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

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi Glen,

That is an incredible as well as amusing bit of history! I wonder if those 
curious engineers would have been so bold had it been their money invested 
in that amplifier! )Chuckle)

A pity somebody did not snap a photo of that 'engineering test' event for 
the factory "highlights" section! (LOL!) I probably could have heard the 
CEO's chin hit his desk all the way up here in MI!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glen Zook" <gzook at yahoo.com>
To: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>; "Paul" <w2ec at bmjsports.com>; 
<radiocompass at yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2008 11:32 AM
Subject: RE: [Hallicrafters] 40 m antenna used on 80 m - what to expect?


> 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
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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