These?I believe that's a 12v amp, look for two big doorknob transistors, maybe made by Delco on the back.
Yes vacuum tubesIn the picture on the right of the interior, at the bottom, is that a vacuum tube (valve)? Also, CB amplifiers are illegal in the US...
Its actually a blue wire. And it goes to a relay inside..Thats why I was thinking it's for a switch or something? Will this thing just work as long as it has the radio and antenna hooked up? I was under the assumption you needed some type of keying switch to activate it. But like I said, I've never used one, this is totally new to me.Change all your electrolytic caps, and see if you can find NoS tubes.
These things worked, i had 1 in the 70 or 80's it blew caps & a tube ... I overworked mine so it wasn't a surprise...
It will sound better than most cheap amps out today.
No idea what the green wire is; where does it go? According to a schematic, maybe it's 'ground to start'?
You'll need about 30 amp power supply to run it. Original power wires were probably just wires coming out. and so instead of de-soldering, they just got cut?
Ok thanks. I did get it to power up with a desktop power supply. The tubes glowed red so I assume those are good? I'll have to buy another power supply since the one I have only does 5 amps. Thank you so much for the help. Do you have the link for the info you found?I don't recall it needing to be switched on only when keying up... but maybe it does. To test it; you could just ground the wire out & try it. did you google to see if you could find a manual? cbtricks is a good 1st stop...
You need to be sure your SWR is below 2 (1.5 is much better). If your caps are dried out (likely) it may not work at best, at worse it'll fry the tubes.
You should see a big draw when you transmit; if you see a big draw when you ground out that wire then it will need to be wired into the mic (easy to do on the inside of the radio). If it were me, I would replace all the electrolytic caps before trying it; but I'm paranoid about that stuff... you maybe OK and it'll work fine. Just make sure you have wiring suitable for about 30 to 40 amps.
Thank you. I'm waiting on a power supply. Maybe ill try it out.this weekend. Ill let you know how it goes.Got it from cbtricks.com.
I'm no expert on tubes; but I believe they can fail and still glow. Here is some info; but it is geared towards stereo amps, not RF amps. There is a Russian company that (as of a few years back) was making new vacuum tubes for reasonable costs if you can't find NoS stocks... Good to have spares on hand.
Got it from cbtricks.com.
I'm no expert on tubes; but I believe they can fail and still glow. Here is some info; but it is geared towards stereo amps, not RF amps. There is a Russian company that (as of a few years back) was making new vacuum tubes for reasonable costs if you can't find NoS stocks... Good to have spares on hand.