The Sunnyvale/Saint Petersburg Kilowatt-Plus

This article describes a modern 1500-W amplifier was designed and constructed by Power tetrodes such as the 4CX1600B
output linear amplifier for the amateur HF George T. Daughters, K6GT, who lives in feature higher power gain than do the power
bands. It uses a relatively recent arrival on Sunnyvale, California—hence the name triodes (such as the 3-500Z or 8877) often
the transmitting tube scene in the US, a “Sunnyvale/Saint Petersburg” for this used in linear amplifiers. The
4CX1600B power tetrode made by project. Fig 18.28 shows the completed increased power gain gives the designer ad-
Svetlana in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The amplifier and the power supply cabinet. ditional flexibility, at the expense of a

(A)
Fig 18.28—At A, photo of Sunnyvale/Saint Petersburg
Kilowatt-Plus amplifier RF Deck. At B, the Power Supply
cabinet. (B)
 takes place mainly in the spaces between
Fig 18.29—Schematic diagram of the RF Deck of the 4CX1600B linear amplifier.
Resistors are 1/2 W unless noted. Capacitors are disc ceramic unless noted and
parallel control-grid wires. This reduces
those marked with a + are electrolytic. the number of electrons intercepted by the
control grid under normal drive condi-
B1—Squirrel-cage blower capable of 36 L3—Toroid coil; see text; 3 each #10 tions. (The Eimac 4CX1500B is also
cfm at 0.4 inches of water back PTFE wires (150 inches long, overall) designed this way.) However, the linear-
pressure (Dayton 4C753 or similar). on three T-225-28 cores.
B2—“Biscuit” blower, 12 V dc, 130 mA M1—200 mA meter movement, internal ity of such a high-gain tetrode falls off rap-
(Rotron BD12A3 or similar) mounted resistance 2000 Ω . idly if the control grid is allowed to draw
inside the pressurized RF deck to aid P1—IEC power cable to J1 on Fig 18.30. any current at all. Even a small positive
cooling the input grid resistor R1. Q1 to Q6—2N3904 or similar (Silicon, voltage at the control grid can cause a large
BT1—9 V transistor radio battery. general purpose, NPN). current to flow in the grid.
C1, C2—0.02 μ F, 500 V disc ceramic. Q5—2N3015 or similar (Silicon, low
C3, C4, C5, C6—0.05 μ F, 50 V disc (Sat), NPN).
Note that the control grid in this type of
ceramic. R1—15 Ω , Caddock MP-850, mounted high-gain tetrode is only rated at 2 W dis-
C7—Screen bypass capacitor (0.02 μ F, on heat sink with R3 and R4. sipation. (The first versions of the data
1 kV disc ceramic at the screen R2—10 Ω , 2 W composition. sheet for the 4CX1600B specified the grid
terminal on the socket in parallel with R3, R4—71.2 Ω Caddock MP-850, dissipation as 100 milliwatts!) By com-
the internal bypass capacitor, which mounted on heat sink with R1. parison, the control grid dissipation of the
is part of the Svetlana SK-3A socket). R5, R13—6.2 kΩ Ω , 1 W. (R5 is part of the
C8—0.05 μ F, 1 kV disc ceramic. cathode current meter multiplier, as venerable, but much lower-gain, 4-1000A
C9, C10—Parallel 2500 pF, 10 kV is R13. Their values were chosen to tetrode is 25 W. Any circumstance where
ceramic doorknob. provide 1.3 A full-scale reading on measurable control grid current flows in
C11, C12—2500 pF, 10 kV ceramic the meter used.) the 4CX1600B will result in nonlinear op-
doorknob. R6—4 Ω , 12 W (4 each 16 Ω , 3 W, eration, resulting not only in splatter, but
C13—Plate tuning capacitor; front noninductive metal-oxide-film, in
also in possible damage to the control grid.
section is 30-150 pF; rear section is parallel on 4CX1600B tube socket).
25-90 pF (Command Technologies P/ R7—20 MΩ Ω , 3 W (Caddock MX430). It is thus important to provide some sort of
N 73-2-100-41). R8—120 kΩ Ω , 1 W composition. grid current prevention scheme or, at the
C14, C17—500 pF, 5 kV ceramic R11, R12—Filament dropping resistors; very least, a grid current warning alarm,
doorknob. 0.1 Ω , 5 W. for an amplifier using the 4CX1600B.
C15—200 pF, 5 kV ceramic doorknob. R16—Screen bleeder; 17.5 kΩ Ω , 15 W The grid of the 4CX1600B in this
C16—Plate loading capacitor, 35-700 pF (two 25 kΩ Ω , 5 W in parallel, in series
(Command Technologies with 5 kΩΩ , 5 W).
amplifier is tapped down on the input
P/N 73-1-45-65). RFC—1 mH RF choke. resistor. With 100 W of drive, the grid
D1—1N4001. RFC1—Plate choke, 91 turns #26 voltage cannot swing positive enough to
DS1, DS2, DS3—Indicator lamps (green: enamel on 1-inch diameter × 3.75 inch result in significant grid current. Deliber-
120 V ac; amber: 12 V; and red: 12 V). Delrin form (Command Technologies ate cathode degeneration (negative
DS4—Jumbo red LED. P/N RFC-1). feedback) is also used to help prevent grid-
FL1—IEC 110 V ac connector with 6 A T1—Broadband 2:1 transformer; 13
line filter. bifilar turns #12 PTFE (120 inches, current flow. This is accomplished by
FT—0.001 μ F, 1000 V feedthrough overall) on three FT-240-61 cores. placing a noninductive resistor between
capacitors. Note that plate tank inductors, the cathode and ground. In addition, a sen-
FB, —RF decoupling components used bandswitch, plate RF choke, and sitive grid-current meter is provided, read-
in multiple places; ferrite beads toroidal RF transformer are part of ing 1.3 mA at full-scale deflection.
FB-43-1801 and 0.01 μ F, 1 kV disc- Command Technologies HF-2500
ceramic capacitors. plate tank circuit.
Finally, a simple, yet sensitive, grid-cur-
K1—110 V ac DPDT antenna T2—Filament transformer, 12.6 V ac rent-activated warning is also included in
changeover relay. (center-tapped), 6A (Triad F-182). this design, using a red LED on the front
K2—115 V ac 3-minute time delay V1—Svetlana 4CX1600B power tetrode panel as a warning lamp.
(Macromatic SS-6262-KK). in modified Svetlana SK-3A socket. In receive, a 100 Ω resistor is switched
K3—12 V dc relay, DPST. The anode connector is a Svetlana into the screen grid circuit to chassis
L1—Plate tank inductor; 1/ 4-inch AC-2, and the chimney and the
diameter, silver-plated copper tubing, chimney extension are each a ground. This removes the screen voltage
6 turns with inside diameter of 1 1/ 4 Svetlana CH-1600B. and keeps the tube cut off to avoid the
inches, followed by 4 1/ 2 turns with Z1—Parasitic suppressor; two turns of generation of any shot noise. In transmit,
inside diameter of 13/4 inches. Tap for tinned copper strap (0.032-inch thick a 17.5-kΩ, 15-W resistor to ground is
10 (and 12) m is 4 turns from small- × 0.313-inch wide) over three 91 Ω , 2 switched into the screen grid circuit to
diameter end; tap for 15 (and 17) m is W composition resistors in parallel. keep a constant load of 20 mA on the
2 turns further down. All of L1 is used
for 20 m. series regulator. This allows the regulator
L2—Toroid coil; 5 turns #10 PTFE wire to function properly with up to −20 mA of
(40 inches long, overall) on two T- screen current. (Negative screen current
225-8 cores. is a condition common to these types of
power tetrodes under some load condi-
tions.) The 20-mA constant load is indi-
cated on the screen-current meter as
somewhat more complex dc supply design. tuned circuits. The advantages of such a “zero,” so that the meter reads actual
This amplifier operates in the grounded- passive-grid, grounded-cathode design screen current from −20 to + 80 mA.
cathode configuration, with a 50-Ω resistor outweigh the cost and complication of the
from control grid to ground. This provides screen-grid supply needed by the tetrode Building It
a good load for the transceiver driving the tube. The heart of the amplifier consists of
amplifier, promotes amplifier stability and The Svetlana 4CX1600B is designed the RF deck, the control and metering cir-
also eliminates the need for switched-input with a “striped-cathode,” where emission cuitry and the cooling system. These are
 Fig 18.30—Schematic diagram of
the high-voltage plate and
regulated screen supply for the
4CX1600B linear amplifier. K1, K2
and associated circuitry provide a
“step-start” characteristic to limit
the power-on surge of charging
current for the filter capacitors.
Resistors are 1/2 W unless noted.
Capacitors are disc ceramic unless
noted and those marked with a +
are electrolytic. Addresses for
parts suppliers can be found using
TIS Find and other search engines.

B1—Muffin fan (Rotron SU2A1 or similar). D7, D8—1N5402. R11—20 Ω , 25 W.

C1 to C10—Filter capacitors; 470 μ F, D9, D10—1N4002. R12—20 M Ω Ω, 3 W (Caddock MX430).
400 V electrolytic. D11—Zener diode, 1N5363B (30 V, 5 W). R13—3.9 k ΩΩ, 3 W.
C11—600 μ F, 50 V electrolytic. D12—Zener diode, 1N5369B (51 V, 5 W). R14—50 Ω , 50 W mounted on standoff
C12—0.01 μ F, 6 kV disc ceramic. DS1—120 V ac indicator lamp (red). insulators.
C13—220 μ F, 450 V electrolytic. FL1—240 V ac/20 A EMI filter. R15—300 Ω , 3 W.
C14, C22—0.01 μ F, 600 V disc ceramic. J1—110 V ac, 15 A receptacle for plug R18—160 k Ω Ω, 2 W composition.
C15, C16—3300 μ F, 16 V electrolytic. P1 on Fig 18.32. R19, R20—100 Ω , 2 W composition.
C17, C18, C19—0.01 μ F, 50 V disc K1—120 V ac DPDT relay; both poles of R21, R22—10 k Ω Ω, 1 W composition.
ceramic. 240 V ac/15 A R24—5 kΩΩ potentiometer; sets control
C20, C21—100 μ F, 63 V electrolytic. (Figure 18.30 continued) grid bias for desired no-signal
CB1—2 Pole, 20 A, 240 V ac circuit contacts in parallel. cathode current.
breaker. K2—24 V dc relay; 120 V ac/5 A T1—Plate transformer (Peter W. Dahl
D1 to D4—K2AW’s HV-10 rectifier diodes. contacts. No. ARRL-002).
D5—1N4002. M1—200 mA meter movement. T2—Power transformer, 120 V / 275 V at
D6—Zener diodes, three 1N4764A and Q1—MPSU010. 0.06 A, 6.3 V at 2 A, 35 V at 0.15 A.
one 1N5369B to total approximately Q2—2N2222. U1—600 V, 1 A rectifier bridge.
350 V dc. Ω , 10 W.
R1 to R10—Bleeder resistors; 25 kΩ U2—7812, +12 V IC voltage regulator.
all mounted in a surplus 19-inch rack- a Command Technologies HF-2500 am- is available. This is sensed in the RF
mount cabinet of the sort picked up at sur- plifier but other suitable components deck by the resistive divider R7/R8
plus stores and hamfests. The power could be utilized. (As it is currently con- shown in Fig 18.29. If the HV sense
supply is built into another cabinet. figured, the plate tank cannot be tuned to line is low, then Q1 and Q2 hold the
Fig 18.29 shows the schematic diagram 30 m. base of Q5 at a low level.
of the RF deck. The 4CX1600B is mounted Operation at full power on this band would 2. The negative control-grid bias is
in the Svetlana SK-3A socket, modified as require another position on the bandswitch present. If this voltage is near zero,
described below (to allow the cathode to and another tap on the tank coil or compro- transistor Q3 is saturated, and again Q5
operate above ground potential for nega- mises on other bands. These are options is turned off.
tive feedback). Svetlana’s CH-1600B that the author considered to be unneces- 3. The T/R switch from the exciter has
chimney routes the cooling airflow sary and undesirable, since US hams have pulled the base of Q4 low, allowing its
through the anode cooling fins. An addi- a power limit of 200 W on 30 m.) collector to rise.
tional CH-1600B acts as a chimney exten- To construct L3, stack the three
sion, discharging the air through the top of T-225-28 cores, side-by-side and hold The Power Supply
the RF deck’s cabinet. The cooling fan is them together with Teflon tape, making a Remember that almost every voltage
a squirrel-cage blower. According to the really thick core. Start with a 150-inch inside a power supply for a high-power
4CX1600B data sheet at 1600 W of plate long piece of Teflon-insulated #10 linear amplifier is lethal! Turn it off,
dissipation, the blower should deliver at stranded wire and begin to wind the core unplug it, and short it out before you
least 36 cfm (cubic feet per minute) of with close-wound turns. When you have touch anything! Always apply the “one
cooling air at an ambient temperature of three turns in the first “group” of turns, hand in the pocket” principle when
25°C, at a back pressure of 0.4 inches of leave a space (about 20º of the circle) be- working on anything above 24 V!
water. fore winding the fourth turn. Then wind The high-voltage power supply uses a
The low-cost filament transformer the next three turns, making the second Peter W. Dahl ARRL-002 transformer,
specified in Fig 18.29 produces 18.5 V ac group of three turns. Make another blank weighing 46 pounds. As shown in
(with nominal mains voltage), so two space of 20º and then continue in this fash- Fig 18.30, a simple step-start circuit us-
0.1-Ω, 5-W resistors were added to drop ion until you have six groups of three turns ing K1 and K2 limits the current surge
the voltage at the filament terminals of the spaced evenly around the core. The tap for charging the filter capacitors when power
4CX1600B to the 12.6 V ac recommended the 80-meter position is at nine turns— is first applied. The transformer’s output
by the tube manufacturer. halfway around. is rectified by a bridge of K2AW’s Silicon
The input grid resistor is 51.6 Ω, with a The anode connector is a Svetlana Alley 10-kV diode arrays, and the filter
dissipation capability exceeding 100 W. It AC-2, and the plate parasitic choke is two capacitor is made up of a string of ten 470
consists of three Caddock MP850 resis- turns of tinned copper strap (0.032-inch μF, 400-V electrolytic capacitors. These
tors—two 71.2-Ω resistors in parallel, in thick × 0.188-inches wide, or 0.8 mm × were removed from a laser power supply
series with 15 Ω, all mounted on a surplus 4.8 mm) over three 91-Ω, 2-W composi- board, which was available at a local sur-
heat sink (5.0 × 5.5 × 0.75 inch or 12.7 × tion resistors in parallel. (Any value from plus store (Alltronics, Santa Clara, CA)
14.0 × 2.0 cm). This passive grid resistor 47 to 100 Ω will be satisfactory.) The an- for $14.95. The voltage is divided equally
is mounted below the chassis, near the SK- tenna change-over relay has a 115 V ac across the capacitor string by 25-kΩ, 25-
3A socket, and has its own small cooling coil (12 V dc would be fine also). The W resistors that also serve as the power
“biscuit” fan. While the air below the chas- author’s relay had wide, gold-plated con- supply bleeder. (This divider results in a
sis is pressurized by the main blower to tacts. considerably higher bleeder current than
provide cooling of the tube, the auxiliary the typical 100 kΩ resistors often seen.
fan cools the input resistors and keeps the Control Circuitry The result is a stiffer power supply, but
air stirred up to prevent any stagnant hot The control circuitry is shown in Fig more heat is generated.)
air below the chassis. 18.29. The amplifier is turned on with the The author’s junk box produced a trans-
The grid of the 4CX1600B is tapped at main switch/breaker on the power-supply former with output windings of 275 V ac
the 35.6-Ω point of the input resistive cabinet. When the switch is thrown, all at 60 mA, 6.3 V ac at 2 A, and 35 V ac at
divider. As a further aid to stability, a voltages are ready (after the step-start de- 150 mA. These windings were dedicated
10-Ω, 2-W composition resistor is placed lay in the plate supply). The 4CX1600B to a regulated 350-V screen supply, a
in series with the control-grid lead. This filament begins to heat; the cooling fans regulated 12-V dc supply for relay and in-
arrangement results in an input SWR of go on; the time delay starts and anode dicator lamps (using a full-wave doubler
1.0:1 at 1.9 MHz, increasing to just over voltage is applied to the 4CX1600B. and a three-terminal IC regulator), and the
1.6:1 at 29.6 MHz, mainly due to the reac- After the mandatory three minutes for fila- control-grid bias supply. The circuitry for
tance of the 86 pF input capacitance of the ment warm up, the +12 V dc control volt- these supplies is very straightforward.
4CX1600B. No frequency compensation age is enabled by the time-delay relay. At These supplies were built in the same
was deemed necessary. The cathode resis- this time, the control circuitry (consisting cabinet as the plate high-voltage supply.
tor is made up of four 16-Ω, 3W non- of transistors Q1 to Q5) determines All power supplies are cooled by a muf-
inductive metal-oxide film resistors from whether screen voltage can be applied to fin fan on the rear panel of the cabinet.
the cathode terminal ring on the socket to the 4CX1600B and whether to activate the Although the fan probably isn’t necessary,
each of the four socket mounting screws. antenna changeover relay. Q5 is the main cool components are sure to last longer.
The plate tank circuit components switch activating T/R relay K2 whenever The major source of heat in this cabinet is
include a heavy-duty bandswitch, a silver- 12 V is available (that is, after the 3-minute the bleeder-resistor chain, which dissi-
plated inductor for the high bands, pow- warm up period). Screen voltage will thus pates about 36 W when the plate voltage is
dered iron toroidal inductors for the low be supplied to the tube only when all of the 3000 V. High voltage is monitored with a
bands and a plate choke wound on a Delrin following conditions are met: 200 mA surplus meter movement through
form. These components are those used in 1. The anode voltage for the 4CX1600B a Caddock MX430 20-MΩ multiplier
Fig 18.31—Inside view of RF deck. Tank
components are from a Command
Technologies HF-2500 amplifier.

resistor.
All power to the RF deck is supplied
from the power supply cabinet. There is a
standard IEC 120-V ac cable for the
4CX1600B filament transformer and the
antenna changeover relay, an auxiliary
power cable and a high-voltage line for
the anode voltage. The shielded auxiliary Fig 18.32—Another view of RF deck during construction.
power cable carries the screen and con-
trol-grid bias voltages and the 12-V dc and
the ground. The high-voltage line is a 40-
kV #18 wire obtained from a local surplus
store, with Millen 37001 connectors at negative feedback. b) Remove the bakelite socket layer,
each end. The screen supply provides a dc volt- which has the factory markings
In this design it is possible to plug in age of 350 V by means of a series elec- and serial number, also marking its
and turn on the HV supply without any tronic regulator. The regulator has a position relative to the socket mount-
connection to the RF deck. If you should current-limiting feature, where the output ing plate. (This is the 0.060-inch
forget to connect the ground wire and only voltage falls if the screen draws more than [1.5-mm] silver-plated brass plate.)
connect the HV cable by itself, then a 60 mA. This prevents the screen grid dis- c) Carefully remove the screen con-
potentially unsafe condition exists, with sipation from exceeding its maximum rat- tactor assembly, freeing the contactor
high voltage on the RF deck chassis with ing of 20 W. “ears” by springing them outward.
respect to the power supply chassis. You Again, please take the time to review Don’t drop the screen capacitor! It is
can avoid this in several ways: Use a spe- the Safety chapter in this Handbook to the ceramic annulus with silver plat-
cial high-voltage cable/connector that familiarize yourself with the lethal dan- ing on each side, and it is very brittle.
incorporates a chassis ground connection gers present in any high-powered d) Finish removing the spring plate, the
together with the HV lead. Or you could amplifier—and the proper procedures capacitor and the other spring plate, if
to use in accessing such equipment. they didn’t already come out with the
use an interlock system, with an additional
high-current relay in the 240 V ac line that Modifying the SK-3A Socket screen contactor assembly in step (c)
is activated only when an interlock cable above.
Because the stock Svetlana socket has
is connected. (The interlock cable would e) Remove the mounting plate assem-
the cathode tied directly to chassis ground bly, marking its position relative to
contain a direct inter-chassis ground con-
(through the socket’s mounting plate) and the remaining socket assembly.
nection.) Finally, a simple but effective
because an internal bypass capacitor for 4. Drill out the four holes in the moun-
approach is to bundle the HV cable with
the screen grid is placed between the ting plate assembly using a #14 drill
the other inter-cabinet cables, with a dis-
screen grid and the cathode, you must (0.180 inches). These are the second set
tinctive bright warning label to remind the
modify the socket for this application. You of holes in from the outer edge, through
operator to make sure all connections are
made between the power supply and the will need four insulating shoulder wash- which the socket assembly screws pass.
RF deck. ers (Teflon or other insulating material), (The screws should still be in the top
Because no control-grid current flows, made for 4-40 screws. layer of the socket, with heater, grid,
the control-grid bias voltage (nominally − 1. Drill out the four rivets holding the and cathode contactors.)
56 V) is provided by a simple half-wave screen ring to the screen contactors at 5. Put the new Teflon shoulder washers
voltage doubler, with low-power zener the very top of the socket. on the screws. When the socket is reas-
diodes and a potentiometer to allow grid 2. At the bottom of the socket, remove the sembled, the cathode will be isolated
bias adjustment for the desired no-signal four nuts from the machine screws from the main mounting plate and the
cathode current. The common practice of holding the socket assembly together. screen bypass capacitor.
using a zener diode in the cathode circuit 3. Disassemble the socket: 6. Replace the capacitor assembly in the
to provide operating bias was rejected a) First remove the cathode contact following order: spring, capacitor and
because of the need for actual resistance ring. Be sure to mark its position rela- spring. Now replace the screen con-
between the cathode and ground for tive to the underlying bakelite layer. tactor assembly and the bakelite bot-
 tom section, taking care to align this
Table 18.7
section with your previous mark. Care-
fully guide the socket solder tabs 4CX1600B, Class AB1, Passive Grid-Driven Service
through the bakelite bottom without Zero Signal Maximum Signal
bending them. Plate Voltage 3200 V 3040 V
Control Grid Bias Voltage –56 V –56 V
7. Cut the outer tabs off the cathode ring
Screen Grid Voltage 350 V 350 V
contact. After all of this work, you don’t DC Plate Current 280 mA 800 mA
want this ring (the cathode terminal) to Approx. Plate Load — 2400 W
be grounded when you mount the socket Drive Power 0W 66 W
in the chassis! Place the modified cath- Power Output 0W 1500 W
ode contact ring over the screws. Intermodulation Distortion Products
8. Replace the washers and nuts on the 3rd order — –35 dB
socket assembly machine screws and 5th order — –43 dB
tighten each a little at a time, until the 7th order — –47 dB
assembly is snug.
This completes the socket conversion.
The screen ring on the 4CX1600B is con-
tacted exactly as before. The internal indicates forward (0 to 1500 W) and re- off the transceiver’s RF output control to
screen bypass capacitor still appears flected power (0 to 150 W) at the output reduce the drive. In CW mode, many
between the screen grid and ground connector. After dc calibration against a transceivers will put out a high-power
(through the socket mounting plate). The digital multimeter, he carefully removed spike on initial key closure, even when
heater, control grid, and screen contacts the cover and face of each movement and the RF output control is set to quite low
function exactly as in the original. attached a homemade laser-printed scale. values. If this happens with your trans-
The cathode annulus on the 4CX1600B ceiver, the warning blink from the LED
is contacted exactly as before, but the elec- Grid Current Warning will alert you to the problem. The circuitry
trical connection for the cathode is now The circuitry for the grid-current warn- for the grid-current warning indicator is
isolated from the chassis. The cathode ing indicator light is very simple and is built into a small aluminum minibox that
contact on the socket is now made through shown in Fig 18.29 also. When control-grid uses feedthrough capacitors and RF
the thin cathode ring on the bottom of the current flows, it develops a voltage across chokes to eliminate stray RF.
socket. (The ring is silver-plated and eas- R10. This causes the collector current of
ily soldered, convenient for an application Q6 to light a red LED indicator brightly Results
like the present one, which requires mul- when grid current is about 1.0 mA. (Al- The zero-signal plate current is about
tiple contacts.) though the battery is always connected to 280 mA, resulting in a zero-signal plate
the circuit of transistor Q6, the current drain dissipation of about 900 W. At full 1.5 kW
Metering due to collector-emitter leakage current is output on 40 m, the plate current is about
The author obtained some attractive negligible, so battery life should be very 0.8 A and the anode dissipation is less than
meters with 200 μA movements from a long. If you don’t like the floating 9-V bat- 1000 W. (Until the TR switch is activated,
local surplus store. The internal resistance tery, a small dc power supply could be in- the screen voltage is zero and the tube is
was 2000 Ω. One meter became a voltme- cluded or a small “wall-wart” type of dc effectively cut off, so there is no plate dis-
ter on the anode power supply (0 to 4 kV); supply could be built right into the cabinet. sipation except during transmit periods.)
one became a triple-purpose multimeter It must however, be capable of floating at After a heavy period of operating the
to measure anode current (0 to 1.3A), the grid potential, about 60 V away from amplifier, let the fan run for a few minutes
screen-grid current (−20 to +80 mA), and chassis ground potential.) in standby mode to cool the tube before
control-grid current (0 to 1.3 mA). The When the grid-current warning LED turning the amplifier off.
third meter, not shown in the schematic, flickers on voice peaks, it’s time to back Performance figures for the amplifier

are presented in Table 18.7.

A 6-Meter Kilowatt
Amplifier Using
the Svetlana Fig 18.33—Photo of
the front panel of
4CX1600B W1QWJ’s 6-meter
4CX1600B amplifier.
The Svetlana 4CX1600B tube has
attracted a lot of attention because of its
potent capabilities and relatively low cost.
Because of its high gain and its large