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[Amps] RF voltage on VHF strip line

To: 'Amps' <Amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [Amps] RF voltage on VHF strip line
From: N1BUG <paul@n1bug.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 15:37:58 -0400
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>
So, moving along from the topic of screen grid voltage regulation and direction of current flow, here is my other/next question...

Suppose you have a 4CX1500B sitting in the middle of a half wave plate strip line for 144 MHz. Some may prefer to think of it has two quarter wave lines with the tube between them. This is a "teflon sandwich" line where the upper brass plate is connected to the tube anode, the lower is not. The lower brass plates are grounded at the far end from the tube. Between the upper and lower plates we have a thin sheet of teflon that forms the dielectric for the DC blocking capacitor.

Can someone help me understand whether (and if so why) there would be significant RF voltage across the blocking cap? Obviously RF voltage is going to vary along the *length* of the line, being high at the tube and near zero as we get toward the grounded end. But what about voltage across the teflon sheet between the upper and lower plate *at any given point along the line*?

I am trying to understand WHY this thing would want to arc or break down only when RF is present. My mind wants to believe that the RF voltage across the capacitor at the point where the teflon shoulder washers insulate the screws holding it together would not be significant, and that the voltage would be just B+ regardless of whether RF is present or not. However I see evidence this is not the case and want to know what it is that I don't understand.

73,
Paul N1BUG
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