Topband: Polyphaser

[Tom W8JI]

When I test things like that, I high pot them with a home made tester. 
Things like this are not difficult to make. You can buy a surplus HV power 
supply used to ionize air for a few bucks, and stick it in a box with a 
meter on it.

You don't need to get fancy, just check it for breakdown voltage. If it is 
bad, the breakdown voltage will be way off.

Ameritron gets about 5-10 customers a year where gas tubes in lightning 
protection go bad. They break down early. The result of that is an amplifier 
can get up to a few hundred watts or more, and then *wham* the feedline 
shorts! This is always great on parts.

I don't have a single GDT in my TX system, although I've tried them in my RX 
systems out in switch boxes near antennas. I have mixed results using low 
voltage GDT devices to protect relays and stuff. I have no damage at all in 
the house without them.

73 Tom




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Art Snapper" <art at nk8x.net>
To: "Greg Wilson" <n4cc at windstream.net>
Cc: "160" <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2015 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Polyphaser


> Polyphaser made a tester.
> http://wrblock.com/WRBproducts/DIGIfist/DigiFIST.html
>
> Possibly a land mobile shop in your area has one. Essentially they
> generated low current, high voltage until the tube fired.
>
> Perhaps it is different with HF, but in my land mobile experience, if the
> supressor was damaged, either it was shorted, or obvious damage was
> present when disassembled.
>
> Their antenna protectors have significant attenuation when used outside 
> the
> rated frequency range.
>
>
> Art
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 7:17 AM, Greg Wilson <n4cc at windstream.net> wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know how to test a Polyphaser to know if it is still good?  I
>> have some that have seen some lightning storms and was wondering if they
>> are still doing the job.  Thanks, Greg
>> _________________
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