[Milsurplus] New Harris amp acquired

[mikea]

On Mon, Mar 09, 2009 at 10:07:59PM -0700, Bruce Lane wrote:
> Fellow mil-radio fans,
>
>  I've just acquired, from the Puyallup swap meet this past weekend,
> a nice Harris RF-355 (also known as the AM-7223/URC) half-kilowatt
> linear amp. It looks like it's in great shape, and I did manage to
> modify a set of rack rails I had sitting around to fit it.
>
>  I've heard that this unit is pretty well-known, and judging from its
> quality of construction I can well believe it. With that in mind, I'd
> like to hear from others who own (or have owned) this unit regarding
> any "gotchas" I need to look out for. I would also be curious about
> interfacing techniques for non-Harris radios.
>
>  As just one example, it would be nice to know how much drive the
> thing wants. Based on what I know of Harris exciters, I'm guessing
> around 100mW. If that's the case, I wonder if it's possible to modify
> it to accept a higher drive level...?

Cool catch! I hope you don't wind up eating beans and cornbread or 
potato soup for the rest of the year. 

If all else fails, you could put a high-power resistive divider between
your exciter and the amp, with a tap chosen to provide the 100 mW or so
that the amp probably needs for full output. 

73, de

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin