[Boatanchors] A Night at the Ham Club

[Mark Bell]

Last evening was our monthly radio club meeting.  There were about a dozen
of the regulars in attendance, and three visitors.   The meeting was
proceeding normally when the door to the club house opened and an old timer
walked in and leaned against the doorway.     We invited him to sit down and
join us, but he declined and proceeded to tell us that he was from the
housing development across from the cemetery, and just wanted to stop in and
ask if anybody had a plate transformer he could have.



Well, I was all nice and comfortable in one of the operating position's
command chairs, but I must admit his request got my attention.   Having
someone pop in and ask for directions isn't unheard of, but popping in for a
plate transformer is, well, you know, a tad out of the ordinary.



A silence descended upon the crowd and I noticed that all eyes slewed to me
and my buddy (who was partaking of the second command chair).   The two of
us are known to posess strange knowledge, such as how to tune up a radio
without using a wattmeter.



So, I asked the gentlemen what he wanted it for.  He replied "Believe me,
you don't want to know".   A strange answer to be sure.   Someone than asked
what kind of current he was running.  He then waved his hands and told us
that it was for a "chemical experiment", and he only needed about 500 volts
at a few millamps.   He then let us know that he had some things to trade,
such as some muffin fans.



Now,  while my buddy and I actually knew how to use a plate transformer,
quite a few others seemed to at least know that a "plate" transformer was
some kind of high voltage gizmo, and from the looks on their faces they
shared my buddy's and my sentiments that this guy wasn't going to get
anybody's plate transformer for a couple of muffin fans.



So, we told the feller we'd take a look, and he was on his way.



The meeting went on, thankfully not in an ad naseum manner, and we soon
adjourned.  I got to talking to two of the visitors.  They were both recentl
y licensed, wanted to upgrade to General to get on HF, and were asking us
what the best way was to learn the code.  We told the one that starting off
at 20 WPM as he wanted to do was not a good idea;  his intention being that
if he could master 20 WPM  then 5 would be a cinch.  I suggested listening
to W1AW, and inquired if he had access to an HF receiver.  "Heck yeah" was
his reply, " I got a 706 MK 1".    Well, that's great, and we told him to
start listening to W1AW.



Somewhere along the line the he told me that he also owned an SB-200, but he
didn't know if it worked.  Would I know how to find out?   Well, we chatted
for a few minutes on this issue,  when the topic of ALC came up.  He proudly
told me that "I don't need that ALC, cause it just limits the mic frequency
to 5 KHz, and all I want the SB-200 for is the power".   Surprisingly, I did
not spit my can of soda out, nor did soda start coming through my nose.   I
was proud to keep composure in light of such a slight technical inaccuracy
and after all, he was a visitor.



Well, he was still talking about his SB-200 and I must confess that at this
point, my mind started wandering to the old codger and the muffin fans. 500
Volts at a few mills, maybe to take care of the neighbor's cat?   Chemical
experiments near a cemetery?   Reality finally found it's way back and our
visitor was asking me if I would know if the capacitors were good in his
SB-220.    I told him that I wasn't sure, but as I recalled the plate
voltage was around 2200V, and the cap bank was composed of 6 capacitors, so
the voltage drop across each should be around 350 to 400V or so, and that he
could measure each voltage drop to see if any were shorted.



He was now concerned about what to do if any of the caps were shorted;
could he still get replacements.   At this point,  the second visitor (they
both came in together) very factually told us that "They're big ones,  a few
hundred thousand microfarads each"



At this point, I figured that it was time to exit stage right, and
fortunately my soda can was empty, so I excused myself and went inside.. and
stayed there for a good 10 minutes after which I peeked out the door.
Breathing easy, I saw they had departed, and headed home.



 73 Mark K3MSB