to ground you would only pull a little over 2amp, no way should a 5amp fuse blow,

i would make sure the conversion to cb amp has been done correctly before i worried about improving input vswr,
 
That is what I am trying to tell him. Shit, sell the 8 pill and invest in a good 2 pill and a good hard mount like a Breedlove one hole 3" puck mount or similar. Then you need to bond as much of the vehicles body panels to the frame. Use 1/4"-1" flat ground braid ground straps and do the hood, doors, firewall to engine, exhaust to frame, all this will help with your setup when you do step back up to an 8 pill. But at this point you are spinning your wheels man using that magnet mounted setup. But it's not my amp or radio setup so do as you will with it. Just be warned that you're probably going to mess the amp up if ylu haven't already. Exit13 knows more about amps than I do, but I at Least know enough that I have run an 8 pill setup 15yrs ago. I had. 1x2 driving a 8 pill. Used a single final radio and drove amp with it. Was an AM setup. And it worked well. But a lot of time and effort went into getting to that point. Not just a magnet mounted antenna and some added alternator. Shoot I ran a stock alternator, just had 300amps worth of battery power on hand at 13.8vdc. Like I said I had a lot of time and work invested into the setup to get it right!!! Breedlove brass mount, Monkey Made single coil 7ft 10" antenna capable of handling power, lmr400 coax. All lmr400 coax jumpers. And this was in an 89 Jeep Cherokee 4 door. It got out and made many contacts. But like I said, what you are using now for an antenna setup just isn't going to work. Bottom line. If this is all you can afford, sell the amp and get a 2 pill and start over doing what I listed above and you then may be able to run an 8 pill amp the right way. JMHO. Good night.
 
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