[Hallicrafters] 40 m antenna used on 80 m - what to expect?

[Glen Zook]

During the late 1960s here at the "new" Collins Radio corporate headquarters in Richardson, Texas, some of the technicians were checking the automatic loading of a 308U20 amplifier (20 KW OUTPUT) by using about 100 feet of wire that was laying on the parking lot.  Then they noticed that the wire was actually burning at the far end and was gradually getting shorter.

As a "lark" the technicians decided to see how long the amplifier would continue to put out full power and with how long the "antenna" actually was.  So, they "locked down" the exciter (the 308U20 was capable of 20,000 watts output continuous) and waited.  The wire burned down to less than 3 feet before the automatic "shut down" circuitry killed the amplifier.

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com