TopBand: Topband: Potted Relays

[km1h@juno.com]

Hi agn Denny; 

The potted relay fad was shortlived....it appeared in, I believe, NCJ
several years ago as a short lived K1EA and K8CC  or maybe K3LR idea.   I
bought , I tried, I fried. Went back to real relays.....8+ years and the
contacts are not even pitted.  I use from 160 thru 10M to switch antennas
and phasing at the 1200 - 1400W level.  A simple cap compensates for XL
VSWR on 10 and 15M.

My relay source has been ALL Electronics. I was buying  P&B or similar
high quality  DPDT 10-13A 24VDC relays by the dozen. 

At last count there were 16 HF yagis up here plus various 160/80M phased
verticals. I use scrapped CATV enclosures to house the relays. The
threading on the CATV Hardline connectors is the same as the SO-239 and N
connector so the enclosures require no fancy machine work plus they have
both RF and WX sealing.  I use a mix of 75 and 50 Ohm Hardline here
depending upon what was available at the time; cheap of course!
73 and GL......Carl    KM1H 

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