[TowerTalk] Sources of Coax Relays

Pete Smith N4ZR n4zr at contesting.com
Fri Jul 13 07:08:50 PDT 2012


When in doubt, an easy solution is to put two relays in series, as 
TopTen does in their A/B switches.  But I've been using devices with 
these small power relays for 15 years, in SO2R in particular, and never 
a whisper of trouble.

73, Pete N4ZR
The World Contest Station Database, at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000

On 7/13/2012 1:45 AM, K8RI wrote:
> On 7/12/2012 11:43 PM, Jim Lux wrote:
>> On 7/12/12 10:54 AM, Larry Loen wrote:
>>> It appears this work has been done and maybe done to death.
>>>
>>> But for those of us who (like me) are new, can you expand a little,
>>> and, particularly,  give a couple of links?  What I see below is
>>> someone who knows the answer, but is speaking to others that know the
>>> answer, not to someone just getting started in this.
>>>
>>> I'm eventually going to want to make my station work remotely, so I'll
>>> be interested in high quality, high power coax switches that work well
>>> through at least HF and sometimes 6 meters.  I had a handful of really
>>> good switches on a 1K amp I ran a while back, but those came from a
>>> trusted friend and I don't live in that state now anyway; sold the amp
>>> long ago.
>>>
>>
>> The challenge is that relays that worked 15 years ago may not be
>> available today, or even if available, work today.
> These relays have to tolerate RF at the power and frequency run through
> them.  They also have to provide isolation at that power and frequency
> when used in remote antenna switches.  Even more so when they are used
> in set-ups where two or more stations may have access to the antennas.
> IOW with my Single Operator, 2 stations setup (SO2R), I may have the
> legal limit from two stations running through a switching set up that
> has power running through adjacent relays and wiring, yet the isolation
> between the two stations has to remain high enough so they do not
> interfere with each other, let alone cause damage.
>
> A small change inside a relay (that used to work) may drop the isolation
> to unacceptable levels and actually cause damage to one or more rigs.
>
> 73
>
> Roger (K8RI)
>
>
>> Here's some notes from 2004
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~w6rmk/relay.htm
>>
>>
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