I picked up a 546 Omni D, series B at Xenia that the seller said worked but had
a stuck PTO so I figured it might be an easy fix and maybe something I could
sell to a new ham who wants a starter rig for HF. I managed to clean up the PTO
so it's all greased up with Super Lube and working great but I later found that
the finals were bad.
I have been saving a pair of PA finals from a VHF, low band Motorola Maxtrac
for such an occasion to try out. Knowing that xistors that are designed to
operate class C would probably not operate well with bias applied, I figured
I'd try them anyway - heck, I suppose I could keep it a CW-only rig until I
find some suitable xistors.
Well, they are holding the correct bias current and it's transmitting 110W out,
and getting good audio reports on fone. Not too shabby for a set of free finals
salvaged from some old Motorola radios.
I still haven't checked it on a spectrum analyzer but I figure I'll take it
into work soon and check it out when I get a chance. I suppose the IMD
characteristics are inferior to devices that are designed for this application
but if it's reasonably clean and legal, what the heck.
Curt, K8AI
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