[Amps] Pole Pigs

[Paul Kelley N1BUG]

> Id say a nude pig could be run at its CCS ratings in SSB/CW service. The 
> problem is mating it to a suitable tube without requiring a Variac. The 
> little 2-4 KVA 4400VAC  pigs are pretty much obsoleted in favor of the 
> 7500VAC 5KVA and up variety.

True, unless you feel like doing surgical alterations.

Everything is 13.2kV around here. In my early days I used 'local' 
pole pigs by stripping off much of the HV winding to get them down 
to ~3000VAC. Of course these won't handle as much current in the HV 
winding as lower voltage pigs, but the little 5 kVA transformers 
easily handled 1A ICAS loads without being immersed in oil. The only 
trouble was the voltage drop from no load to full load was a little 
excessive due to the small wire in the HV winding. I eventually 
solved that by running two modified pole pigs in parallel. It was a 
bit bulky, but it worked.

Later I found a lower voltage pig from out of state. I've forgotten 
what it was (5400VAC "sounds" right but maybe it was 4400). 
Naturally it used larger wire in the HV winding and required much 
less be surgically removed for ham amplifier use. That one is still 
happily powering my amplifiers.

73,
Paul N1BUG