807s in Parallel

75- to 150-Watt Amplifier with Pi-Section Output

BY FRANCIS M. YANCEY,* K4CDO

Te amplifier shown in the photographs was

designed to cover all bands from 3.5 to 30 e Judging from our mailbag, the great-
Me. It can be operated at an input of 150 est demand in transmitters these days
watts on c.w., or 120 watts on phone. However, it is for a job running at 100 to 150 watts
will operate efficiently at 75 watts input for input. This parallel 807 job fills the bill
Novice use. quite simply and inexpensively.

Circuit
A pair of 807s in parallel is shown in the circuit plate supply, as required for plate-screen modula-
diagram of Fig. 1. A pair of 1625s may be substi- tion, the battery will hold the input to a safe level
tuted if a 12.6-volt filament transformer is in case of excitation failure, although the input
provided. will not be reduced to zero.
The amplifier is capacitively coupled to the A pi-section tank circuit is used in the output,
driver through the 100-uyf. mica capacitor, C}. and parallel plate feed is therefore necessary.
(If the driver includes an output coupling ca- Hither a rotary inductor from a surplus BC-375-E
pacitor, C; may be omitted, of course.) L; and Le antenna-tuning unit or a Johnson type 229-201
are small inductors which, in conjunction with inductor may be used as the variable inductor,
Re and Rz3 in the screen leads, are used for the L,. Lg is a separate inductor for 10-meter opera-
suppression of v.h.f. parasitics. tion. It will not be needed if the Johnson inductor
A combination of battery and grid-leak bias is is used, or if the surplus inductor is used and 10-
used. Since the screens are operated from a low- meter operation is not required.
voltage source, the fixed bias provided by the The required output capacitance is furnished
battery will cut the input to the 807s to zero when by a combination of a variable capacitor, C5,
excitation is removed, as in keying preceding and several fixed capacitors that may be switched
stages for c.w. operation. When the screens are in parallel with the variable. A total of about
supplied through a dropping resistor from the 2000 yuuf. should be provided. For a continuous
* 523 Taylor St., Lexington, Va. range of capacitance, each of the fixed capacitors

Top view of the parallel 807 amplifier. The variable output capacitor is at the upper left with the fixed mica
capacitors and switch in the corner. The variable input capacitor is to the right of the variable inductor. The r.f.
choke and by-pass fastened to the rear wall of the chassis are in the plate circuit. The biasing battery can be seen in
the compartment to the right which also houses the input-circuit components. Lz and Cs were not used in this unit.
 Panel view of the 150-watt amplifier showing the grid-meter jack, and controls for the pi-section input capacitor,
variable inductor, variable output capacitor and fixed-capacitor switch.

should have a capacitance not greater than the Plate and grid milliammeters are not included
maximum capacitance of the variable. As an in the unit, but are mounted externally on an-
example, a 500-yuf. variable and three 500-yyf. other panel to keep them out of r.f. fields. J2
fixed capacitors may be used. A 250-yuf. variable, is provided for plugging in a cord from the grid
on the other hand, will require seven 250-yuf. milliammeter while checking grid current. The
fixed capacitors and a switch to accommodate plate meter is wired in permanently through
them. terminals at the rear of the chassis. If desired,
RFCz removes the d.c. plate voltage from the jack can be omitted and the grid milliammeter
across the input and output tuning capacitors, wired in permanently, also.
reducing the required voltage rating of these
capacitors. It also provides protection against Construction
plate voltage appearing on the transmission line An inverted 10 X 17 X 4-inch aluminum
should the plate blocking capacitor, C3, break chassis is used shielding enclosure for the
down. In this event, RFCe2 will short-circuit the amplifier. A standard bottom cover is used as
plate supply. If the primary of the plate trans- the top cover. The chassis and the cover are
former is provided with a 3-ampere fuse, the perforated in the area near the tubes to provide
supply will be protected. ventilation. Holes in addition to those provided
Cs may be useful localities where TVI is are drilled in the cover and along the lips of the
bothersome on one particular v.h.f. channel. In chassis so that the cover may be secured tightly
this case, the capacitor can be series-resonated to to the chassis with No. 6 self-tapping screws. The
the particular channel by adjusting its lead length chassis is centered behind a standard 54-inch
(represented by Ls). It should be connected di- aluminum rack panel.
rectly across the output coax connector. The 807s are mounted horizontally from a
AMPLIFIER
3.5-28 MC
oor
uskvimica) Ls ;

ie

= at
Al
tmh,
300ma,

HY.

Fig. 1 — Circuit of the parallel 807 amplifier.

Ci — Not needed if driver has output coupling ca- i 3 turns No. 10, 34-inch diam., 34 inch long (see
pacitor. text).
C4 — 250-uyuf. 1200-volt variable (National TMS-250 or L 4— Rotary inductor (see text).
TMS-300, Bud CE-2007 or similar, 0.03-inch L.5 — See text g
plate spacing). See text. Ji — RCA-type shielded phono jack.
C5 — 250 psf. or larger. See text. For low-impedance Je — Closed-circuit *phone jack.
output, receiving spacing adequate. (Johnson Js Coax connector.
140R12, Bud MC-1860, MC-909 or MC-910, S: — Progressively-shorting rotary switch (Centralab
Hammarlund RMC-325-S, MC-250-M or MC- P-121 index head, PIS wafer).
325-M). All capacitances less than 0.001 uf. are given in auf.
Li, Le — 22 turns No. 30 enam., 44-inch diam., {6 inch All fixed capacitors disk ceramic unless otherwise speci-
long. fied. All resistors 14 watt unless otherwise indicated.

August 1955 19
partition spanning the chassis. This partition is bottom end of RFC, and an insulated tie point,
made from a piece of aluminum cut 43% inches and the grid by-pass, C2, is connected between
wide by 10 inches long. Half-inch lips are bent the botom end of the choke and a ground on the
over at the front end and along the bottom edge partition. The negative terminal of the biasing
for fastening it with machine screws to the front battery is also connected to this tie point, while
wall and bottom of the chassis. The partition is the positive terminal goes to J».
spaced 2 inches from the end of the chassis. The Three shielded and by-passed leads are pre-
tubes are provided with aluminum shield cans, pared as described in the TVI chapter of the
and the sockets placed sufficiently far to the rear ARRL Handbook. One lead is connected to the
to leave space for the input capacitor, C3. junction of Rz and Rs. The other two leads are
Most of the assembly and wiring to the sockets fastened to the No. 1 pins of the sockets. After
van be done before the partition is fastened the partition has been fastened in place, the lead
permanently in place. Pins 4 and 5 of each socket from the junction of the resistors should be con-
should be grounded right at the socket. The No. 2 nected to the screen-voltage input terminal. The
other two leads both are run together to the un-
grounded heater input terminal. The shields of
OUTPUT-CIRCUIT VALUES these three leads are grounded at both ends, to
each other, and to the chassis at several points.
Band (Me. The plate blocking capacitor, C3, is mounted
with one of its terminals central in respect to
750 volts, 100 ma. (3750 ohms) the two 807 plate caps to permit plate leads of
equal length. The parallel-feed plate choke,
Cr (uuf.) 150 2301 | 75 | 38 | 25 | 20 RFCs, is mounted off the rear wall of the chassis,
Cour (uuf.) 910 1700 450 225 150 110
with its cold end close to the high-voltage in-
put terminal. The plate by-pass, C7, is fastened
L (uh.) 14.8 | 10.0 | 7.4 |3.7 |2.5 |1.8 against the rear wall of the chassis, and is con-
|
nected between the cold end of the r.f. choke and
759 volts, 200 ma. (1875 ohms) the high-voltage input terminal with the shortest
|
possible leads.
Cin (uuf.) 300 2502 | 150 75 50 37 The variable inductor cannot be mounted
centrally in the chassis without interfering with
Cour (uuf.) 1570 1160 | 785 390 260 195
the removal of the 807s. It is placed an inch or so
L (uh.) 7.9 9.3 4.0 |2.0 |1.3
|
| 1.0
}
away from the plate caps of the tubes, and the
input and variable output capacitors are spaced
500 volts, 150 ma. (1666 ohms) symmetrically on either side. The fixed capacitors
in parallel with Cs are stacked up and fastened
| to a grounding bracket attached to the left-
Crn (uuf.) 340 2503 | 170 85 55
hand end of the chassis. The front terminals of
Cour (uuf.) 1680 1100 840 |420 | 280
| — | these capacitors are connected to the terminals
L (uh.) 71 | 08 |3.5 1.8 |1.2 of S; mounted immediately in front.
|

6990 volts, 200 ma. (1500 ohms)

Adjustment
The values of input and output capacitance
Cn (uuf.) 380 250 4 190 95 i 47 and the value of the inductance to be used in the
pi network will depend upon the voltage and cur-
‘our (uuf.) 1820 1000 910 | 455 227
rent at which the amplifier is operated. For full
L (uh.) } 64 | 93 | 3.2 |1.6 (0.8 input on ¢.w., a voltage of 750 at 200 ma. is
required for the plates, and 250 volts at 12 ma.
1Q=19 2Q=10 3Q=9 iQ= All others Q = 12 for the screen grids. In this case, screen voltage is
best obtained from the exciter plate supply. For
full input on ’phone, a supply delivering 600 volts
pins are joined by the two resistors Re and R3 in at 200 ma. is needed, and 275 volts at 13 ma. for
series. RFC, is a National R-100-S, or similar the screens. For ’phone work, the screen voltage
model, with an insulating mounting. It is placed should be taken from the plate supply through a
centrally between the two sockets and between 25,000-ohm 20-watt resistor.
the partition and the end of the chassis. It is For Novice operation, the amplifier can be
eventually fastened against the bottom of the operated, for instance, at 500 volts, 150 ma.
chassis. However, until the assembly is ready to with both tubes in use, or at 750 volts, 100 ma.
be fastened in place, it is suspended by its leads. with one of the tubes removed.
The two parasitic suppressor chokes, L; and Lo, An accompanying table shows the values of
are connected between the No. 2 pins on the input and output capacitance and the inductance
sockets and the top of RFC,. If C, is used, it required for a tank-circuit Q of 12 and 50-ohm
should be connected between the top of the r.f. output under the four operating conditions
choke and the excitation input connector, J}. described above. The Johnson inductor does not
Otherwise, a short piece of wire should be substi- have sufficient inductance for a Q of 12 under
tuted. The grid leak, R,, is mounted between the (Continued on page 112)

20 OST for