Galaxy Saturn Turbo with 4 pill instead of the 2pill

[tunercars]

hello all so my question is can the power supply in the Saturn turbo be upgraded to a 60 amp to run 4 2sc2879 transistors instead of the 2sc2290s that are in it and would the radio make enough drive to run 4 2879s

 

[AudioShockwav]

Are you trying to put the amp inside the radio?
4 2879 needs some heat sink and a decent fan to cool it, plus you need venting for the power supply.
I don't think you can up-grade what's there, you would have to put a big switching supply in there.
IMHO that's a lot to stuff in the case and keep cool.
I would want 80 amps for both the radio and the amp.
Myself, I don't like radios with big pa's built in because of the extra heat, more heat equals more miles on the odometer over time.
I have always used a external amp.


73
Jeff

 

[tunercars]

Are you trying to put the amp inside the radio?
4 2879 needs some heat sink and a decent fan to cool it, plus you need venting for the power supply.
I don't think you can up-grade what's there, you would have to put a big switching supply in there.
IMHO that's a lot to stuff in the case and keep cool.
I would want 80 amps for both the radio and the amp.
Myself, I don't like radios with big pa's built in because of the extra heat, more heat equals more miles on the odometer over time.
I have always used a external amp.


73
Jeff

yeah just wondering if it would work or not if the ps would fit size wise the heat sink thats on the radio is big already and a fan kit might work to keep it cool and i figure if the radio is tuned right and not to get every last watt it wouldn't run as hot as one might think and venting for the supply shouldn't be to hard to make from different things ive read its basically a 2950 with an amp so really more like the 2970 and if it could be done then it would be more like a 2970N4 just base format witch is really what im going for and i love radios with built in pa's i don't have them tuned to get crazy amounts of power out of them as its just splatter makes them run hot and blows them up they are just simply not made to run that high but from what i see people buy what they can afford and there is nothing wrong with that but then try to get it to do big numbers and kill it in the process then give the radio or amp a bad rap but really its not either its the owner with higher expectation's than what the radio or amp can do but i have seen bad batch's of radios now and then it happens to everything thats mass produced but it don't mean they are all bad

 

[9C1Driver]

There would be so much going on their to deal with. Heat, stray RF, a very large power supply, and the 4 pill amplifier section. All shoved inside a radio that was never designed to do that. A smart tech that was determined to make it work probably could. By the time you paid the parts and labor to re-engineer the entire radio you could easily be in the 1200-1600 dollar range. And even after that how long would it work???

 

[Eldorado828]

@NightThumper did something similar but in a mobile. He did a 98vhp irf520 x 8 mosfet to a 4 pill and worked great.

Is the main PCB final section dual finals in that radio? Course it may require a little more prep like the mosfets produce if yours is dual bipolar. Power supply as the others mentioned above is another thing. As far as cooling, you could maybe adapt the fans from a 2995 dxcf. Lots of swaps, mods and parts.

Could it be done? Probably

Expensive? I'd bet it would be pricey

Would you be pleased with the results? Only in doing so would that be known.

It's your radio, if it's what you want and you've got a good chunk of coin to provide a good technician..... a good technician willing to take on the job is another matter.

 

[nomadradio]

Seems to me you would need to take two heat sinks like the original one mounted side-by-side. Doubling RF power starts with double the power supply. The original heat sink is a good size for two 2SC2290 it was built with to start. The original power-supply regulator circuit dumped enough heat into one end of the heat sink to make the fan a good idea. Taking the original power supply regulator off of that heat sink makes it plenty big enough for two RF transistors without the need for a fan.

Not sure if you could get away with four on the original heat sink alone, if you have enough fans. Firm maybe.

Thought about taking an amplifier kit with two MRF300 transistors and putting it in a 2995. Or maybe "on" it. Power supply fit is an open question for the moment. Too many projects, too few lifetimes.

73

 

[tunercars]

There would be so much going on their to deal with. Heat, stray RF, a very large power supply, and the 4 pill amplifier section. All shoved inside a radio that was never designed to do that. A smart tech that was determined to make it work probably could. By the time you paid the parts and labor to re-engineer the entire radio you could easily be in the 1200-1600 dollar range. And even after that how long would it work???

it already has an amp in it so other than upgrading the amp bored and power supply it wouldn't be all that different the 4 pill amp bored can sit in the same spot the 2 pill amp bored already is and the back of the radio already has a big heatsink and i can add the fan kit to it the only issue i may have is can i get the power supply to fit or is there enough room to stand it up on its side and 1,200-1,600 to put the amp and ps in is way way to much when everything to hook it up is already there then fit the power supply this is no different than a 2970N4 other than its in a bigger case and has its own power supply

 

[tunercars]

@NightThumper did something similar but in a mobile. He did a 98vhp irf520 x 8 mosfet to a 4 pill and worked great.

Is the main PCB final section dual finals in that radio? Course it may require a little more prep like the mosfets produce if yours is dual bipolar. Power supply as the others mentioned above is another thing. As far as cooling, you could maybe adapt the fans from a 2995 dxcf. Lots of swaps, mods and parts.

Could it be done? Probably

Expensive? I'd bet it would be pricey

Would you be pleased with the results? Only in doing so would that be known.

It's your radio, if it's what you want and you've got a good chunk of coin to provide a good technician..... a good technician willing to take on the job is another matter.

i would like to try it and see what the outcome would be if the main PCB bored is the same size as what the mobile bored than you could gut a 2970N4 and put it in the black case the only issues would be is space for the power supply and if a 2nd heatsink is needed that wouldn't be to big of a deal ive not even took the cover off to look inside it to see whats in it really wish RCI would make a base version of the 2970N4 basically the turbo 2990 and 2995 are 2970s with different displays

 

[tunercars]

Seems to me you would need to take two heat sinks like the original one mounted side-by-side. Doubling RF power starts with double the power supply. The original heat sink is a good size for two 2SC2290 it was built with to start. The original power-supply regulator circuit dumped enough heat into one end of the heat sink to make the fan a good idea. Taking the original power supply regulator off of that heat sink makes it plenty big enough for two RF transistors without the need for a fan.

Not sure if you could get away with four on the original heat sink alone, if you have enough fans. Firm maybe.

Thought about taking an amplifier kit with two MRF300 transistors and putting it in a 2995. Or maybe "on" it. Power supply fit is an open question for the moment. Too many projects, too few lifetimes.

73

im thinking the fan kit from a 2995dx might be up to the task what is the original amperage of the power supply is it 20 amps ?

 

[9C1Driver]

it already has an amp in it so other than upgrading the amp bored and power supply it wouldn't be all that different the 4 pill amp bored can sit in the same spot the 2 pill amp bored already is and the back of the radio already has a big heatsink and i can add the fan kit to it the only issue i may have is can i get the power supply to fit or is there enough room to stand it up on its side and 1,200-1,600 to put the amp and ps in is way way to much when everything to hook it up is already there then fit the power supply this is no different than a 2970N4 other than its in a bigger case and has its own power supply

My pure estimated price was based on having to purchase the 4 pill amp and the power supply. And it was all based on taking everything to a tech dropping it off and having them do it all call me when it's done. Just ask nomadradio to post a price quote for that if someone brought that into his shop. He might be able to do it for much less who knows.

 

[nomadradio]

Bear in mind there's a difference between designing a setup like this from scratch, compared to just copying details someone else has already worked out and debugged.

Definitely more labor required for the first one than for the rest of them after that.

73

 

[tunercars]

My pure estimated price was based on having to purchase the 4 pill amp and the power supply. And it was all based on taking everything to a tech dropping it off and having them do it all call me when it's done. Just ask nomadradio to post a price quote for that if someone brought that into his shop. He might be able to do it for much less who knows.

i understood what you were saying im just tossing around the idea its not set in stone i have even thought about leaving the 2 2290s in it and using that to drive the 4 2879s i was looking around to see if i could find a 100amp supply to fit in it just make the back of the radio a big heatsink and use 2 fan kits from a 2995 the reason to have it all in one is to save space save wires save on jumpers save on power supply's and if done right its not going to get crazy hot i would even be okay with putting a plug on the back of it and running it like the icoms and having the power supply outside of the radio if i needed to that would free up space and could allow for the 2290s and 2879s to sit in the space of the power supply on a heat sink and have a fan mounted on the top cover to cool it just food for thought