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[AMPS] Vacuum relays

To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [AMPS] Vacuum relays
From: measures@vc.net (Rich Measures)
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 98 02:04:57 -0800
>
>Gerard M0AIU/AA3ES wrote:
>
>> hope you are not into CW contesting. A vacuum relay has a life of
>>about 2 million operations. A serious CW contester will wear it out in 6
>>days! And that is when the relay was purchased new.

Anybody who sends 2 million dits and dahs in 6 days is destined for the 
nut-house.  If you need longer contact life, purchase the (tungsten 
contact) RJ-1H instead of the RJ-!A
>
>I have been using some RF1  vacuum relays for switching the amp available a
>few years back here at all the hamfests at about $7-50 each, new. (You can
>tell we're not in Nebraska!) 

amen

>They were arranged so that the bias doesn't
>come off the grid until the output relay has gone over: they are energised
>for receive. I do not run QSK, but got a strange effect that received
>signals would all go T4, and the received signal levels would drop. Tapping
>the relay with a pencil would restore things. 

This is most likely due to residual magnetism in the armature .  The 
usual fix is to reverse the wires to the relay coil. 



Rich...

R. L. Measures, 805-386-3734, AG6K, www.vcnet.com/measures  


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