Well first off, this is a bad thing to do because this could be illegal because it changes the operation of the radio, so sorry non-hams and non-GROLs.
Barring that, it will also increase power dissipation, possibly causing silicon or other device meltdown.
But how much of it is a problem typically? I have this ham radio transceiver, normally 8.4 volts direct connect to the final transistor, but someone hacked it using LiPo packs to 11.1V (nominal) without any step down.
That's a huge increase! If all other things being equal, it's about 75% increase in power dissipation if it were a resistive load. For all you licensed hams out there who have played with this before, have people done this to increase power output, is it typical for this to be "safe" for the electronics? How long did it last, did you do anything to make it "last" longer?
Anyway, the radio seems to actually work despite this! The question is...how badly, for how long and should I revert this hack... Note to hams and GROLs: overvolting can increase spurious emissions which is illegal. Licensees should be aware of this and not transmit with this problem!
BTW, this is a nominal 2.5W transmitter, which calculates to about 4.4W with the overvoltage with all other things being equal (which it's not). The final is a tiny TO-5/TO-39 AFAIK so it might not be very healthy for this transistor, though perhaps as long as the antenna's impedance is matched, technically that wattage should be dissipated in the antenna, not the transistor. I was also concerned about the 5V series dissipative regulator the transceiver has for the digital electronics - it uses a TO-92 series pass transistor!
Barring that, it will also increase power dissipation, possibly causing silicon or other device meltdown.
But how much of it is a problem typically? I have this ham radio transceiver, normally 8.4 volts direct connect to the final transistor, but someone hacked it using LiPo packs to 11.1V (nominal) without any step down.
That's a huge increase! If all other things being equal, it's about 75% increase in power dissipation if it were a resistive load. For all you licensed hams out there who have played with this before, have people done this to increase power output, is it typical for this to be "safe" for the electronics? How long did it last, did you do anything to make it "last" longer?
Anyway, the radio seems to actually work despite this! The question is...how badly, for how long and should I revert this hack... Note to hams and GROLs: overvolting can increase spurious emissions which is illegal. Licensees should be aware of this and not transmit with this problem!
BTW, this is a nominal 2.5W transmitter, which calculates to about 4.4W with the overvoltage with all other things being equal (which it's not). The final is a tiny TO-5/TO-39 AFAIK so it might not be very healthy for this transistor, though perhaps as long as the antenna's impedance is matched, technically that wattage should be dissipated in the antenna, not the transistor. I was also concerned about the 5V series dissipative regulator the transceiver has for the digital electronics - it uses a TO-92 series pass transistor!
Comment