LOL :-D
Last night I was messing around and had the 40m dipole connected to another rig and had the sBitx unterminated. ?I bumped the CW key and put out 10 watts momentarily and nearly screamed. ?I quickly hooked up a wattmeter and a dummy load and was relieved to see RF power still coming out.
I¡¯m going to implement an SWR sensor and RF power foldback mod as soon as one becomes available, or I get the gumption to develop it.
On an aside, could a strategically placed zener diode or two on the finals prevent damage? ?Doug Demaw recommended this on NPN finals in his books.
73
Goody
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As an experimenters/makers playground, the lack of self protecting circuitry became apparent.
I¡¯d mess around with multiple antenna systems and tuner/switches/cables/CMC balun/etc. ?and 1 out on 10 ¡°hookups¡± would be an open/error. Hey I¡¯m a relative newbie and a liberal art major ¡ª what would you expect. Hahah. ?
Then there were many experiments playing with uBITX final PA voltage levels, and countless other goofy ¡°experiments¡±?
it got to the point where my favorite radio accessory was a fire extinguisher, and my fastest repair was irf510 appendectomies. ?I¡¯d line up the dead and abused 510s and praise them for their brave service and contribution to my belated understanding ?of Ohm¡¯s Law. ?And the effects of rapid heat build up under sketchy situations.
These confessional stories make the point that for many of us curious hacks, goofy experimenters, newbies, or the just bone headed folks in general, self protective circuits in the sBITX, and any BITX, would be welcome.
On the other hand, blowing stuff up is a learning methodology. So thanks much for the chance to play and repair (often).
Don the Incendiary?
km4udx
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