[Amps] AL-80A Relay troubles

[Joe Musto]

Bill,

I own a used AL-80A and I haven't had it long but it had the same problem 
when I got it.  When I unkey, the receive would be down quite a bit, which 
means the relay contacts are dirty.  I tried a burnishing toll to no avail 
so I finally took super fine emery cloth (800 grit I think?) and cut a 
piece 3/16" x 2" and polished the contacts.  It has worked fine since.  I 
did this as a temporary measure and ordered a new relay.  It was $15 from 
Ameritron.  If you order, call their parts dept.  The relay is $15 via 
phone order but $35 if you order from their website.  Not sure why the 
difference.  Good luck,

Joe - N1FCJ

At 09:06 PM 1/11/2006, you wrote:
>I'm using an AL-80A with an Elecraft K2/100. I recently operated the
>RTTY Roundup running about 300-400 watts out.
>
>Intermittently, when the AL-80A would unkey, the received signal
>strength would be reduced by 10-30 dB. If I would key the AL-80A
>again, even without transmitting (eg just hitting the PTT with a
>straight key connected for this purpose), sometimes the receive line
>would return to normal, sometimes it would still be attenuated.
>
>A few times, it took 3-8 raps on the straight key to remove the
>attenuation. Other times, it just took once.
>
>What causes this sort of intermittent attenuation? What can I do
>about it?
>
>Someone earlier mentioned hot-switching of the relay. After
>discussing this with the designers of the K2/100, it appears the rig
>cannot hot switch - the K2/100 will bring the amp keying line down
>about 15-20 ms before it starts producing any RF. Since I was using
>VOX keying, there's a longer delay before the rig unkeys.
>
>Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
>Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
>              -- Wilbur Wright, 1901