TopBand: beverage transformers

[GALE STEWARD]

Some years ago I built some 9:1 xformers for the 6 beverages at the
W3GM contest station.  I used some small binocular ferrite cores that
were used in CATV cable tap boxes.  They worked great thru the
fall/winter contest season.  The following fall, while getting the
station ready, we found that several of the beverages were "dead".  I
inspected the antennas and they were ok.  Upon opening the xformer
boxes, I found that the ferrite cores had disappeared and only the
windings remained!  Apparently, nearby lightning had disintgrated the
cores.  All the xformers were then rebuilt using cores approximately 1
inch in dia. with heavier and we never the problem again.  Just
another case for making the matching xformers reasonably "robust".

73, Stew  K3ND...


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