[SixClub] MY NEW AMPLIFIER

[Mike Andrews]

On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 02:37:33PM -0500, K8RI on Six wrote:
> On 2/13/2012 9:39 AM, Mike Andrews wrote:
> > Burning the ends off the elements is only a start when you
> > go QRO. You might start hearing voices, too, as some of my
> > acquaintances have:<http://mikea.ath.cx/VOICE-OF-GOD.html>  and
> > <http://mikea.ath.cx/moth-arc.html>  tell about this problem. I grant
> > that these were in the SWBC band, which is HF, and up above HF is where
> > things get even tricksier.
> 
> I take it you've seen "Down Periscope" too?

Not that I can recall, actually, but Chris and my correspondent at the
Beeb both swear these things happened to them. So what happened in "Down
'Scope"?

> > Or you could just use it to heat your water for tea or coffee, taking
> > due care to keep things from getting too dry or too sparky:
> > <http://mikea.ath.cx/coffee-maker.html>.
> 
> *CAUTION* now days they say diathermy isn't good for you and they have 
> these RF exposure limits. If you think your wife has dinner ready you've 
> been sitting there too long.

I remember having my sinuses diathermied when I had horrible and 
intractable infection. I don't think it affected my intelligence all
that much, but How About Them Aggies?!?!

A friend in medical electronics tells a story about some experimental RF
widget or other used in a surgery. It had worked fine on mice, rats, cats,
dogs, and chunks of cadaver, but this was the first trial on a human. It
wasn't doing what they wanted. They upped the ante -- and the RF power.
Still no go. One more turn on the pot, and someone asked where the smell of
frying bacon was coming from.

They had liquefied all the fat cells in the patient's belly fat. Huge, huge
lawsuit. Their insurance company was Not Pleased.

> BTW this has some good side effects too.  To meet the exposure limits 
> you will likely have to put up a taller tower...much taller and you'll 
> need a much larger lot.
> For instance with a pair of long boom yagis on 2-meters at 130 feet in 
> the center of one square acre the maximum I could run based on the 
> distance to the neighbors was only a few hundred watts.  You get that 
> quadature array on six fed with a YC156 or pair of 4CX3000's and you'll 
> have to fence off the back 40 for the 200 foot tower. Don't forget to 
> make them loop feed antennas (LFAs) to prevent erosion caused by those 
> electrons skidding off the ends of the elements.  Let's see... A pair of 
> 4CX3000s is technically capable of roughtly 13 KW into a 20 db array 
> gives us 1.3 Mw ERP.  Any one have the RF exposure calculator? I haven't 
> reloaded it since this computer crashed last fall.

Keep running those QRO++ rigs and your computer won't ever come up for more
than a few minutes at a time. What are you going to do for feedline? Open
quads, a la LaPort? I have read stories of birds flying into those on one
high-power MW station (WLW? Megawatt, Blaw-Knox tower, water cooling) and
coming out as a ball of plasma on the other side. I believe it.

> Late at night, at least on 2-meters you just tune for maximum brilliance 
> in your neighbors fluorescent lights. If the direction indicator gives 
> out on your rotator you just look to see which direction the glow runs. 
> Also if you have one of those neighbors who claims to be allergic to 
> cell phone radiation, you can tell them this will over ride it and 
> prevent it from bothering and not to worry about those strange burns. It 
> must have been caused by the sun shining that one day last week. (I live 
> in Michigan)

With that pair of 4CX3000 and the 20 dB gain antenna above, you can tell
where it's pointed by saying "FOUUUUUUUUR" into the mike and looking for
the aurora! Add elevation controls, and you'll be able to track and zap 
stray animals and blow the sand-state stuff in police cruisers.

> I'd also suggest that if your coffee doesn't get cold while setting on 
> the desk, it might be time to examine your grounding and shielding systems.

Good points, all of them. A friend used to have a very small fluorescent
Ty-Rapped to his 2m J-pole. It got reported as a UFO more than once. But
he was running barefoot. 

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