Dave Uttaro VE1TY  Truro NS

At last! The homebrew amplifier is ''''finished''''... I have to do something to that word 'finished' cuz in hamdom, NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING is ever that finished! I started the actual construction about 2 maybe 3 yrs ago. It ran nicely for a year or more in its semi-finished condition. The other day, I decided it was time to paint and do the finishing touches. It doesn't work any better, but it's more pleasing to my eyes.

This machine has some Titanic 'thoughts' associated with it. I designed and built so as to put off the day when failure would strike and give me grief. There are no 'Mickey Mouse' components in it. I deliberately wound the transformers to be undertaxed when called on for power. Except for the removable top and side covers, the entire chassis is extra heavy duty mild steel, plasma cut and MIG welded. Like the Titanic, it weighs plenty. In fact, I had to get a friend to help me carry it back to the hamshack [from the garage workshop]. Getting it there was much easier since there was no paint to scratch, so its trip on one of those two wheeled dollies was trouble-free. Getting it onto the table took all I had. I didn't want a repeat of that effort, hence, a call to a friend to help out.

About 50 Watts input power delivers about 650 Watts to the antenna input. The antenna system 'focuses' the radio beam so the actually transmitted signal [40 metres] resembles that given off by an antenna that doesn't 'focus' but is driven by about 2600 Watts. When extra power is actually needed, this combo helps quite a bit.

There, with that project 'finished' and the workshop freed up, I can now set myself to building the case for the grandfather clock whose parts arrived about a week ago.

Operating Position

4-400GG Linear

RF Amp Section

Power Supply Unit

Bleeder String

Rugged Construction

Tubes a Glow....Ready to Go!