🔍 Key Concepts

• How a blown fuse affects power to the radio and whether the radio could still appear to work • The difference between DC power issues (volts & amps) and antenna system issues (SWR, matching) on SSB transmit • What an antenna mismatch does to RF output and how that might show up on a power/voltage indication

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: if a main positive or negative fuse were blown, would the radio be able to transmit at all, or would it be completely dead? • Consider what part of the system could make the radio appear to have low voltage or low power output, even when the DC supply is actually normal. • Which option affects RF output and loading on the transmitter rather than simply turning power on or off?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which components (red fuse, black fuse) are in series with the radio’s DC supply and what happens when they fail. • Think about how grounding is normally used on SSB installations: does “too much” grounding lower supply voltage, or does it usually improve RF return paths and noise performance? • Review what an antenna mismatch (high SWR) does to a transmitter: reflected power, reduced effective output, and how that could look like low voltage or low power on transmit.