[Elecraft] Reliable DC Power Supply for K3/P3

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Astrons are rated ICS (Intermittent Commercial Service). Old timers in the
Ham hobby will remember that as ICAS (Intermittent Commercial and Amateur
Service). 

For example, the Astron spec sheet for the Astron 20 will show a continuous
current rating of 16 amps and an ICAS rating of 20 amps. 

One can demand 20 amps peak for SSB or even CW operation and even normal
high-duty-cycle operation with a few minutes at 20 amps and then a few
minutes in standby.

But, beyond that, it's likely to overheat and shut down to protect itself. 

73, Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Hisashi T Fujinaka
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 8:34 AM
To: Robert Nobis
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Reliable DC Power Supply for K3/P3

The only thing that bit me: Astron XX does not mean XX amps. I have an
Astron 25M and I was trying to figure out why my K2/100 would power off on
15M at 100W when I finally figured out that that the Astron 25 is a
20 amp power supply and my K2 needed a bit more. It would even fold back the
voltage. After more debugging (and lots of bypass caps & chokes and dummy
loads and a brand new oscilloscope) and I found that RF in the shack could
be part of the problem but just swapping to an Astron 35M was my fix.