[ARC5] BC-230 Coil Tap, Etc.

[Mike Feher]

Dave -

Maybe I asked this before, but, if 6AQ5s work so well, has anyone tried
6CL6s or 5763s. Regards - Mike 

Mike B. Feher, N4FS
89 Arnold Blvd.
Howell, NJ, 07731
732-886-5960 

-----Original Message-----
From: ARC5 [mailto:arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Stinson
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 10:01 PM
To: ARC-5
Subject: [ARC5] BC-230 Coil Tap, Etc.

The Coil Tap:
The wire soldered to the antenna coil is not a tap; it is in fact the top of
the tuned winding. The extra turns above this connection provide part of the
range for matching the antenna. See the attached photo from the -AO manual.

The VT-25 vs. VT-25A:
Back when I was building the SCR-183 set and posting progress reports every
day or two, this was one of the issues. I posted photos and comparisons at
the time but don't know where those photos are now. The VT-25s are, in fact,
just "re-labelled"
801s and are considerably less robust than the VT-25A. The VT-25s output
significantly less power. I could break the set out and do all these
measurements again, but if anyone was really listening at them time and has
the posts I made then about it, you would save me some headaches. I have
limited bench space.
P.S. If you have hamfests that have reasonably-priced VT-25s of any kind,
count your lucky stars and buy them ALL.

6C4: I never got the 6C4s going. The 6AQ5s did the best job and can output
as much as
7-10 Watts. Yes; really. I posted all this at the time as well. 

I pulled the 40 meter 355 coil set and the attached photo showes the tap
settings when using a good
50 pFd cap in series with a 50-ohm load. 
This gave excellent output and did
good work during Novice Rig Roundup last year.

More later. Work calls.