Amps
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Amps] 2nd grid resistor blow Ameritron AMP 811H

To: Steve Thompson <g8gsq@ic24.net>
Subject: Re: [Amps] 2nd grid resistor blow Ameritron AMP 811H
From: R.Measures <r@somis.org>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 03:31:10 -0700
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
On Aug 15, 2005, at 10:57 PM, Steve Thompson wrote:

> R. Measures wrote:
>
>>
>> On Aug 15, 2005, at 2:04 PM, Steve Thompson wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>> -   I have observed that serious parasites in 811s can put so much 
>>>> EMF
>>>> on the filament, that it shatters into pieces and falls to the 
>>>> bottom
>>>> of the glass envelope.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Even with the amp in standby?
>>
>>
>> I was not there when it happened, I saw the 3 casualties after a Ham
>> brought the AL-811 over for a post mortem.  As I recall, he said he
>> heard a pop after concluding the power measurement, and the three
>> filaments stopped glowing.  .
>
> The original post described resistor damage when the amp was in standby
> and with no rf applied. In that situation parasitic, or any other,
> oscillation seems highly unlikely.
>
Steve -- At one time. I used to make this argument, but not any more.
  Then - In the days of radio yore, spark transmitters crudely made RF 
by rapidly switching DC on and Off through a high-Q resonant circuit.
  Now -  Apparently, the event that starts the snowball rolling downhill 
is the damped-wave ringing potential developed across the anode 
circuit's natural VHF self-resonance.  Since ringing V is directly 
proportional to Q, mo' Q is not mo' betta -- except in spark 
transmitters, of course.  This signal can be seen on a spectrum 
analyzer - at roughly 100MHz in this case - each time the DC anode 
current increases or Decreases.  Thus, when the tubes cut-off, a 100MHz 
or so signal briefly appears at the anode.  Such a signal would not be 
a potential problem if there was no feedback between the (anode) / 
output and the (cathode-filament) / input.  The anode-cathode C in an 
811A is 0.7pf, so three of them provide 2.1pF of feedback-C.  At 
100MHz, 2.1pF has c. 800-ohms of XC.
-   Is there anyone who would like to argue  that 800-ohms of XC in a 
feedback loop could not support an oscillation in a high-Mu triode?  
How about it, W8JI?
-  I have heard a number of reports of HF amplifiers that produced a 
big-bang as the tubes were being cut-off -- and especially in TL-922s.  
On the surface, this looks quite impossible since the cathode's bias 
relay contacts are opening at this instant - so the tube should cut off 
almost immediately,   However, if the tube was beginning to oscillate 
while the current was falling, current would try to increase and a 
metal-vapour arc could appear across the opening contacts and 
substantial current could eventually flow -- albeit briefly - from the 
HV PS filter caps.
end

> Steve
> _______________________________________________
> Amps mailing list
> Amps@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
>
>

Richard L. Measures, AG6K, 805.386.3734.  www.somis.org

_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>