Mathew, I assume that your Astron power supply is a linear type, such as the RS-70.
To the best of my knowledge, all commercial base and repeater stations have been equipped with switching power supplies for many years. Switching power supplies are generally much more efficient, quieter, smaller, and weigh a fraction of their linear counterparts. Since the rectification to DC occurs at a very high frequency, usually between 50 and 150 kHz, there is no audible hum riding on the output. Although cheap and EMI-prone switching power supplies are certainly available to the unwary buyer, the switchers offered by "name brand" makers such as Astron, Duracomm, and Samlex are extremely quiet RF-wise. Another benefit of switchers over linear supplies is the inherent ability to block power-line spikes from getting through to the output. The relatively slow reaction time of a linear regulator can allow a spike to sail right through and damage the radio. This factor alone make the use of a switch-mode power supply worth the cost. That's gotta be some humongous repeater system, if you really need a 100 ampere power supply! 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of n9lv Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 7:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Switching Power Supply vs. Astron Etc. With all the talk about switching power supplies, I asked a question but did not really see my answer. Currently I have an Astron 70 Amp power supply on the repeater system. I have access to a 100 Amp Audiopipe DSPS10012 switching power supply available for the repeater. What would be the (dis)advantage of using this power supply and release the 70 Amp Astron that is in line currently? Mathew
