Alinco DM-330MV review

Many

new

ham rigs are small enough

and

light enough to operate

from

nearly anywhere .

But

going to "lighten up"?

CQ Reviews:

The

what about their

The

Alinco

answer, says,

DM-330MV

power

WB2AMU

supplies?

,

is

When

now.

are

THEY

Switching

ower supplies have always been
taken for granted

P

amplifiers to them and neve r give them
a second

We

Perhaps my most vivid memory in-

just
tho

hook up

ught until t

among

our
hey

radios and

fail.

hams

Power

Supply

BY KEN NEUBECK; WB2AMU

.

volving an amateur radio power supply

was when I took

with me on a vacati
orderto
the radio was portable enough to carry

in a hard-shell case on board the air-

craft , the 3O-pound

put in

quite heavy . I could see the limo driver

groan as he tried to lift the

car forthe ride to the airport. How

more portable-rad io operatio
have been conducted by

power

the

checked luggage, making

my

my

T$·440s

Kenwood P$-50

on

trip to Hawaii in

power

radio .While

supply was

il

bag

hams

into the

many

ns

could

if the
power supply
carry along?

In recent years a

supplydesign
isknownas switching-mode

plies.

generatesa pulse-width modulatedsig­nal,the powersupply
off at a
power-supplydesignis able to run
ertha
significant reduction in heat diss ipation.

In addition, there is a tremendous sav­ings in the weight, as s

f

or

iron -co re
benefits, switching
widely used in both airc raft and
pu

ter equipment.

I

weight switching-power-supply design

By

usingan integratedcircuit that

very

n previous designs, as there is a

merscanbe

jo

remember

was

has

high rate .

used in lieu

bs.

the first time I saw a light-

light enough to just

new

been developed

Because

powersup

class of

powersup-

is switched on

This

ma

of

of

power

type of

ller trans-

those big
all these

plies are

coo

com-

and

and

l-

Front view

meter. The switching for the

-

for

ventional

electronic aircraft equipment. I
amazed
bility

we
fewe r
er
tronic e

nents likely to break while o
the high-vibration aircraft envir
The n
ply design used in
appl ications

amate
be

amateur

problems

re solved

compone

pow

Now

well witht

er

quip

ew

ur

one

of

the OM-330MV shows the various switches

by

the

non-switching

-supply com
ment were the first compo-

er

switching- mode p

is now

radio .

would think t

his

radio

number

associated with thecon-

by

a li

nts. Typically, the larg-

weight

power

ghter

po

ma

ma

supply. Well, not

meter

immediate right

was

of

major

designs

design

nen ts in elec-

pe

onm

ow

ny com

king its way into

ha

t all should

reductionforthe

relia-

that

with

rating in

ent.

er-sup-

me

rcial

and

between current

of

the

commonly

a function
(typically in the 100
noise tends to
bands, such
can make receivi
cult.
able to make suitable
cuits. Alinco has come up with a unique

solution to this
which we will discuss later,
330

let's look at the unit's basic features.

Basic

• Dual -function

meter

known

of

Some

MV switch i

manufacturers have been

Features

and

.

as

the switching frequency

show

as

80and

ng

pa

ng

po

meter

the dual-function

voltage is

hash

kHz

up

signals very diffi-

sup

rticul

wer supp ly. First,

noise

range). Hash

in the lower

40 meters,

pression cir-

ar

for

,that is

condition,
in its DM-

displaying

on

the

HF

and

·Contributing Editor,
Patchogue,
e-mail: <[e-mail]>

26.

CO • November 2000

NY

11772

CO

, , Valley Road.

quite.Associated
swi

cond

tching-mode

itio

n k

nown

with

power

as

swi

the

sup

tching noise,

design

plies is a

of

voltage

• Output current capability : 32

max

im

or

um,

current in

30

am

ps

amps

conti

Visit Our Web Site

nuous

amps

• Outp ut

able with a

vo

ltage: 5 to 15 VOG vari-

no

tch setting

at

13.8 volts

• Input

poss
es by 61/2 in

amp
cator light is illuminated on the front
panel.)

vi

de

ible with adjustment of switc

• Dimensi

• Weight: 4.5

• Protection features:

1. Short circuit protection

2. Automatic current
s (When this is activated , an indi-

Over-t

3.

d by re

vo

ltage 120

on

s:Approximately 7 inch -

che

em

ar

s by 21/2 inches

pounds

per

-panel cooli ng fan th

ature

VA

G (220 VAG

h)

limiting over 32

protection (

pro

at

-

co

mes on automatically when neede

There are a few ways to hook your
ama
to the OM

inputs

lighter adapter input (on front p

two

(

mina

teur radio transceiver

33

0V

are

• 10
amp

· 5

pairs of +/- on the fr

· 32

amp

l posts (on rear pane l)

:

amp

maximum rated cigarette-

maximum rated clip on inputs

maximum rated output ter-

power

or

a

supply.

ont

panel)

mp

ane

d)

lifie r

Th

e

l)

Imagine a p

was the case during Fie

by

tuming

set pos ition and adjust ing the

thedesiredoutputlevel .

ower

the

supplythat weighs less

ld

Day

by

the TS-670 radio on the right!

pre

set switch 10 the

Wh

en thisfunc-

and

issmaller than the transceiver.

at W2AMC, where the

vo

ltage to

pre

-

voltage will
the current voltage setting.

Anotherfeatureis thatthe front -panel

DM

be

Th

is

330MV

supplied regardless of

w

as

dwarfed

Other
age value that allows one to set a nom­inalope rating voltage and save the
set

va

features include a

lue. The pre

set

pre

voltage is sto red

set volt-

pr

e-

Ala/dol

tion is selected,the
control on the front panel will be deac­tivated to protectfromovervoltaqe.With
the preset functionactivated,the preset

A

Tradition

of

Consistent

vo

ltage-adjustment

Qua

lity

me

ter

can read eithercurrent (amps) or
voltage , sele
front panel.
control term inal input

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Th

e unit also has a remote-

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the rear panel.

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dio.co

m

November 2000 • CO • 27

it for 6 and 10 meter operation

at

home
as well
the 6

Peconic ARC on eastern Long Island.

One

run a few devices from the same power
supply at one time . For example, we
hooked up a TS-670 transceiver (that
drewabout4amps) tothe front clips, and

a Mirage A1015G 6 meter amplifier

(18-20
TheOM 330
devices at the same time . and the com-

bined current could

asat
meter

of

the tests we performed was to

amps)to the rear terminal posts.

FieldDay, where it powered

station

MV wasable to handleboth

at

W2AMC, the

be

read on the front

In this
POWER.

aose

and

-uo view
PROTECT

of

the front panel, the three

can

be

seen to the left

left is over the cigarette -lighter-type

jack

input (10

LED

of

the meter. The

amp

indicators for PRESET,

max).

and

cover

on the

the inputs

on

panel , with the meter

During Field Day, the OM 330MV was

used for long periods
up

to eighthourswithout abreak. Again,

both the basic transceiver and
er

were hooked

supply. The radio ran cool,and I did not

notice the supply

during Field Day .

noticedduring Field
use on 6 meters.

Special Feat

up

's

ur

in current mode .

of

time, operating

amp

to the same power

fan kicking on

No

hash noise

Day

or

during

at

home

e

lifi-

all

was

the bottom are

This allows you to connect a remote­control unit (with

turned off)and remotely control the out-

put voltage .

The power supply
locatedon the
in order to get the
the heat sink, it would appear that this

top

the

has

of

theunit. Therefore,

maximum

power

the heat sink

supply

effect

set

of

at

5 amps max.

unit should not have other equipment

stacked on
the shack.

Operat

We put the Alinco
pacesduring the summer

ion

top

of

it when it is used in

330MV

through its

of

2000, using

During

dio), we did notice hash noise from the

power supply throughout the 80 and 40
meter
unique feature comes into play. There

isa special tuning circuitthatallows one

to

movethe

eral kHz .It
but it

that is on top
can be

work fine for casual use on 40 and 80.

but it may be cumbersome for contest

home

bands.

does

use (using the same ra-

Nowthis

hash

relocates it.

of

moved

away

is whe re Annco's

noise

noteliminate

Thus,any

a desired radio signal

up

or

down

the

hash noise

. This feature will

sev-

noise,

work,
on

whereone

the

band for contacts.

has to search around

Summary

My
ing power supply
less than 5 pounds ,

portableoperationsandfora small.cool
power
only drawback
who enjoy contesting on 40 and 80 me­ters
tune knob to move the noise

overall opinion

supply

will constantly be using the hash

for

J see is thaI those hams

of

the Alinco switch-

is

very

it fits the need for

the base station. The

favorable . At

away

from

The rear

of

the unit contains the over-temperature fan

on

amp maximum rating terminal posts. The realpanel has a

input along with the preset function. The unit uses

the left

jack

an

for remote-control

8

amp

and

fuse.

a set

of

32

contest stations.
tions above 10
home-this
about all

The
power
accessories needed.

Iwish to express my thanks to Evelyn
Garrison, WS7A, and Kalsumi Nakata,
KE6RO, of Alinco for their help in get-

ting
power

me

the

street price

supply

technical information on the

supply. •

MHz-both

power

needs

However

supply will meet just

of

most hams.

of

the OM330

is

$200.There

, for opera-

portableand

MV

are

no

28 . co •

November

2000

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