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Palomar Electronics Max-Mod. Spoiler alert!

Well, why actually yes, there is a video. You know the one, it was during a Snake Radio Customs live stream. And we all know it was recorded, way too many of them poked fun by your radio guy for them to not be recorded. Just go back and pay attention, it’s all there.

But just in case you missed it, it’s the one with him talking with the Irish guy. It’s all there.

6BFFB013-AFC1-444A-BB69-470404F55001.jpeg
 
if I remember correctly, the tube video I saw was taken down. The person said you had to buy 1000 of the new encoders or else . Does anyone have a 1000 955s?
 
*clears throat* I know who doesn’t, won’t and hasn’t sold that many, oh and won’t.

That was a thought, did I type that out? Yup there it is, I’ll be damned.
 
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Irrational, yes.

Found this pic I snapped of the inside of that mystical secret-sauce radio the "General Lee". Still brings a smile.

KAVHHt.jpg


73

Over the years I've known several people who would claim you faked that photo (HAH)
 
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Great article, and remote mounting the regulator to the heat sink is a great idea. I wonder why they don't build them like that to begin with?

Thank ya much for the compliment sir (y) And as to "the-why" almost ALL manufactures have been placing the "hottest-running" transistor in such radios (especially in the "dual-final" models.!) in such a TERRIBLY heat-trapped section "under-the-hood"., all I can say to such a question is., "monkey-see, monkey-do"., and has been pretty much "the-norm" ever since the beginning designs, of what I consider to be (in my humble opinion that is) one of the better / more versatile systems of using a transistor pass-regulator for the control of AM / FM dead-key watts (and SSB saturation level) and especially for the modulating of an AM transmitter...:rolleyes:
 
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I think the main point is that if it fails it will always result in an open circuit unlike others which usually result in a short circuit sending battery voltage directly to the finals causing them to detonate. There's much to be said for preventing catastrophic failure from ever occurring to begin with. Burned traces suck.
 
..using a GREAT little "free-ware" program called "TinyCad" (produced by "SourceForge") and can be downloaded here:https://sourceforge.net/projects/tinycad

TinyCAD

Brought to you by: beischer, don_lucas, mattpyne, mlangezaal {These guys helped produce TinyCAD}
Radioman, not to be rude but Sourceforge is simply the hosting service/software repository; it's the one all of us so called "software jockeys" used before Github came onto the scene.

I think the main point is that if it fails it will always result in an open circuit unlike others which usually result in a short circuit sending battery voltage directly to the finals causing them to detonate. There's much to be said for preventing catastrophic failure from ever occurring to begin with. Burned traces suck.
What??? battery voltage causing them to detonate, so you mean like supply voltage to the collectors of the driver/final? BWAHAHA take a meter and measure the collector voltage in your radio, I eagerly await your results... (should be about 6 Volts on a whim, this voltage is adjusted when setting carrier level)
EDIT: Thanks Blasphemy, yes measure it in SSB and you'll really flip your shit, OH NOOO battery voltage, dreaded battery voltage to my driver and final nooooooo it can't be!

Here is a tip look at the schematic above and connect the dots. :whistle:
You may have to google "how to read the schematic symbol for BJT", but that's OKAY, baby steps young "teacher".

I have supplied the Collectors in a radio's P.A. with 24 Volts, the D.C. present doesn't mean anything is going to "detonate" as you say, far from it in reality. :cautious:
Hell, I fed a nasty & unfiltered 24 Volts from a cheap Chinese LED driver power supply to the Drain of my precious FQP13N10 MosFet, and guess what happened?! :ROFLMAO:

The P.A. amplified the noise/ripple from the power supply causing some gnarly oscillation and showing some 50 Watts "CW" on a Bird 43, it got extremely hot, but it didn't "detonate" as you say, after everything cooled off and was "put back to normal" the part continued to perform as it should. :p

What I usually observe when a regulator fails.. (Cobra 148 style rig) high carrier & extremely low or no modulation... certainly not "detonation"! (y)

If you understand how the radio's power amplifier stage works you'd be able to see how foolish (inexact) your statement is.

I don't own, purchase, or sell "Stryker" radios so perhaps I've overlooked an inherent design flaw (they use PNP Darlington instead of NPN) that would cause a simple fuse "to be of no use" in preventing catastrophic failure. Now if the improper rating was used or the fuse bypassed (like hack shops in the desert sometimes do) then surely traces can burn depending upon the fault.

Suggesting people use the correct fuse isn't going to sell additional parts + service, now is it?

This drama is simply a way to create artificial demand for a product no one really needs.
Another marketing tactic, like how the ERF-2030+ is supposedly a superior part, while all of my personal testing has demonstrated the FQP13N10 consistently provides better performance.

Have YOU done any testing for YOURSELF yet, or are you always just going to be riding someone's coattail and simply parroting a narrative?
My suggestion: don't have faith in manipulative demonstrations on YouTube, it is easy to be fooled by the one you assume is always correct.

~Cheers~
 
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Agreed LeapFrog, a shorted regulator in an RCI chassis just results in a 45-50W carrier with no modulation. Never hurt any drivers or finals that I've seen. They might want to put their radios in SSB mode with the power wide open because there should be 12-14V on the final collectors. It pulls the regulator wide open in that mode.
 
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Agreed LeapFrog, a shorted regulator in an RCI chassis just results in a 45-50W carrier with no modulation. Never hurt any drivers or finals that I've seen. They might want to put their radios in SSB mode with the power wide open because there should be 12-14V on the final collectors. It pulls the regulator wide open in that mode.
In Cobra 148 GTL/Grant XL radios, they simply bypass the regulator using the mode select switch, feeding the collectors "supply voltage" while switched in a SSB mode.

I cannot say about the PNP failure, but a Galaxy DX66V isn't going to key 45-50 Watts with 14 Volts at the collectors, that sounds like a radio with an amplifier strapped to it.

Can somebody please show me on an RCI schematic, using sound electrical theory & logic just how this failed regulator is going to cause "detonation" of the driver/final P.A. transistors?
Edit: see my newer post in this thread
 
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