[450] If you don't know the words, just hum along.

[William Knapp / KC1WJ]

If any of you have been listening on 450 lately, there have been  
several conversations about the Astron VS 50M power supply that I got  
from Dave around two years ago. The thing worked great. It put out  
tons of current and I was very happy with it.
One day it started humming. The more load you put on it, the louder  
the hum. Heck, if I drew 20 amps from the thing it sounded like the  
case was gonna rattle right off. I tightened up all the screws, nuts,  
bolts etc., to no avail. I had another supply, a 20 amp switcher that  
would run most of my gear, so I put the Astron to the side and figured  
I would get around to fixing it when I had the initiative and / or need.
Dave (FSY) sent me a link to a message board where people were  
discussing similar problems they were having with the Astron supply.  
There are 2 big honkin' diodes mounted on the back of the supply and  
often times, one opens up, putting a lot of strain on the enetire  
supply to produce DC.
Today I called up Astron, asked for customer service and talked to a  
fellow named Steve. He didn't sound like a customer service guy at  
all, for all I know he could have been the owner. He told me that a  
few years ago they got a bad batch of 1N1184 diodes and in the past  
year or so they have been coming back to haunt him.
He asked me for my name and address and said he's send me out a pair  
of new ones, free of charge. He recommended that I replace the pair  
because there was a good chance that the other one might pop at any  
time since it was from the same bad batch of diodes.
Now THAT'S what I call customer service!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Dave K1FSY for the info and the link.

73!

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