I picked up the new power supply last week on Friday from the post office just in time for the CQ WW CW DX contest. The power supply I ended up choosing was the Astron 30 amp switching power supply. Yes I wandered away from the linear power supplies and into the dark side of the switching power supplies. The supply had very good reviews and now that I am on a fixed budget the linear supplies were just a bit to high for the budget. I have been using this supply for over a week now and am very pleased with it. There is no"hash" from this supply that I have read about online with other switching supplies. I have used it in the CW contest and also this week on FT8 and it has not heated up at all. After repairing the Astron RS20 I decided to keep it as a back up supply just in case the new supply in the future lets me down.....BUT when I do use it I will keep its duty cycle in line to what it has been designed to handle and not what I was putting it through.
The Astron SS-30M power supply.
1 December 2019 | by 
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I’ve been using the same Astron SS-30M power supply in my shack since I bought it in November 1998. So far it hasn’t given me a bit of trouble, and has been used fairly hard at times. I also have an Astron SS-25M stashed away as a backup power supply, should the SS-30M fail, but so far I haven’t had to use it for that purpose. I do take the SS-25M out to Field Day though. Saves me from having to disconnect my SS-30M.
73, Howard
AC4FS
Good morning Howard, that is very good news to hear that it has been working well since 1998. Yes I think it’s wise to have my repaired RS25-M hanging around as a just in case supply.
Thanks for the comment Howard
Have a great week.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
I read about Darryle, KI6RJW, using a Astron LS-18 power supply for the 30 volt rail along with another smaller amperage 12 volt supply for the 12 volt rail as a replacement for Yaesu’s very expensive FP-29 power supply that powers the FT-1000MP Mark-V and he was able to turn the LS-18 up to supply the needed 30 volts with a potentiometer inside the supply, but I’m thinking this power supply would be an even better choice, that is if it can be turned up to supply the 30 volts needed to power the RF amplifier section of the Mark-V. I love the big easy to read meters on the Astron SS-30M and found them new at Gigaparts for $159.00. Very 73 de Cliff, KU4GW “Proud owner of my second Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V after lightning hit my first one!” Read that terrible tale at https://ku4gw.blogspot.com/2011/06/may-22nd-2011-lightning-strike.html
I have the Astron SS-30M also and as other posts have indicated it works Flawlessly no Hash and as a matter of fact it has eliminated about half of my Powerline noise and even running on the Generator during our many power outages here in the Philippines it still works 5/9!!
I am a Retired US Marine living in the Philippines with a General Ticket.
73 DV7NIB Good on QRZ.
Good evening Bob thanks for taking the time to comment, it’s great to hear the positive experience you have had with the Astron supply. I also read your QRZ.COM page very interesting and thanks for your service, Bob.
73,
Mike
VE9KK