I see that Steve KG7PU got his 38S in a box! Me too! However, as Steve
found out, I too found that it doesn't work the same when inside its house!
Although I am not sure of the reason for this, upon packaging it up the
transmitter started pulling 3 plus amps. I don't think it was the 511
either, I believe it was the 74HC240 as that is the part that doesn't have
the correct voltages on its pins. (Thanks for the chart Paul) My theory is
that when "fitting" the rig into the aluminum box, drilling holes, trying it
again, dropping nuts on the board, etc., I zapped the IC. I thought that
when in the circuit they were safe. Perhaps they are not immune to wiping
the bottom of the circuit board with a piece of aluminum! As I said, I could
have blown it some other way, but I won't know for sure until I get
replacement ICs. My new procedure will be to remove the ICs whenever fitting
a project into a metal box. Anyone have any thoughts on this. Is my warning
warranted? If so, watch it guys. I didn't see any sparks. Be careful.
Bob WB2DHK in Jersey City, NJ
[
QRP-L Archive |
]
[
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000
]