[R-390] R-392 quest for power

Bruce Ussery [email protected]
Tue, 13 Aug 2002 19:49:05 -0400


Hi gang,
I've had this R-392 (not an A, not a Chevy), for a couple of weeks and have 
been enjoying it on the kitchen counter which is also green so it looks 
great. It's an actual working radio, unlike the ones I usually bring home. 
All bands fairly hot, fairly accurate.
My only problem is finding a better way to power it. The homebrew supply 
that came with it (very basic- xfmr, square bridge rectifier, 33,000 uf cap) 
doesn't make any radio noise, but it has about 170 mV RMS ripple, which I 
can hear on CW or SSB. It's also putting out right at 30V which worries me a 
little. I've tried 2 regulated supplies; a Systron Donner bench type supply, 
and a Power One open frame job. Their outputs are clean as a whistle, but 
they both radiate a loud buzz into the receiver from about 8 Mhz on down. 
(Too many solid state gizmos.)
This temporary?? kitchen setup is truly less than ideal- a 15 ft. wire 
across the top of the cabinets and no ground. A temporary ground hooked from 
ant. ground to the AC outlet helped the buzz some, but it's gonna take more 
I think. I verified totally quiet operation with two 12V batteries.
I not totally against using batteries as a permanent solution- that's how I 
power my "late model" ham rigs. It just gets messier having to deal with 2 
batteries, lacking a 24V charger. Anyone have similar noise problems on the 
lower bands?

(Craf-T-Bob, this thing sounds great with a Hallicrafters R-46 speaker 
hooked up instead of the LS-166/U. The R-46 has a 500 ohm xfmr according to 
the label- is that correct?  Close enough for me anyway...)

Bruce
WA4ZLK


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