so i got the beat up and broken 32 pill that nate jones from hopper built sent me squared away for the most part, but the relay sticks. transmits fine but when you unkey the relay sticks and the receive is quiet although you can still hear the receive and stations coming thru. turn the amp off and back on will reset the relay. any thoughts on what could cause this? FYI: to save the unnecessary "its my station setup" posts its not. i dont have high vswr, common mode current, rfi in the shack, low voltage, high voltage, wrong coax length,bad antenna etc etc etc. its the amp! all my boxes and equipment run perfect and my mobile is top notch. its the amp that is at fault. it was sent to me in a used box with very little packing in it and it got completely destroyed. see pics for reference. i would hate to throw this one away like the other 32pill i bought from him which he could not get to work properly.
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amp relay sticks
- Thread starter groundwire
- Start date
Hopper built are garbage amps to start with.Maybe broken ground or other from the damage ? Maybe incorrect or poorly designed feedback circuit ? So many things it can be or just maybe a lousy designed/built amp.
If cycling the power resets the relay, the contacts are not fusing together ~ it must be in the transistor that controls it. If I had to guess, I'd think the RF on the + rail is going through the relay and avalanching the transistor that controls it (Edit i originally thought the RF was going through the diode but that wouldn't be much. However, the interwinding capacitance of that relay coil probably lets RF right through). If that is the case, maybe adding a current limiting resistor between the + rail and the relay so the relay only gets enough current to hold the contacts, and having a small value RF shunt capacitor for the RF but not big enough to make a time difference to ground after it, it would reduce the chances of avalanche. Like a low pass filter on the relay supply...
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Replace the keying circuit and relay, make sure there is a diode on the terminals. Ferrite it, and put a .01 on the relay for good measure. Also, get rid of that brass slapper relay. They suck. Put a name brand on there
damn, thats alot of problems. he made a video when it was done (whatever thats worth) and it was working perfectly. i was hoping it would be something simple that was damaged from shipping, not a build error. for the first 5 or 6 keydowns the relay was fine, then it just started after that. honestly i dont want to put much money into this thing if i dont have to. $20 -$40 or something fine but im not putting tons of cash into it which sucks because its brand new and i waited a year for the damn thing. but im done with hopper built garbage!
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
whats strange is it was working fine for about 5 or 6 keydowns then it started.
I had a 2 pill with a bad input tune that did this, he had to change the capacitance, can't remember if it was more or less but that fixed the issue. It only did it on my radio, hooked it to his bench radio and there was no issue, walked straight out to the truck, hooked it to mine and it was hanging up again so he tuned it while in the truck.
Burned contact points on the receive side of an amplifier's antenna relay is caused by using an RF-sensing keying circuit along with a high drive power.
Odds are the relay is not really "sticking", as in won't go "click" when you release the mike. When you put more than a hundred or so Watts into an amplfier, you will draw an arc across the receive-side contacts as they transition from receive to transmit. The relay won't start moving until your drive power triggers the keying circuit. By then there is plenty of fire to draw an arc across the gap as it widens on the receive-side contacts.
If you can hear an audible "click" when you release the mike, bad contacts are your problem.
And if you DON'T hear that "click", turn off the amplifier's power switch. If this always restores your receive, maybe the relay really is "sticking" and refusing to release back from transmit to receive mode.
That's a more rare thing to see, but that's how to find out.
This is one reason ham radios come with an accessory hookup to key an amplifier's relay as soon as the mike is keyed. Gives it a head start before the fire arrives.
73
Odds are the relay is not really "sticking", as in won't go "click" when you release the mike. When you put more than a hundred or so Watts into an amplfier, you will draw an arc across the receive-side contacts as they transition from receive to transmit. The relay won't start moving until your drive power triggers the keying circuit. By then there is plenty of fire to draw an arc across the gap as it widens on the receive-side contacts.
If you can hear an audible "click" when you release the mike, bad contacts are your problem.
And if you DON'T hear that "click", turn off the amplifier's power switch. If this always restores your receive, maybe the relay really is "sticking" and refusing to release back from transmit to receive mode.
That's a more rare thing to see, but that's how to find out.
This is one reason ham radios come with an accessory hookup to key an amplifier's relay as soon as the mike is keyed. Gives it a head start before the fire arrives.
73
i will pull it out of the mobile and check the relay contacts and give the amp a good look over again. ugghhh, the thing is so big and heavy, i hate the in out in out of the truck lol. wish i had power to check it in house.
Someday you will learn the benefits of AC mobiles. DC will seem like a bad nightmare from a long way away.
lol, i believe you. i wanted to go that route but i dont know anyone that builds ac boxes, plus i cant even get a simple solid state amp delivered to me without major problems. i could only imagine an ac box coming from the E coast to me out here in th NW, probaly show up in little pieces. im a poor minimum wage schmuck, i cant afford to travel and pick up my gear like the rich guys do. oh well, to late now. this was a very VERY long time of me saving money only to receive a broken non working $3400 piece of shit! it makes me sick to my stomach, it really does
i just got done going thru the whole amp. i literally checked every single solder joint, connection, wire, transformer wrap, component, relay, relay contacts etc. i checked for shorts, opens, ground continuity throughout the whole amp, etc with a vom. everything checks out perfect. still like brand new. relay contacts are brand new, not a mark on them. i cranked down every single nut, bolt and screw. so as far as all that stuff goes, the amp is perfect like new. i will put the thing back in line tomorrow and see if it still acts weird. im going to guess it will, because my last hopper 32pill was a complete lemon and a basket case so why would this one be any different lol. i hear of alot of people have problems with anything bigger than a 6pill from nate. ridiculous
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Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
Does the amp have any other quirks? Like output swr changing with the drive level? What is the input swr like when keyed? Any combiner resistors getting warmer than others, or any transistors warmer?
output swr stays the same with different drive levels,
input swr is flat (1/10 of a watt reflect)
pass thru tune is flat
all the combiners stay cool and even temperature. same with the output transistors.
is there supposed to be a resistor in the keying circuit?