[Milsurplus] 800-1 800 cycle rotary inverter

[Richard Brunner]

Hallelujah, and Gott sei Dank!  I tried shorting the internal capacitors 
and using external capacitors, and got the same results.  I look forward 
to the carbon pile adjustments, as I have been endlessly fiddling with 
it, and that's probably my problem.  Thanks Mike.

Richard Brunner, AA1P

Mike Hanz wrote:
> Richard Brunner wrote:
> 
>> I note in the TBW instruction book that the generator in the 
>> engine-generator set is a saturated pole design, designed for minimum 
>> reactance and good regulation with changing load.  The 800-1 is not, 
>> and maybe the reactance is changing with load.  I am glad I enjoy 
>> challenges... 
> 
> 
> 
> I think you've put your finger on the problem, Richard.  The changing 
> frequency has an effect on the series reactance as well.  I'm a little 
> surprised that your regulator replacement didn't take care of the 
> problem, but perhaps there isn't enough gain?  I've never worried about 
> it with the GO-9, frankly - the 800-1 I was using for a while was within 
> spec so it wasn't an issue.  Interestingly enough, the GO-9 manual is 
> less than forthcoming about the line versus filament voltage question, 
> but the GO-3 instructions offer some additional rationale:
> 
> "The filament voltage should not be allowed to fluctuate more than 0.2 
> volt between key up and key down position when keying the transmitter, 
> as this would indicate that the equipment is being operated with poor 
> voltage regulation.  Voltage compensators are provided for correcting 
> this condition.  Use of the compensating capacitors may be thought of as 
> a means of tuning the generator and the primaries of the power 
> transformers to resonance in order to have no variation in power between 
> load and no-load conditions."
> So, the reason for focusing on the filament voltage wasn't so much for 
> the filaments as to check health of the primary power system.  Funny how 
> the "reasons why" seemed to disappear from later manuals.  Guess they 
> didn't think the ops needed to know why...ours is but to do or die... :-)
> 
> I put some more pages from the AEMN regarding reactance nulling on the 
> website at http://aafradio.org/docs/800-1.htm.  There are some 
> interesting tidbits in there, including a reference to the "old" GO-9 
> needing internal caps because of the lack of *external* capacitors (sort 
> of implying that the internal caps are no longer needed with an external 
> cap in the line), and a reminder that the engine driven generators 
> varied frequency between 800 and 1,600Hz(!), so your measurements of 
> output frequency for the 800-1 isn't out of the ordinary at all.
> 
> There is another (foldout) page that details the rather complex 
> procedure used for adjustment of carbon pile voltage regulators that 
> I'll try to get up later today.  I'm still packing radios for an 
> impending QTH relocation.
> 
> Best 73,
> Mike
> 
>