Topband: More Inv-L matching issues.... BIGGER ISSUE

[Richard Cariello]

Dan,
Have you had a chance to do any work on your antenna system?
Rich AA2MF

On Jan 1, 2012, at 10:54 AM, Richard Cariello wrote:

> Dan,
> 160 Meters is a world all to its own. Things will happen to your station that would never happens at any other band.
> 
> Trouble shoot your problem by eliminating extra parts.
> Take the RCS-10 out and connect the transmission line from the inverted-L direct to the station. Tune and get the inverted-L working to its best. See if other things blow or burn up. Once all is working then place the RCS-10 back in line. The length of the coax, something coupling at 160 meters, a loose ground or ground loop might be in play. The list can go on and on and will change as you tune the inverted-L for best performance. So again KISS go direct to the inverted-L and see what happens.
> Rich AA2MF
> 
> On Dec 31, 2011, at 8:21 PM, Paul Dulaff wrote:
> 
>> Dan
>> 
>> A couple of thoughts...
>> 
>> When transmitting, is the RCS-10 antenna switch inadvertantly changing (switching) antennas (ports) during the transition from receive to transmit, possibly RF getting into the switching circuit causing this ? Do you lose the 12VDC to the switch when changing from receive to transmit ?  Are you trying to support semi-break-in with the RCS-10 ?
>> 
>> The ratings on this switch are fairly good. 16 amps, 1200 volts. I would think that it would need to be feeding an open or a short to fail this quickly at this power level or switching at full power.
>> 
>> Paul - WB2NMI
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Dan Bookwalter <n8dcj at yahoo.com>
>> To: topband at contesting.com
>> Sent: Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:34:09 -0500 (EST)
>> Subject: Topband:  More Inv-L matching issues.... BIGGER ISSUE
>> 
>> Ok...
>> 
>> I went and added 9 more radials the SWR is now at 1.2:1 after some adjusting of the air variable....
>> 
>> well , i decided to see how the amp (Alpha 374A) loaded into the antenna , I keyed down with maybe 500 watts and everything went dead again in less that 1 second. So it now appears that I have smoked another relay in the RCS-10 .
>> 
>> One thing about this configuration is that the base of the antenna is about 16" from the RCS-10 , is this too close ? I can probably move it so that it is about 4' away if that is the issue.... I cant afford to keep destroying relays and such....
>> 
>> thoughts ?
>> 
>> Dan N8DCJ
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: topband-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com]
>> On Behalf Of Dan Bookwalter
>> Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 2:41 PM
>> To: topband at contesting.com
>> Subject: Topband: More Inv-L matching issues....
>> 
>> well about a month ago i put up my Inv-L , it is now ~165ft , I have an air
>> variable in series , and 12 radials anywhere from 150-250ft long ( going out
>> to add more as soon as i am done typing this). my SWR wasn't too bad maybe
>> 1.7:1 at the best. Two nights ago I added an amplifier to the mix ~700w ,
>> well to make a long story short I smoked one of the relays in my RCS-10 , I
>> am now not too sure what to do , I don't want to keep blowing out relays in
>> the RCS-10.
>> 
>> I had several responses back then regarding matching etc... , but , in my
>> haste i seem to have deleted them :-( 
>> 
>> so here i am again asking for advice...
>> 
>> any help greatly appreciated 
>> 
>> Dan N8DCJ
>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>