Since a pair of 3CX800's wont even come close to running hard in a 2
or 3 hole 76A series amp then a little careful surgery will do the trick.
Remove enough of the anode cooler from both tubes so that they will
fit with about 1/4" spacing.
Dont laugh, it is just a part of hams doing what works when needed.
I modified several 8874's decades ago to replace the 8873 in Heath
SB-230 amps. At that time they were cheap as full power medical and
other pulls.
My own SB-230 modified for 6M and used for portable and roving has
been fine since 1985.
Carl
----- Original Message ----- From: "Colin Lamb" <k7fm@teleport.com>
To: "Mike McCarthy,W1NR" <lists@w1nr.net>; "Roger (K8RI)"
<k8ri@rogerhalstead.com>; <amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2019 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] Why 2 3CX800s instead of one 8877?
I am somewhat mystified by the messages. The Alpha 76A has 2 or 3
tubes 3CX400. But there is a difference. The 3 tube version you can
plug one socket and then use 2 3CX800A7 tubes. They fit fine. I
changed one and mounted the transformer inside the unit. It works fine.
There is a problem with the two tube version. If you change to tubes
to 2 3CX800 tubes - the sockets are too close together so they do not
fit. That would require more work because the holes and all the
chimenys are too close together. I have a 2 hole amp and used the
3CX400 tubes. I run that amp at 1200 watts and it has run flawlessly
for years.
I did a couple of other things to my amp. I installed a vertical
array inside between two meters for grid response. Because these
LEDs are much quicker that the meter it is much faster and that lets
me monitor forward output with the meter. Then, I converted the
output meter to read peak reading with a meter used for the Bird
Wattmeter. I have about 6 amplifiers and with those two changes this
amp is the one I use day after day.
73, Colin K7FM
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