Hello,
The other day I got to thinking the SSB delay times were pretty bad on my Palomar Skipper and my Magnum 2000. I still struggle to read schematics or even understand how stuff works, but used a multimeter to see what other capacitor was inline with the capacitor off the SSB switch. It showed connection with a particular capacitor near the relay, so that made it a candidate that was a capacitor used when the SSB delay was off. AM would have that slight delay that may drive people crazy and want to release the relay much earlier. According to my two amps, the values were as followed:
Palomar Skipper : 10uF onboard (Additional 22uf capacitor on the SSB Switch.)
Magnum 2000 : 15uF onboard (Additional 15uF capacitor on the SSB Switch.)
With the SSB switch on, it felt wayyyy too slow when it released the relay. In return miss just a small part of a conversation at times. For the Magnum 2000, I used a 4.7uF on the board, and this made things work MUCH better. (If you want to shave that very slight AM delay, a 2.2uF would be the better choice.) SSB delay just right to let go when you unkey and in between words it wont let go too early.
On the Palomar Skipper, I used a 1uF on the board. (I felt this basically defeats the purpose as it does let go pretty fast, but the capacitor on the SSB Switch is already a 22uF, so didn't want to go too far passed that.) A better one again may be a 2.2uF. It would give a very slight AM delay, but still good.
Hope this helps someone on who wants to change up their SSB delay on these amps. I did not want to disassemble the whole board, so I use a soldering iron on the positive leg and pushed it off to a side so it lifts off the circuit board, then just "wiggled" the capacitor till the leg broke off. Though, I highly recommend you replace the thermal paste on your amp if you never have done it before. Then you can desolder the capacitor correctly.
Have a great day everyone!
Magnum 2000 Capacitor location:
Palomar Skipper Capacitor location:
The other day I got to thinking the SSB delay times were pretty bad on my Palomar Skipper and my Magnum 2000. I still struggle to read schematics or even understand how stuff works, but used a multimeter to see what other capacitor was inline with the capacitor off the SSB switch. It showed connection with a particular capacitor near the relay, so that made it a candidate that was a capacitor used when the SSB delay was off. AM would have that slight delay that may drive people crazy and want to release the relay much earlier. According to my two amps, the values were as followed:
Palomar Skipper : 10uF onboard (Additional 22uf capacitor on the SSB Switch.)
Magnum 2000 : 15uF onboard (Additional 15uF capacitor on the SSB Switch.)
With the SSB switch on, it felt wayyyy too slow when it released the relay. In return miss just a small part of a conversation at times. For the Magnum 2000, I used a 4.7uF on the board, and this made things work MUCH better. (If you want to shave that very slight AM delay, a 2.2uF would be the better choice.) SSB delay just right to let go when you unkey and in between words it wont let go too early.
On the Palomar Skipper, I used a 1uF on the board. (I felt this basically defeats the purpose as it does let go pretty fast, but the capacitor on the SSB Switch is already a 22uF, so didn't want to go too far passed that.) A better one again may be a 2.2uF. It would give a very slight AM delay, but still good.
Hope this helps someone on who wants to change up their SSB delay on these amps. I did not want to disassemble the whole board, so I use a soldering iron on the positive leg and pushed it off to a side so it lifts off the circuit board, then just "wiggled" the capacitor till the leg broke off. Though, I highly recommend you replace the thermal paste on your amp if you never have done it before. Then you can desolder the capacitor correctly.
Have a great day everyone!
Magnum 2000 Capacitor location:
Palomar Skipper Capacitor location: