[3830] ARRL 160 N0AH SO High Power

[dinsterdog at aol.com]

                     ARRL 160-Meter Contest
                    
Call: N0AH
Operator(s): N0AH
Station: N0AH

Class: SO High Power
Operating Time (hrs): 5.4

Section: wy

Totals:
   259 QSOs x ( 61 Sections +   2 Countries) =  31.598

Comments:

Ever blow a tire out of the gate?? After being primed for this contest months
ago- stating "I will win, oh yes, I will-" I fried my amp- pushed it a bit too
much outside my resonant point and Chernobal........it all started when I
noticed my pwer out put was about 1/2 of what it should be-but the SWR looked
ok- (of course it looked good, I was back inside my resonant band area) but I
didnt know what the problem was so I suspected two things- the first, being the
feedline- so I went out in the 50 mph blizzard winds and switched it out- it
worked but only for a few QSO's so as I was looking around for other clues, I
noticed my receive antenna jack was not sensing my beverage antenna changes-
ahh #@#@!!......so I suspect my RCS 8 is fried.....again, I go out in the
blizzard winds and take it apart- click, click, click....the relays worked fb-
(nice of the xyl to help) so then I go and check the amp again- it's whacko-
readings are way down and I check the other bands- they seem fine- so it must
be the antenna???? not- I basically blew apart a capacitor and fried the 80
meter coil portion in my AL800H....the heat was so bad it melted the plastic
which insulates the coil turns.....as a result of this short in the coil- and
as a direct result of High SWR damage- my race is over- But K0RF lends a
helping hand all day Saturday and my amp is fixed with a replacement coil Chuck
home brewed....the IC756 rig had blown a glass bulb style fuse in the receive
antenna circuit- that was my rx antenna/beverage antenna problem- Chuck and I
replace it but it is difficult as we had to use one of my insulin syringes to
clear the teeny tiny holes in the circuit board where the fues attaches- the
holes were hair thin- almost impossible to clear of solder-and almost as
impossible to put a lead through- we used a hair thin strain of wire for leads-
it was a tricky mess- unreal for a part designed to be replaced-.....so I get
back and it is 12 am,MST,  Sunday- I fire things up and guess what- the fricken
on/off switch on the amp goes bad- it acts like a piece of rubber is wedged
into it- not allowing me to "click" it on-  I hold the button in the on
position and the whole amp shuts down after 3 seconds- I try again, and this
time the p[ower goes out at 1 second...the third try was zilch power-  After
driving 300 miles round trip to K0RF's from here....I was in disbelief-  Chuck
worked all afternoon and night getting the amp in perfect working condx- it
tested great on the bench-  - last time I claim I'm going to win a
contest.........I worked a few more for fun running, gasp...100 watts, then
decided to call it a contest-  Man it was nice to have the beverages back- I'd
take 100 watts with a good beverage system over a KW and a just a vertical
anyday foir a 160 meter contest-  K0RF, Chuck,  has taught me a lot of
contesting tricks over the past few years- but improvision suppoted by
knowledge of electronics has been the most important- he fixed around 3 major
componants in the HF amp with a big box of parts and the HF rig with a spare
lamp- unreal to watch someone who knows what they are doing with a shematic-if
not for the unexpected on/off amp switch freezing up after I returned home, I
would have been back in the race on all cylinders- bah humbug-my amp just
sustained too much damage in the SWR meltdown- bummer- but IT happens-  and thx
again to K0RF and AA0RS who took time today to try and get me back on the air- 


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