I was bored today.

[Captain Kilowatt]

I need a winter project and the wife is at me to clean out some junk. I thought maybe I could combine the two activities. I have been gathering parts for a couple decades but have been selective with what I gather and not just hoarding every little component I can find. No, instead I resorted to gathering the stuff you can't just order online or pick up down the street. I started to throw it in a rack to see how it would fit for room. All I did so far was assemble the main power supply components.

So far it looks like I have 40 uF of filtering at 5000 volts. The plate transformer is good for 1.2 amps CCS or about 2 amps ICAS and has three taps for the HV. The variac will allow me to adjust the voltage to suit me.




I also found a filament transformer rated at 7.5 volts and a minimum of 52 amps continuous. It was used with a 3CX3000A7. Oh.......I have a couple of those kicking around here too. Used but good.

Picked up a filament choke from a GPK-10 naval transmitter that ran a 4CX5000 final at 72 amps so I know the choke is good for a 3Cx3000A7.

I also found enough EDI rectifier stacks to make a full wave bridge with a spare or two. They are rated at 22 Kv and 30 amps continuous average forward current. Also found the following meters.

Got a couple of Jennings vac variable caps to rated at 1000pF at 10 Kv.

I found a LARGE roller inductor as well in very good shape. It is silver plated 3/16 brass tubing and has 30 turns about 3 inches or so in diameter. It is NOT the coil shown above but the caps and turns counters are in my collection.

That's as far as I got today. Just in the "what if" stage. Anybody got any idea what I could do with this stuff over the winter?

 

[StrangeBrew]

.... Just in the "what if" stage. Anybody got any idea what I could do with this stuff over the winter?

Get down on channel 6.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Get down on channel 6.

ch.6? I haven't been on 11m in over 25 years and see no reason to go back now. LOL I was thinking maybe 80m or 20m or something like that.

 

[Robb]

She called this stuff - junk?!?
Wish my junk looked half that good.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

She called this stuff - junk?!?
Wish my junk looked half that good.

LOL yeah but she has NO idea about such things. She calls it junk while I call it junque. It's a higher class of just regular junk. LOL

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

This little project will be a labour of love and will likely take a year or two to finish. I am in no hurry but I do want to make it something to be proud of. I figure it will have a pretty low weight to watt ratio when I am finished. LOL I'll have to weigh all the parts as I install them and keep a running tally to find out what the total weight will be.

 

[543_Dallas]

I've been kicking around the idea of picking up parts to build a 3000 over the next few years. I missed out on the surplus yc156 pulls. It will probably be mono band and I probably won't need so many turns on my tank coil.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I've been kicking around the idea of picking up parts to build a 3000 over the next few years. I missed out on the surplus yc156 pulls. It will probably be mono band and I probably won't need so many turns on my tank coil.

I take it that mono-bander is not for 80m AM then.

 

[BJ radionut]

I can smell the OZONE Burning away as we speak!
Loving it!
All the Best
Gary

 

[Road Squawker]

how ya fixed for blue LED's to lite up the meters?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

how ya fixed for blue LED's to lite up the meters?

I'll just relay on the plasma glow to give that pale blue lighting effect.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I'll just relay on the plasma glow to give that pale blue lighting effect.

Oh crap......this means I may have to upgrade some pieces of feedline eventually when things are done. Not sure I want to trust foam dielectric RG-8. It's only rated for 300 volts and that's only 1800 watts. My legal limit is 2250 pep or a full 750 watt carrier on AM plus 100% modulation for a peak power of 3000 watts on AM mode.

 

[BBB]

Don't forget the HV wire and some beefy ballast resistors. Probably going to want a few doorknobs as well. Oh and dig out that that high power band switch if you multi-band it. Got 240v? Maybe a 40 amp double pole breaker on the front end.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Don't forget the HV wire and some beefy ballast resistors. Probably going to want a few doorknobs as well. Oh and dig out that that high power band switch if you multi-band it. Got 240v? Maybe a 40 amp double pole breaker on the front end.

Got lots of HV wire salvaged from an RCA AM broadcast TX that ran 3200 volts on the 4-400's. IIRC the wire is rated at either 15 or 20 Kv. Got some doorknob caps as well as some very large micas that were in an AM tx ATU. No band switch required as I am using the roller inductor to eliminate that weak point. Also have a dedicated 240 volt line into the shack which is located directly above where the electrical panel is in the basement. IIRC ir is wired with 12 gauge but I plan to upgrade that to 10 gauge just .....well......just because.

Here is the roller inductor with a foot long ruler for scale. The roller tap is quite heavy and everything is silver plated.

The tube socket is in nice shape and again all silver plated.

The rectifier stacks are rated for 22 Kv and 30 amps, yes thirty amps forward average current. the measure 6x2x1 inches and are mounted on a small heatsink of their own.

 

[Radio Tech]

Best looking "junk" I have seen in a while

Nice collection!