The grungy audio isn't related to the amp. The TKR may be turned down to 20-30 watts and not trip the amp. The amp may easily be made continuous duty by driving it at a lower level and adding fans and blowing on it from an inch or so away, or by sucking on it. I like to use two 6" fans and they keep the amp cool. The 320 has its own fan on the bottom that pulls air in.
We know that the repeater, amp and antenna play nicely and show a 1.1:1 SWR. It's just the duplexer and it appears that the tuning was not done based on the reference I was given earlier. We tuned for maximum output and isolation. Yes, it's a G6-144 and I typed in a state of near exhaustion. I'm living in a children's hospital with a seriously ill daughter. The LMR will go when the antenna is replaced with either a DB-224 or a Telewave before first snow. As I've indicated time is not on my side at the moment but I have time to ask questions of more experienced repeater operators and learn whiloe sitting here. --- In Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff DePolo" <j...@...> wrote: > > > 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 >
