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Blackjack
Junior Member
Username: Blackjack
Post Number: 36
Registered: 2-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 11:46 am: | 
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question for anyone that has ever experienced this problem, ok with the amp off,,,,,my s.w.r. is flat,,, turn the amp on,,, say my tx star 350,,, and with 1 watt from the radio,,,,,,and i tryed 3 different radio's.,,,,, the dead key on the amp is showing like 150 watts & like a 2 or better on the s.w.r.,,,,, if i hit the dial a watt button on the tx star 350, then the amp will key up at say 70 watts dead key,,,,,swing to 200 or say with a 1.1 s.w.r.,,,, i tryed 3 different amps,,,,, the same thing happens,,,,, when i hooked up my 4 pill hurricane amp,,,,,it showed almost 200 watts dead key, obviously there is something wrong. PROCESS OF ELIMINATION, I SWAPPED THE 2 RG8X BELDEN JUMPER CABLE'S WITH 2 NEW 1'S, SAME PROBLEM, I HAVE A 3FT JUMPER GOING FROM AMP TO RADIO, 1 SIX FOOT JUMPER GOING FROM AMP TO PALSTAR METER CONTROL BOX WHICH IS ON FLOOR,THATS WHY ITS A 6 FT JUMPER,,,, HOWEVER WHEN I PUT A DUMMY LOAD INTO THE ANTEENA INPUT ON PALSTAR CONTROL BOX,,,,THE SWR IS FLAT, SOOOOO IM GUESSING THE PL-259 ON COAX COMING FROM OUTSIDE HAS TO BE RESOLDERED, MY FRIEND WHO HAS SOLDERED IT FOR ME WHEN I GOT IT SAID SINCE I SWITCH AMPS & RADIO'S OFTEN IT MAY HAVE BROKEN THE CONNECTION INSIDE THE CONNECTOR THATS SOLDERED. BY THE WAY THE COAX WAS CHANGED THIS PAST SEPTEMBER,,, BELDEN RG8X & THE ANTRON 99 SO ITS NOT A QUESTION OF THE CABLE BEING OLD OR ANTENNA, ITS WORKED FINE UP UNITL THIS POINT, HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS WEIRD PROBLEM ? MY FRIEND SAID THE AMP PROBLY SHOWS A HIGH DEAD KEY WATTAGE BECAUSE THE HEAT IS BREAKING DOWN THE CONNECTION AT THAT POINT SO WHEN IM RUNNING STOCK OR SAY 40-50 WATTS THE SWR IS FINE, BUT TURN THE AMP ON AND IT SHOWS A WAY TO HIGH SWR ALONG WITH THE AMP SHOWING TO MUCH DEAD KEY DUE IN PART TO THE CONNECTIONS BREAK POINT IF IN FACT THE CONNECTOR NEEDS TO BE RESOLERED. MY FRIEND IS COMING OVER THE HOUSE LATER TO PUT A NEW PL-259 ON COAX FROM ANTENNA,,,, ON SO ILL REPOST IF THAT WAS IN FACT THE PROBLEM/THE PL-259 , HOPEFULLY MOST OF U WILL NOT EXPERIENCE THIS PAIN OF A PROBLEM,I SPENT 3 HOURS SWAPPING JUMPER CABLES,,,,,,, RADIO'S & AMPS AND WAS BAFFLED AS TO WHAT THE PROBLEM COULD BE... |
Tech808
Moderator
Username: Tech808
Post Number: 16774
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 12:03 pm: |
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Question's:
Are you Re-calibrating your SWR/Watt meter when you add your Amp in line with the radio?
Is your Amp grounded by a separate ground wire to the same Single Point Ground as your Antenna, Coax, Meter's and Radio?
Lon ~ Tech808
N9CEF ~ EN50mk
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Blackjack
Junior Member
Username: Blackjack
Post Number: 37
Registered: 2-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 1:05 pm: |
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HEY TECH 808, there is nothing to recalibrate as far as the swr/watt meter goes, the palstar meter shows automatic swr/reflected wattage, wattage,no tuning ,no knobs to play with, to be honest with you, i know everything should be grounded, but in over 20 years worth of the c.b. hobby,i have never grounded nothing,,,not antenna,,,,amp , radio etc and have never had a problem, i recall lightning striking my shakespeare big stick back in late 80's,fried the antenna,coax,blew out a cb,scanner & cordless phone along with my surge protector all in 1 shot, they say lighning striking your antenna is usually a once in a lifetime thing,some may have had theyre antenna's zapped more than once if not lucky, but again ive never grounded anything and even with my tx star 350 turned on,normally the swr would be around 1.2- 1.3 on average , YES I KNOW IT SHOULD BE GROUNDED, YOU'D BE AMAZED JUST HOW MANY CB'ERS DONT GROUND NOTHING, SHAME ON THEM, ME INCLUDED, BUT AS FAR AS THE ISSUE IM HAVING, IM LEANING MORE TOWARDS THAT PL-259 AS THE CULPRIT HERE, HOPEFULLY THATS THE ONLY ISSUE AND NOT A DEFECTIVE ANTENNA COIL /GOD FORBID, VERY HARD TO GET ON MY ROOFTOP,DETACHED 3 FAMILY/PEEKED ROOF,SLOPED ON BOTH SIDES,. |
Blackjack
Junior Member
Username: Blackjack
Post Number: 38
Registered: 2-2007
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 7:22 pm: |
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OK I FOUND WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, DEAD KEY SAID TO HIGH ON THE RADIO I WAS USING, THE VOYAGE VR9000,EVEN WITH RF POWER TURNED ALL THE WAY DOWN,DEAD KEY IS AROUND 3 WATTS,I WANT TO LOWER IT TO ABOUT 1 WATT, ANYONE HAVE THE VR ADJUSTMENT # FOR THIS ? |
Golden_screw_driver
Intermediate Member
Username: Golden_screw_driver
Post Number: 108
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 12:23 pm: |
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? dead key to high ? Wouldnt you want to fix the SWR? No grounding... silly question but dose you antenna float above the mounting surface? NO well it is grounded. What dose the dead key have to do with SWR, iether way you are going to raise wattage when you speak (pep). Witch will increase your SWR again. I think you asked and answerd your question in your own post. the more wattage you run the more rf will increase and all the more importent to keep the SWR down. SWR get's to high with an amp on and you will be replacing more than a pl-259.
421 GOLDEN SCREW DRIVER
CEF#0995
NORTH-EAST
CEF NET CONTROLLER
Channel 13 / 27.115 AM/LSB
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Blackjack
Junior Member
Username: Blackjack
Post Number: 40
Registered: 2-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 01, 2009 - 8:36 pm: |
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the dead key was to high from the radio, so tehrefore the amp was dead keying at a much higher wattage then it should,and therefore swr was higher,upon lowering dead ket to 1.5 watts,,, s.w.r. is a 1.2,where it should be,running perfectly,i changed the pl259 for nothing,was nothing wrong with it,but at least now i have an amphenol pl259 which are suppose to be better than standard 1's. |
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