• Two gripes

    From Guy G4DWV 4X1LT@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 7 11:28:59 2020
    I have many gripes, being an old curmudgeon.
    These are two amateur radio related ones.

    First, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what licence
    class a contact has and if they are in the 'correct' call area.

    Second, I think my switched mode power supply (SMPS) is on the way
    out so I thought I would get a linear one as I would be able to repair
    it myself. I did not want to pay more than about £100. All the PSUs
    around that price are identical on the inside as they all had the same
    issue - the fan would come on with the radio (IC-7300) just receiving
    and the automatic ATU just sitting powered up. The fan came on at
    *exactly* the same time in each case. Looks like it will be another
    SMPS then.
    --
    73 de Guy G4DWV 4X1LT

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  • From Brian Howie@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 9 15:47:17 2020
    On 07/10/2020 11:28, Guy G4DWV 4X1LT wrote:
    I have many gripes, being an old curmudgeon.
    These are two amateur radio related ones.

    First, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what licence
    class a contact has and if they are in the 'correct' call area.

    I can't help you on that one, but I find it hard to guess if someone ,
    usually a weak VHF signal can copy CW. I call anyway in the hope they
    can at least read their own callsign and turn their beam.


    Second, I think my switched mode power supply (SMPS) is on the way
    out so I thought I would get a linear one as I would be able to repair
    it myself. I did not want to pay more than about £100. All the PSUs
    around that price are identical on the inside as they all had the same
    issue - the fan would come on with the radio (IC-7300) just receiving
    and the automatic ATU just sitting powered up. The fan came on at
    *exactly* the same time in each case. Looks like it will be another
    SMPS then.


    I recently bought a HP HSTNS-PD18 Server PSU for about £8 on ebay. It
    seems they are removed from service after a certain number of running
    hours. There's an easy mod to 13.8V *. It gives > 50 amps and is RF
    quiet. I use for /P rather than lugging a heavy linear PSU about.

    * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwuC1_SIbE

    Brian GM4DIJ
    --
    Brian

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  • From Guy G4DWV 4X1LT@21:1/5 to disturbed my reverie and on Sat Oct 10 22:28:06 2020
    On Fri, 9 Oct 2020 15:47:17 +0100, just as I was about to take a herb,
    Brian Howie <nospam@b-howie.co.uk> disturbed my reverie and wrote:

    I recently bought a HP HSTNS-PD18 Server PSU for about £8 on ebay. It
    seems they are removed from service after a certain number of running
    hours. There's an easy mod to 13.8V *. It gives > 50 amps and is RF
    quiet. I use for /P rather than lugging a heavy linear PSU about.

    Thanks for that Brian. I have ordered one and look forward to modding
    it.
    --
    73 de Guy G4DWV 4X1LT

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