First thanks to those who responded to my request for the Oldham coupler.
I¹ve started assembling the amp's front panel to size-up some hardware.
Photos are posted to my QRZ.com page at:
http://www.qrz.com/db/W9AC
I had the small Raytheon turns counter knobs on at first but I do like the
look of the larger ones as seen in the photos. The legends get a little
crowded though but I wanted placement of the legends to accommodate either
knob type. The last photo in the group shows the custom PCB used to manage
the switch-bank control function back to the S-QSK microcontroller board.
Forever gone is the large Switchcraft interlocking switch bank.
Folks from the video broadcast industry will recognize the contoured LED
pushbuttons; they're used on the old Grass Valley video switchers. The
Switches have a detented, tactile feel with a long throw. The LEDs
illuminate to match the color and state of the adjacent engraved legends.
The meters took four months to arrive from time of order. I played around
with several panel meter iterations, first having a switched grid meter.
But I think grid current really deserves its own panel meter. At first, I
wasn't going to include power, but then talked Hoyt into creating a
secondary red square-log scale that shares use with plate voltage. The
first switch under the Ep/Power meter select plate voltage, forward power,
or reflected power. The second switch selects power in either an average
or PEP format. On the same QRZ page, you can see a couple custom PEP
boards
I've designed. The amp will get one of these.
That's it for now. Lot's more wiring to complete. The micro controller
code is working but haven't tried it around RF just yet! The plan is to
have it all operational by Xmas. Then, phase II starts: after getting it
all to work, the teardown begins for the power supply move to its own
cabinet. That will likely take all of 2015. I'm far from retirement so
this project gets attention in between a busy family and work schedule.
Paul, W9AC
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