> Before adding a Mirage 320 our TKR 750 was putting out 50
> watts into a 6 cavity Wacom WP-642 at the cost of 2-3dB loss
> on TX (as the spec sheet said.) The cans are tuned right on
> the money and the Hustler G5-144 fed with LMR-400 is 1.1:1.
I'm guessing that's a G6...?
> This has worked for over a year just fine (except for grungy
> weak signal audio.)
Is that "grungy weak signal audio" with the repeater transmitter keyed,
unkeyed, or both?
> Now add the Mirage B-320-G 200 watt amplifier.
Egads. If you have problems without a high-power amplifier, seems only
prudent that you should deal with those issues first...
Unless I'm mistaken, the B-320G isn't a continuous-duty amp, is it?
> But as soon as we tune it all up and connect it to the
> duplexer the Mirage SWR/Drive trips and the amp goes to
> sleep. A SWR meter between the repeater and the amp shows
> 1.1:1. The amp to the duplexer shows 1.1:1.
How do you know the VSWR is 1.1:1 between the PA and the duplexer if the amp
shuts down before you can measure it? In other words, how do you know the
amp isn't shutting down because it's going spurious, resulting in high
reflected power coming back from the duplexer, tripping the VSWR overload?
At the risk of disparaging a particular manufacturer in a public forum, my
experience with Mirage "repeater" amps has been horrific. I wouldn't expect
the results of one of their non-repeater amps pressed into repeater service
to be any better...
Before we go spelunking into the dark underworld of making your Mirage play
nice, let's work on fixing your original noise problem. Start by answering
the above questions and we can go from there...
And for the love of John, get rid of the LMR400 before this turns into a
Holy War.
--- Jeff WN3A
