TE Systems 0552G 6 Meter Amplifier

If you’ve kept up with my VHF rover journey you’ll know that the reason I like the Limited Rover contest category is that it simplifies things. No power over 200 watts on 6 & 2, 100 watts on 222 & 432. And, I’ll stick with that for the ARRL VHF contests. In the CQ contest and random 6 meter rover activations, I’ll be using a bit more power.

The TE Systems 0552G 6 meter amplifier, with roughly 375 watts out for 20 watts in, arrived today. Last week the Diamond GZV6000 60 amp power supply arrived. So today, I got everything setup and gave it a try.

TE Systems Amplifier

I’ve been using the 170 watt 0510G 6 meter amplifier for a couple of years now. It has worked well in the rover and in the home ham shack. I have sent it back for a couple of repairs. Both were SNAFUs in the rover. The repairs were quick and done under warranty. I will note that I’m careful to avoid over driving the amplifier as there is no internal protection.

I’m eager to see how the 375 watt version works in the ham shack. I also plan to power it with a generator for the CQ WW VHF Contest when I try to put several grids on the air from the Texas Panhandle.

I do like the 75 amp Powerpole connectors on the amplifier.

Diamond GZV6000 Power Supply

It takes a pretty hefty power supply to run this amplifier. I explored using a modified server switching power supply I picked up on eBay. But I must have toasted the thing when I tried to solder a SMT resister in place. So that wasn’t working, at least for me.

I also looked at the Astron RS-70 supply. I have a couple RS-35 supplies that work great. But I was concerned about the weight, nearly 50 pounds, and that it just barely met the current requirements for the amplifier, 54 amps needed, 57 amps continuous from the RS-70.

The Diamond unit is a switching supply with 60 amps continuous. It weighs about 13 pounds. There’s also a nice video on YouTube that shows off the inside and back panel. This information isn’t included in any of the product literature that I’ve found. The eHam reviews said the fan would be noisy. It is audible but not too bad.

Next Steps

The next step is a Directive Systems 5-Element 6 meter Yagi. It has arrived and I will build it this week. It, too, is slated to be used from the home ham shack as well as when I activate some grids in the Texas Panhandle. In both settings, it will be operated from a fiberglass push-up mast.

The overall goal with this setup as a rover, is to activate several FFMA top needed grids from the Panhandle. That will include DM85, DM86, DM84, and DM94. I particularly want to help Lefty, K1TOL, get DM86. I’m considering running the Friday before the CQ WW VHF as well as the Saturday morning before. Monday may be an option, too.

That’s the latest from K5ND.

Let me remind you, I am not a 6 meter addict. No. Not at all.

See you on the air, but only if you’re on from a new grid…