Collins Collectors Association

I just purchased a 30L-1 to add to the rest of my recently acquired Collins gear. Great build quality, and it glows in the dark! Best ham gear I have ever had. I have a problem perhaps someone can help me with. I have the amp hooked up to my 32S-1. The ALC line and antenna relay line are hooked up. There is a 10 inch piece of coax from the antenna out on the exciter to the 30L-1 rf input. The output is coupled to a G5RV antenna through an Ameritron antenna tuner. I have a bird thruline wattmeter between the amp and the antenna tuner. I can use the tuner to match the exciter to the antenna on 40 meters for a SWR of less than 1.25:1 without difficulty. When I switch in the 30L-1, I cannot see any increase in peak output on the wattmeter, but my signal reports and audio quality are modestly improved. When running CW into a 50 ohm cantenna dummy load, I get the same thing, no significant increase in output on the wattmeter when the amplifier is turned on. Tuning the amp seems to have little or no effect. With the ALC line disconnected, I get 600-800 watts into the dummy load with the amplifier tuned properly. Trying this on SSB into the tuned antenna yielded a crackling sound from inside the amp when I keyed up which went away when I hooked back up the ALC. Can you give me any advice? It has been a number of years since I worked with tube gear. I have been able to troubleshoot a number problems with the 75S-3, the 32S-1 and the 516F-2 that comprises the rest of the rig, but having had no experience with the 30L-1 I am stumped. Is this normal behavior?

Jim Willis

KN6IE

PS.. I also have joined the collins collectors association.

I am running the KWM2/RE into a 30L1/WE. I just connected the
Reley Key wire and RF intput wire. You do not need the ALC
connection. The 30L1 will develope its own ALC. Just run 75
to 100 Watts Max.I get good Audio reports with that setup.
I am showing about 500 Watts on 75,40 and 20 Meters.
PS the 30L1 with its Tuned input will work well with solid
state radios.
Stan K6RMR

I haven't hooked up my 30L-1 yet so I also appreciate this info very much.
If I remove the cabinet there are two screws in the top corners that have to be taken out (I've done this already on my 32S-3 and 75S-3). But there is very little space inside the 30L-1 cabinet and I don't see how I could ever hold the nuts on the underside to get them back on again. Any advice?
Thanks
Norm W8AWE