30 Watt Veronica Transmitter

[Barry06]

I just got my hands on a 30watt Veronica transmitter and was hoping some experienced members could help with some questions.

I used to own an original NRG Pro 3 and NRG 20 watt amp back in the day, but sold it on may years ago. Looking to get back into some broadcasting but NRG gear is hard to get now. I managed to buy an NRG Pro 3 and 4 copies from eBay, but can’t find any original NRG gear for sale.

I’m not sure if this Veronica I’ve bought was originally built by Stephen or Hollings, or if this has been altered over the year. Some of the 1 watt exciter board stand off screws are missing, so it has been removed from the case at some point. I can also see writing on the board that says “tested” and some numbers, perhaps this was from some kind of repair.

My main questions:

1. I’ve noticed a few missing components from the board - R68, R63, R48 are empty. Will these missing components cause any problems?

2. The power lead is missing its plug and transformer. Would I be fine connecting this lead to a 13.8v power supply?

3. If I wanted to upgrade this to 40 or 50 watts, would it simply be a matter of having the output transistor replaced with something more powerful?

4. There are two power leads with grey tape on the ends, laying on top the the 1 watt exciter. Are these to power a stereo coder, or something else?

5. Is there anything you can see that looks “off” about this or needs attention?

Thanks

[Electronically]

I just got my hands on a 30watt Veronica transmitter and was hoping some experienced members could help with some questions.

I used to own an original NRG Pro 3 and NRG 20 watt amp back in the day, but sold it on may years ago. Looking to get back into some broadcasting but NRG gear is hard to get now. I managed to buy an NRG Pro 3 and 4 copies from eBay, but can’t find any original NRG gear for sale.

I’m not sure if this Veronica I’ve bought was originally built by Stephen or Hollings, or if this has been altered over the year. Some of the 1 watt exciter board stand off screws are missing, so it has been removed from the case at some point. I can also see writing on the board that says “tested” and some numbers, perhaps this was from some kind of repair.

My main questions:

1. I’ve noticed a few missing components from the board - R68, R63, R48 are empty. Will these missing components cause any problems?

2. The power lead is missing its plug and transformer. Would I be fine connecting this lead to a 13.8v power supply?

3. If I wanted to upgrade this to 40 or 50 watts, would it simply be a matter of having the output transistor replaced with something more powerful?

4. There are two power leads with grey tape on the ends, laying on top the the 1 watt exciter. Are these to power a stereo coder, or something else?

5. Is there anything you can see that looks “off” about this or needs attention?

Thanks

Black wire plugs into back end of your transmitter other end goes into your 13.8v power supply.
The two, wires with grey on them is for stereo coder which looks like it is missing.
From the side which should go into the two holes of the chassis. It sounds like it's been through alot of repairs over the years.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[Electronically]

I just got my hands on a 30watt Veronica transmitter and was hoping some experienced members could help with some questions.

I used to own an original NRG Pro 3 and NRG 20 watt amp back in the day, but sold it on may years ago. Looking to get back into some broadcasting but NRG gear is hard to get now. I managed to buy an NRG Pro 3 and 4 copies from eBay, but can’t find any original NRG gear for sale.

I’m not sure if this Veronica I’ve bought was originally built by Stephen or Hollings, or if this has been altered over the year. Some of the 1 watt exciter board stand off screws are missing, so it has been removed from the case at some point. I can also see writing on the board that says “tested” and some numbers, perhaps this was from some kind of repair.

My main questions:

1. I’ve noticed a few missing components from the board - R68, R63, R48 are empty. Will these missing components cause any problems?

2. The power lead is missing its plug and transformer. Would I be fine connecting this lead to a 13.8v power supply?

3. If I wanted to upgrade this to 40 or 50 watts, would it simply be a matter of having the output transistor replaced with something more powerful?

4. There are two power leads with grey tape on the ends, laying on top the the 1 watt exciter. Are these to power a stereo coder, or something else?

5. Is there anything you can see that looks “off” about this or needs attention?

Thanks

Black wire plugs into back end of your transmitter other end goes into your 13.8v power supply.
The two, wires with grey on them is for stereo coder which looks like it is missing.
From the side which should go into the two holes of the chassis. It sounds like it's been through alot of repairs over the years.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

Also the box looks like it has been drilled with extra holes. Because if this came with stereo coder it would say stereo on the front label which doesn't. So to me it's been modified to be used for stereo coder to be fitted inside.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[Electronically]

I just got my hands on a 30watt Veronica transmitter and was hoping some experienced members could help with some questions.

I used to own an original NRG Pro 3 and NRG 20 watt amp back in the day, but sold it on may years ago. Looking to get back into some broadcasting but NRG gear is hard to get now. I managed to buy an NRG Pro 3 and 4 copies from eBay, but can’t find any original NRG gear for sale.

I’m not sure if this Veronica I’ve bought was originally built by Stephen or Hollings, or if this has been altered over the year. Some of the 1 watt exciter board stand off screws are missing, so it has been removed from the case at some point. I can also see writing on the board that says “tested” and some numbers, perhaps this was from some kind of repair.

My main questions:

1. I’ve noticed a few missing components from the board - R68, R63, R48 are empty. Will these missing components cause any problems?

2. The power lead is missing its plug and transformer. Would I be fine connecting this lead to a 13.8v power supply?

3. If I wanted to upgrade this to 40 or 50 watts, would it simply be a matter of having the output transistor replaced with something more powerful?

4. There are two power leads with grey tape on the ends, laying on top the the 1 watt exciter. Are these to power a stereo coder, or something else?

5. Is there anything you can see that looks “off” about this or needs attention?

Thanks

Black wire plugs into back end of your transmitter other end goes into your 13.8v power supply.
The two, wires with grey on them is for stereo coder which looks like it is missing.
From the side which should go into the two holes of the chassis. It sounds like it's been through alot of repairs over the years.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

Also the box looks like it has been drilled with extra holes. Because if this came with stereo coder it would say stereo on the front label which doesn't. So to me it's been modified to be used for stereo coder to be fitted inside.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

Actually on the label it doesn't say stereo on the label but anyways it is for stereo coder to be fitted.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[Barry06]

[/quote]Actually on the label it doesn't say stereo on the label but anyways it is for stereo coder to be fitted.
[/quote]

Thanks for the feedback.

What do you make of the missing components - R68, R63, R48?

[Electronically]

Actually on the label it doesn't say stereo on the label but anyways it is for stereo coder to be fitted.
[/quote]

Thanks for the feedback.

What do you make of the missing components - R68, R63, R48?[/quote]I'm unsure. the last Veronica I saw had all components in there but yours could have them soldered underneath not sure. Best bet is wait till Albert gives update he knows more about these he will give you answers or anyone else.

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[radium98]

yes all veronica pll have missing components in the pll section.and yes it is a genuine old pcb design and not the new one ,and it is better then the new one ,we have had one pcb in year 2005 as i remmber.and it was also written on it tested maybe in LAB .we had it new for remmbering 95 pounds in uk money

[Electronically]

Barry it sounds like an active unit should test it out to see if it activates. As radium says they Veronica's are like that should go for the test to see if it's active on air.

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[nrgkits.nz]

I’m sure Albert will be around soon, however to me this looks like a Hollings job. The output inductors are in a straight line next to each other, so will couple RF energy across. The half freq oscillator on the driver board is also not symmetrical, it’s missing the other BF245, one is used for the take off to the PLL input, the other is included for balancing however has been omitted. So there will be lots of half freq harmonic breaking through.

[Albert H]

Hey - I resemble that remark!

I truly hope that you didn't pay much for this. It's a Hollings heap (nrgkits.nz is right).

The exciter is a horrible bodge - the VCO is asymmetrical (as Gareth pointed out), and Hollings' idea of "gain levelling" is to drive the first 4427 into the second 4427 so hard that the second transistor is driven to clipping! This spews plenty of random frequencies. The PA board has so much wrong with it that it's probably a good idea just to scrap it for the parts!

If you connect this thing to an aerial and supply it with power, planes will fall!

Of the "30 Watts" that this effort is meant to produce, you'll be lucky if 15 of them are on the frequency you select!

[Barry06]

Hey - I resemble that remark!

I truly hope that you didn't pay much for this. It's a Hollings heap (nrgkits.nz is right).

The exciter is a horrible bodge - the VCO is asymmetrical (as Gareth pointed out), and Hollings' idea of "gain levelling" is to drive the first 4427 into the second 4427 so hard that the second transistor is driven to clipping! This spews plenty of random frequencies. The PA board has so much wrong with it that it's probably a good idea just to scrap it for the parts!

If you connect this thing to an aerial and supply it with power, planes will fall!

Of the "30 Watts" that this effort is meant to produce, you'll be lucky if 15 of them are on the frequency you select!

Your insight is much appreciated - brutal stuff!

I paid £200 for it.

I’ve got a nice NRG Pro 3 here, might just replace the Veronica exciter with that and replace the amp with a Dutch 100watt amp.

An expensive aluminium box, but at least I know it’s not even worth using the internal setup.

It’s just so hard to find quality NRG / Veronica stuff these days. I’ll keep on the lookout though.

[Albert H]

Sorry, but I really don't want you to find out just how bad it is the hard way! As an object lesson, you could fire it into a dummy load, and spectrum analyse it (if you have access to the necessary gear). The output will resemble a hedgehog!

If you're into doing some hacking about, the exciter could be made to work properly, but there would be quite a lot of changes required. The PA is a lost cause, but you could use the hardware and the output transistor to build a proper PA. With some work, you could get it into workable order, but it wouldn't be trivial!

[Albert H]

Incidentally, the current Dutch 1 Watt exciter is pretty good (and not to hard to assemble) and the 100W PA with the MRF101 is excellent.... That could be a way to go

[radium98]

Barry06 i propose to keep it as is for nostalgic purpose and an assemble rig to not throw 200 pounds in rubbish ,and assemble a pretty good maybe and why not the new NRGkit digital seems pretty good .can you tell me if the output of the pll is PT8860 ? if yes this is a genuine one pcb for sure.but sadly very fragile and burn quickly and i did not find any replacement ,i have put instead an old c1970 but the output was egligeable due to mismatch .
thanks.

[Barry06]

Barry06 i propose to keep it as is for nostalgic purpose and an assemble rig to not throw 200 pounds in rubbish ,and assemble a pretty good maybe and why not the new NRGkit digital seems pretty good .can you tell me if the output of the pll is PT8860 ? if yes this is a genuine one pcb for sure.but sadly very fragile and burn quickly and i did not find any replacement ,i have put instead an old c1970 but the output was egligeable due to mismatch .
thanks.

Unfortunately, it’s not an original NRG Pro 3, and does not match those output numbers.

I think I will go ahead and replace the exciter and amp, but I will not trash the existing Veronica gear.

[Barry06]

Incidentally, the current Dutch 1 Watt exciter is pretty good (and not to hard to assemble) and the 100W PA with the MRF101 is excellent.... That could be a way to go

Thanks Albert. Your knowledge is very much appreciated.

Yes, I have a new built and tested Dutch 100w amp, with the MRF101 Transistor.

I don’t have the experience or equipment to bring the current Veronica board up to good working order. I think it would be best for me to replace it entirely.

The NRG Pro 3 exciter is not an original. It was built by someone I contacted on eBay.

I have attached a pic of the NRG Pro 3. Does this look in good shape and built correctly?

[Electronically]

Incidentally, the current Dutch 1 Watt exciter is pretty good (and not to hard to assemble) and the 100W PA with the MRF101 is excellent.... That could be a way to go

Thanks Albert. Your knowledge is very much appreciated.

Yes, I have a new built and tested Dutch 100w amp, with the MRF101 Transistor.

I don’t have the experience or equipment to bring the current Veronica board up to good working order. I think it would be best for me to replace it entirely.

The NRG Pro 3 exciter is not an original. It was built by someone I contacted on eBay.

I have attached a pic of the NRG Pro 3. Does this look in good shape and built correctly?

Ferrite beads could be doing with some improvements and the glass diodes should be more flatter to the board.

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[radium98]

90% yes .It sound better then a vero ,and nearly the same ,but more power and the bidg ic divider replace the 3 74ls193 but same pcb and hardware mostly ,i have built a not complete one .never tried on air just for little experiment ,years a go ,good luck .

do you have the limiter compressor of veronica ?

or the stereo coder.

[TGillies]

Don’t be put off with the whole Hollings stuff mate. I posted a similar topic regarding the Veronica 100w amp unit and was told it was basically a piece of garbage and that I’d only get half the expected power output, etc. I finally got it hooked up and has been running flawlessly at over 90w. Im sure your rig will be fine.

[Barry06]

Don’t be put off with the whole Hollings stuff mate. I posted a similar topic regarding the Veronica 100w amp unit and was told it was basically a piece of garbage and that I’d only get half the expected power output, etc. I finally got it hooked up and has been running flawlessly at over 90w. Im sure your rig will be fine.

Cheers for your input mate! I’ve heard you broadcasting with that Veronica amp and your signal was booming.

Maybe give me a signal check when I’m up and running