When I test things like that, I high pot them with a home made tester.
Things like this are not difficult to make. You can buy a surplus HV power
supply used to ionize air for a few bucks, and stick it in a box with a
meter on it.
You don't need to get fancy, just check it for breakdown voltage. If it is
bad, the breakdown voltage will be way off.
Ameritron gets about 5-10 customers a year where gas tubes in lightning
protection go bad. They break down early. The result of that is an amplifier
can get up to a few hundred watts or more, and then *wham* the feedline
shorts! This is always great on parts.
I don't have a single GDT in my TX system, although I've tried them in my RX
systems out in switch boxes near antennas. I have mixed results using low
voltage GDT devices to protect relays and stuff. I have no damage at all in
the house without them.
73 Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Art Snapper" <art@nk8x.net>
To: "Greg Wilson" <n4cc@windstream.net>
Cc: "160" <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2015 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Polyphaser
Polyphaser made a tester.
http://wrblock.com/WRBproducts/DIGIfist/DigiFIST.html
Possibly a land mobile shop in your area has one. Essentially they
generated low current, high voltage until the tube fired.
Perhaps it is different with HF, but in my land mobile experience, if the
supressor was damaged, either it was shorted, or obvious damage was
present when disassembled.
Their antenna protectors have significant attenuation when used outside
the
rated frequency range.
Art
On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 7:17 AM, Greg Wilson <n4cc@windstream.net> wrote:
Does anyone know how to test a Polyphaser to know if it is still good? I
have some that have seen some lightning storms and was wondering if they
are still doing the job. Thanks, Greg
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