Folks,
When deciding on the reliability factor in your antenna construction,
especially when running high power, or with modern solid state finals, I wonder
what the probability of expensive damage is if an antenna connector, or adapter
has a "hard" failure, i.e. an open or short circuit/flashover, etc. I have
experienced few TX failures through the years, due to SWR faults caused by
various antenna system faults. With a high power tube amp, I have heard of
fatal damage inflicted to tubes, or to bandswitches, or output network
components. On the other hand, I guess we can be lucky, and sometimes survive
an antenna fault without damage to QRO active or passive path. If the
probability is high of expensive damage caused by antenna faults, perhaps it is
worthwhile to achieve higher reliability by using higher quality and care with
connector components.
Also, I often wondered that it might be a good widget to have a "trip relay"
in an inline meter accessory to quickly, but not instantaneously remove TX
power under fault SWR occurances. I know Bird, has such in the commercial
market. Is damage inflicted to the TX RF chain components by an antenna
fault, usually quicker than a relay could remove/reduce RF power?
All the best,
Pat Barthelow (916) 315-9271
aa6eg@hotmail.com
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