Honestly, the majority of hams I know and EOC's I work with use astron power 
supplies and the number of problems I know of are extremely few with them, 
certainly less than anyone else not made by astron. I word it that way 
because a lot of them are rebranded astrons. I run an astron switching power 
supply and had an RS-35 for a long time and never a problem with either, I 
believe the one in the base cabinet my 900 MHz radio is in is an astron and 
I run that hard at times and get it very hot. I wouldn't worry about another 
astron and I'd probably be inclined personally to go that way if I was in 
the market right now.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Tom Behler
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2015 9:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Power Supply Update

Hello, everyone.



For those who might be interested, I have an update to share regarding my
Astron power supply woes here at the home QTH.



It turns out that I think I was correct in suspecting that something is
failing in my Astron RS35 supply.



I connected my TS590 to my older Kenwood PS53 supply, and my output power is
now a solid 100 watts according to the TS590's internal swr/watt meter.
This is on the same 40-meter resonant frequency where I tested the RS35 the
other day, and got 75 watts out according to the TS590 meter.  My TW1
reading with the PS53 supply was 90 watts out, compared to 58 watts out with
the RS35.



I then connected my TMV71A to the PS53 power supply, and with a 1.2 to 1 SWR
reading, got an output power reading of 44 watts on 2 meters, and 36 watts
on 440, according to my TW2.



In my view, this indicates that my problem with reduced output power likely
has been  related to the RS35.



So, at least in the short term, I'm going to need to re-configure things in
my shack here.



I'm going to run the TS590 setup using the PS53, and my TMV71A, using a
Tentec 963 30-amp switching supply that I picked up at a local swap last
summer.



My next decision will be what to do with the RS35.  I'm going to see if I
can get one of the guys in our local club to help me troubleshoot the
situation, but I'm not sure how successful that will be.



I'm actually seriously thinking about purchasing a completely new power
supply, since I prefer to use a rig runner for connecting everything in my
shack to a single power supply.



And this brings me to a question:



Does anyone have recommendations for a good replacement supply?  I am ok
with a linear supply, since it just sits on a shelf of my operating desk
here at the home QTH.  To be safe, I would like something with at least the
capacity of the RS35,, or maybe even somewhat greater if it is reasonably
affordable.



I'd consider another RS35, but with some of the quality control reports I
have received recently, I'm now not so sure that's the best route for me to
go.



Any thoughts/recommendations?



Tom Behler: KB8TYJ