Which amp, depends upon what you are trying to do.
If you are a RTTY contester and/or avid DX chaser then you will want
something that puts out 1.5KW with a duty cycle approaching 0.9.
Listening 10% of the time is about all you get if are CQing a lot.
That means something like a pair of 3CX800's or more. I know for sure
a pair of 3-500Z's won't even with 3x the cooling. They are more like
800-900 watts.
Once you get the amp then you start looking over your whole coax,
tuner, feedline and antenna system for other components you could fry
at this level.
73 de Brian/K3KO
Richard B Drake wrote:
>
> Eric,
>
> I have the VI+ and Herc II, I also operate both PSK31 and RTTY
> though my RTTY activity has been reduced to contests since getting
> on PSK31. The Herc II will do full output 500 watts on PSK31 with
> no distortion and according to the specs it will do 550 watts key
> down for 15 minutes. I don't know how long winded you are but I
> don't have enough to say to talk for 15 minutes without an over -
> Hi. But, for the most part you don't need that much power on PSK31
> and I rarely ever run it over 150 watts.
>
> I have goofed on it a couple of times too. Used the wrong antenna
> and even made a couple of contacts on 17 using my 20 meter antenna
> before I noticed it. SWR was up over 3:1 but it didn't seem to
> care. I also accidentally went key down a couple of times while
> the Omni was pumping out 100 watts. The protective circuitry in
> the Her II worked, the overdrive light came on and it latched up
> into straight through operation. But, just correct the situation,
> cycle the power switch on the Herc II as the manual says and all
> is well again. As I have mentioned before if you have matched
> antennas on each band, the instant no tune band switching is
> fabulous and if that is important to you it's worth the few extra
> bucks.
>
> So, I have probably just added to your confusion, Centaur or Her
> II. I'm sure you won't go wrong either way but it was the instant
> band switching that tipped the balance for me.
>
> ---
> 73, Rich - W3ZJ
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-tentec@contesting.com
> > [mailto:owner-tentec@contesting.com]On
> > Behalf Of Rosenberg.Eric@orbcomm.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 2:15 PM
> > To: tentec@contesting.com
> > Subject: [TenTec] Which Amp for RTTY
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm sort-of looking for an amplifier to go with my
> > Omni-6+ and curious to hear
> > recommendations. I've looked at the Centaur and Herc
> > II at the 'low power' end
> > of the market, but am curious to hear what people think
> > about using these amps
> > with RTTY/PSK31 et al, in addition to the 'traditional' modes.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Eric W3DQ
> > Washington, DC
> > rosenberg.eric@orbcomm.com
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