[Collins] 30S-1 problem.

[David Knepper]

It has been my experience that these two relays are entirely satisfactory
unless their contact current capacity is exceeded.  Replacing the relays is
certainly an option but one has to ask why did the contacts "fail" in the
first place.  K203 has a set of heavier contacts to control the primary of
the high voltage transformer.  Until one finds the "real" reason for the
heavier contact surge that ruined these contacts, replacing this relay with
a beefier one is just the first step in unlocking the mystery why the relay
failed in the first place.  It's like placing a 30 amp fuse in a circuit
when the manufacturer calls for a 5 amp!

After tracking down why K203 was arcing severely in one of my 30S-1
amplifiers,  I did replace K203 with an enclosed relay at a substantial
savings.  I will be happy to share my experiences in greater detail on how
this modification was made. Incidentally, the cause of the problem was
arcing from the bleeder resistor standoff insulators to ground.  This 30S-1
came from the military where someone has replaced one of the ceramic
standoffs with a metal one.

In my opinion, the definitive article on the relay replacement for the 30S-1
is one written by  Ron, W2CQM  for CQ magazine.  Ron graciously permitted
the CRA to place the article with jpegs on its website.  See:
http://www.collinsra.com/cra_album/0201/cra_0201.html   It's another typical
well-researched and well-written article that Ron is so noted for in other
articles that he has done for major ham magazines, like CQ.

If you have not used the resources on the CRA website, particularly, the
"Collins Album" section, what can I say!   Use the website as so many hams
are doing around the world to expand their knowledge on Collins radio.

Thank you.

Dave, W3ST
Secretary to the Collins Radio Association
Publisher of the Collins Journal
www.collinsra.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "WB7DYW Dutch" <wb7dyw@ev1.net>
To: "Collins on qth. net" <collins@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 11:19 AM
Subject: [Collins] 30S-1 problem.


> Well gang looks like the plate relay K203 and step-start relay K201 are
both
> shot, almost no contacts left, maybe from a little to much bucket mouthing
> on the air???
> Anyone parting out a 30S-1 that might have these two relays or know of a
> source for them??
>
>
> Thanks & 73's Dutch
> Please visit my Collins web site.
> http://users2.ev1.net/~wb7dyw/
>
>
> Sponsored by the Collins Radio Association
> http://www.collinsra.com