geoff wrote:
Having a ball playing radio, can ya tell? ;-)
As it should be, then!
A single capacitor plate-to-plate wound probably not upset the balance
appreciably - in fact if the cap, and connections to it, were totally
symmetric it wouldn't at all. The fixed vacuum caps I've seen have an
outside and an inside cylinder, so stray capacitance to the surroundings
from the outside cylinder would probably be larger than the strays to the
inside cylinder. However, as long as the cap was reasonably spaced from
surrounding stuff, I don't think it would be of any practical consequence
on the lower bands where you'd be using the auxiliary fixed cap anyway.
I wouldn't have thought so either if it had been anyone else who made
that recommendation. But, it's hard to argue with a ham who's 'been
there, done that' and has built up -many- kW rigs, always paying
particular attention to minute details.
If John/WA5BXO says it, I believe it.
As John replied to me earlier (forget if it was on- or off-list), I
guess it depends on your own particular situation. I'm using a single
50pF vacuum cap to augment the (rather small, electrically) split-stator
cap on the Old Buzzard Rig on 80/75M. Push pull finals, works FB. It
gets removed for 40M and above. YMMV, of course.
2)If you were to use two caps, with a common connection tied to the rotor
of the butterfly cap (you said stator - did you mean rotor?)
No, I meant the part that doesn't rotate. The 'frame', if you will.
, their values would need to be double (not half) the value of a single cap,
because they are effectively in series.
I want to add enough capacitance across each side of the butterfly,
equally. I'm pretty sure I want half of the values.
I'm pretty sure you want double the values :-) The capacitance in the
tank circuit is plate-to-plate. From a tank circuit resonance point of
view, it makes no difference whether the center point (frame/rotor of
the air variable, center tap of the coil) are connected to anything or
not, as long as they're isolated from each other for RF, which is
necessary to avoid two independent tank circuits in series, which in
practice would never track each other. This is usually accomplished by
way of a plate choke in series with the modulated HV to the coil
center-tap. So both sections of the variable cap are in series: stator -
rotor/frame - stator. If you are going to use two fixed caps, one in
parallel with each section of the variable, they are also in series. For
the capacitance of the series combination of two to be equal to that of
a single cap plate-plate, each of them need to be double the value of
the single cap. Theoretically it makes no difference if the center
connection of the fixed caps are connected to the frame/rotor of the
variable or not, as long as the layout is symmetrical and both fixed
caps are equal in value, and both sections of the air variable are also
equal in value, since the junction of the fixed caps is at the same RF
potential (= 0 RF Volts) as the frame of the air variable. I'm trying to
make sense here; it'd be much easier (and a lot more fun!) to draw
diagrams and discuss this over a couple of tasty beers!
If (for example) the total capacitance that's used across the entire
tuning capacitor is 50uuf, then each side has to be 25uuf, with the
single mounting point on the frame of the capacitor... the part that
doesn't rotate. Is it not called the 'stator'? Common sense tells me
'rotor' is the part that -moves- ;-)
In the example above, two 100uuF caps would be needed to have the same
effect as a single 50uuF cap, by virtue of what said above. The part of
the cap that rotates (rotor) is common to both sections of the variable,
and is connected to the frame. The stators are the plates that don't
move, which are each tied to a plate of the PA tubes. In the type of cap
I'm visualizing, anyway, which is by far the most common. Maybe you've
got a strange bird there.
Good luck with the new RF deck - are you replacing the old one, or
completely different/new transmitter?
It'll be in addition to. I believe what I'm gonna do, is use the
double-connected racks to house,
2 power supplies, the 250TH modulator and the original RF deck, on one side.
1 power supply the new RF deck, a 19" rack of (4) 6-position coax
switches and an R-274 receiver on the other side.
The coax switches will be used to select exciters and finals. With a
totally adjustable bias supply for the new (to me) final, it would do
fine in either Class B, for a linear (being driven by a rice-box), or
Class C for high-level plate modulation, driven by the Viking II.
Cool. You might consider what's called a RF "transfer switch" to direct
things t0 & from the two different rigs. That would be ideal, if you can
find one.
I've still got a lot of thoughts in my head... this is just the
preliminary thinking.
Bottom line, I'm trying to conserve space in the shack. ;-)
Know the feeling!
73,
-Larry/NE1S
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