Good engineering is a contest between engineers trying to design better and
more foolproof equipment and the Universe producing bigger fools. So far,
the Universe is winning!
Seriously, nobody can plan for every goofer! So, overdesign is just tryin'
to stay ahead of the Universe.
On the other hand, no excuse can be proffered for penny pinching, like some
manufacturers do to compete. In the long run, they loose customers and that
makes it bad economy.
Also bear in mind that military (read surplus ) equipment was designed with
a totally different set of goals in mind' repeatability and reliability
foremost. We hams have the privilege of deciding how much protection to
build in and how much to leave to careful operating procedure, i.e. how much
overdesign to put in.
Alex 4Z5KS
-----Original Message-----
From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Jim Thomson
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 3:56 AM
To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: [Amps] Good engineering
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:31:09 -0700, "Jim Thomson" <Jim.thom at telus.net>
wrote:
>
>## I wouldn't be holding Command or anybody else up as any kind of
>'standard of engineering excellence.' If these ham amps were built
>right, they would all have individual, adjustable bias for each tube,
>plus mating metering, real bandswitch's and real tank coils, and plate
>xfmrs... and maybe toss in a real tube..... and not something with a floozy
4 watt delicate grid.
REPLY:
Any fool can overbuild a product. Good engineers know when to stop, and good
engineers get paid good money to get it right.
73, Bill W6WRT
## Bill , got any idea what 3 x NEW EIMAC 3CPX-800A7's cost these days?
##That's the tube line up used in the HF-2500E.. really smart. The 12 ga
wireroller inductor,used in the 10 kw palstar ant tuner is a joke, along
with SO-239's,and the mickey mouse balun on the INPUT of the tuner.. which
will explode. Toss in undersized tank coils, bandswitch's, mickey mouse
tune/load padding schemes,t/r relays that hot switch, and you wonder why
the HB amp builder gets into designingand building his own stuff. Ten tec
brags abt the 3.5 kva CCS xfmr used in the centurion,and sez it's good for
7 kw.."IVS" [int voice service], yet it barely does 1.3 kw pep
out....[almost legal limit]. A buddy accidently had his cat fall asleep on
his footswitch for 2 hrs.His 87-A was pumping out a 1.5 kw FM cxr on 29.650
mhz. He had the optional cooling fan.The RF deck had turned into molten
glop ! Alpha tech tells him..... " don't believe the hype"The home builder
has the luxury of using what
ever components he wants.. and can get hishands on. Typ ham amps have cut
every corner there is. 1/4"-3/8"-1/2" cu tubing is cheapat home depot... so
why melt airdux ? Ceramic vac caps are readily available, so I use em
fortune and load. If something is marginal... I re-design it. Who's the
fool ? later... Jim VE7RF
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