Ken,
I have two large muffin fans (115-vac type) mounted in a cutout
in a shelf above the back of my Omni VI+. I can turn them on
with toggle switches. In a contest, I have them on all the time.
When I'm just fooling around, I turn at least one on.
One thing is for certain: You cannot go wrong by circulating air
around the heatsink. Do it. Do it even if you KNOW you don't
need it.
I'd stay away from thermally controlled fans. I've never had
much confidence in them. I replaced two in my old TS-930S years
ago....AFTER I noticed that the fan was not running and, on
touching the heatsink, realized that I was close to meltdown of
the finals...or so it seemed like at the time.
Toggle switches give you positive control.
By the way, the fans are just a little bit louder than the keying
reed relay in the Omni VI.
But, with headphones, I don't hear any of it.
:-)
True, but sad story: A ham at the Clear Lake ARC FD lost his
Omni VI+. It was attributed to overheating of the finals. He
didn't have a fan going. The FD site was outside, under a roofed
pavilion, in Houston's 98 degree temperatures and 98 percent
humidity and no wind.
73,
Dale Martin, KG5U
kg5u@hal-pc.org
http://www.hal-pc.org/~kg5u My station is on my webpage.
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