[Amps] Metron MA 1000b Misbehaving

[Phil Clements]

> There is a known history of swamping resistor failure in the Metron,
> however
> (reference to K0BG) I don't think that is the issue here.  The old truck
> was
> totalled, so now I get to re-install everything in a new truck!

Yea, verily!
On several occasions over the years with my Metrons, I would accidentally
put the full 100 watts out of the exciter into the input of an amp. Very
soon you could hear the swamping resistors going tink tink tink as they hit
the bottom of the case. Since they are mounted upside down, they would
unsolder themselves and fall down. I never did any mechanical mods such as
bending the leads on the resistors to make them stay in their holes with no
solder yet applied, as I figured this was a good safety feature when >65
watts drive would again be inadvertently applied.

Sage advice has already been given...on 160m you need long coax runs and/or
chokes from exciter to input, and output to antenna; especially in a mobile
environment.


(((73)))
Phil Clements, K5PC