Newbie Question

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3LeggedDog
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Newbie Question

Post by 3LeggedDog »

Just getting back into playing on the radio. Use to do it a lot in the 80's and 90's. Back then I had a Realistic Base with a Palomar 300A with a Moonraker 4 on a 40 foot tower. Getting back into the game, I bought a President Washington, Amtron 99 on a 30' push up poll with a RM Italy 503d. Unfortunately I did not do my research and I bought a 30 Amp power supply. I am unable to run the amplifier on either the 5 or 6 setting. I am guessing that it is trying to pull more amps than the supply can handle.

I want to get a bigger amplifier but need advice on a good combo for my setup. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
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jessejamesdallas
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by jessejamesdallas »

Get another Palomar 300A..."Plug and Play!"

There's still plenty of them out there for not very much cash...I run one with my Cobra 2000GTL and it has the same tubes in it, for at least 20+ years and still going strong.
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3LeggedDog
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by 3LeggedDog »

I would love too, but don't know who to trust to buy one. I see them on EBAY but just about all the amplifier adds say that they are not tested but it hums when you turn it on. I was looking at the RM Italy 1000. It is a pill amp that is pretty nice. Waiting on them to get back to me with the price.
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jessejamesdallas
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by jessejamesdallas »

Get with Hopper Built Amps on fb...

Tell him what your wanting, and he will build you one from scratch that will out perform any of those Italian make cookie-cut box's your looking at...

I've got a couple of his box's, and never had a problem out of either...mine are both mobile units, but I'm pretty sure he also builds plug-n-play base amps...

To be a custom builder, Hopper has a fast turn around time too.
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MDYoungblood
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by MDYoungblood »

jessejamesdallas wrote: July 4th, 2022, 1:12 pm Get with Hopper Built Amps on fb...

Tell him what your wanting, and he will build you one from scratch that will out perform any of those Italian make cookie-cut box's your looking at...

I've got a couple of his box's, and never had a problem out of either...mine are both mobile units, but I'm pretty sure he also builds plug-n-play base amps...

To be a custom builder, Hopper has a fast turn around time too.
What JJD said! By the time you add up the cost , shipping, and wait, plus a good PS to run it, something made to plug it would run about the same if not less.

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3LeggedDog
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by 3LeggedDog »

Thanks all. I did find a Palomar 300a on ebay and purchased it. While tuning it, it keeps blowing fuses. It will allow me to start the tune but after about a minute, it pops the 10A fuse. I have replaced two so far until I saw the pattern. Just not having any love on getting my situation upgraded. It is frustrating. Trying to find a good sweep tube technician that is not have a 1 year turn around.
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jessejamesdallas
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by jessejamesdallas »

3LeggedDog wrote: July 17th, 2022, 1:54 pm Thanks all. I did find a Palomar 300a on ebay and purchased it. While tuning it, it keeps blowing fuses. It will allow me to start the tune but after about a minute, it pops the 10A fuse. I have replaced two so far until I saw the pattern. Just not having any love on getting my situation upgraded. It is frustrating. Trying to find a good sweep tube technician that is not have a 1 year turn around.
Probably a bad rectifier diode...or leaky caps...Mine has done that in the past, and I had to have the rectifier diodes that blew replaced...not sure how many there are, but I've had to have 2 replaced so far, and I know there's still a few old ones still in it...

Another fuse I had pop was the one in the transformer box...what was causing it to pop was a bad fuse holder...($1.98 part)...easy fix on that one, but cost me $30 because I didn't know that was the problem at the time, but my CB Guru mechanic knew exactly what it was. :-D
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wgrebel
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by wgrebel »

Hi, On your low power supply problem, try reducing your Dead Key by an ½ to 1 watt on the Radio..
73, WG
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Swanman
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by Swanman »

You can go the easy route and get a car battery and a cheap Harbor Freight battery charger. I did that when I lived in South Korea. Charged battery will give you noise/ripple free DC power and most are good up to 600 cranking amps. If you can draw that much there is a bigger issue. The battery would also give you some portability if you went out in the world.
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Stoneman
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Re: Newbie Question

Post by Stoneman »

3LeggedDog wrote: July 17th, 2022, 1:54 pm Thanks all. I did find a Palomar 300a on ebay and purchased it. While tuning it, it keeps blowing fuses. It will allow me to start the tune but after about a minute, it pops the 10A fuse. I have replaced two so far until I saw the pattern. Just not having any love on getting my situation upgraded. It is frustrating. Trying to find a good sweep tube technician that is not have a 1 year turn around.
I get the same problem, mine will pop the fuse when I turn the power on...Paid 50 bucks for it, just sits in the closet now..
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