[SCCC] FYI Amp Lockout

[rick darwicki]

Hello List,

I was using a N9LP amp lockout switch in the PTT line of my AL-80B with a QSK board. 
Before I hooked it up, I pulled the PTT line out of the AL-80B and sent a few dits from the Pro III.
I noticed the fuse bulbs in the QSK switch flashing, but ignored them.

In this past weekends RTTY contest JAs and SAs were loud at the same time and I was calling CQ, switching to 180 mode as needed. Naturally the auto CQ started transmitting while the SteppIR was moving and the N9LP had the PTT line broken. The RX mode came back with about 50 db of attenuation, fuse bulbs blew out to protect the Pro III. 

About 20 screws later I replaced the bulbs and got back on the air figuring to just be super careful.  Wrong, about 3 hours later I popped them again.

This time I bit the bullet and drilled to holes, mounted RCA jacks on the reap panel and broke the XMT/OPER line on the AL-80B. This seems to provide 100% cutoff of the QSK board and worked OK for the rest of the contest.

 
.·:*´¨`*.·: RICK, N6PE .·:*´¨`*:·.