[CQ-Contest] W6GO & N6IG... TNX de VY1JA

[J. Allen]

Hi, Gang,

I am sure that many of you have noticed that I have not been bound to low
power.  In October, I had problems with two 40 meter antennas one of which
shorted and the other of which went open.  This combined with stupidity on
my part and took out the final tubes on my old Alpha 76 ca.  Jay donated a
pair of good final tubes, which Jim sent up to me.  At first I had reported
these as being shorted.  This was an error on my part.

During the antenna fiasco, the SWR sensing capacitor circuitry developed a
narrow gap which would arc over when RF was present and short out the
output of the amplifier.  I assumed that this arcing was inside the tubes
and due to the tubes that Jim and Jay had sent, because the original (very
weak) finals did not do this.  I finally located the problem, and will need
a new pair of capacitors for the SWR sampling circuit.  In the meantime,
the amplifier has been up and running without the SWR circuit, and has
allowed me to run with an audible contest signal.

If you have heard me as a marginal signal in any of the contests lately,
please stop and thank Jay and Jim for sending me that pair of 8874s. 
Without them I would have been ESP on 80 and 160.

J., VY1JA 


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