WYsixK <wy6k@yahoo.com> says--
>Now I read this again and realize that Steve Katz mentioned the ways in
>which the RFE amps failed to meet FCC requirements. So is the issue
>not that the FCC dislikes kits per se but that the kits that are
>offered do not meet FCC requirements?
>
>I checked out the Communications Concepts web site and see that the PCB
>for their 1000 watt solid state amp is $27. What's outrageous about
>that?
Do you know what fabricated PCBs cost, even in short runs?
With the art work in hand, I could go to a custom board house and have
one-off boards custom-made for less than what CCI is asking. In a quantity
run, the price would fall well below two dollars a board very quickly.
And -- did you happen to check the price of the active devices for that
1000-watt CCI amp? You probably will not believe me when I tell you that
it's over $900.
On the other hand -- most of the RFE amps use the 2SC2879 device, which
sells in small-handful quantities at about $15. each. Properly biased and
heatsinked, these are good for 100 watts each all day long.
So on the one hand you've got CCI selling amps made from expensive,
hard-to-power, hard-to-cool Motorola devices, and on the other hand you've
got RFE selling amps made from cheap, easy-to-power, easy-to-cool Japanese
devices.*
The RFE amp goes straight out the door and under the dash of a semi for
about 20% of the cost of the CCI amp -- which requires some relatively
sophisticated work to power up.
Are you starting to get a clue about the political and societal
ramifications of the RFE decision?**
I've never advocated the unlawful use of amps on 11 meters. However, I've
never completely agreed with how the FCC chose to close the 27 MHz barn
doors after all the horses ran off in the mid 1970s. That appalling lack
of enforcement was mirrored in the FCC's laissez-faire attitude about the
ham bands until only a few years ago. Fortunately, we hams are a little
bit better at self-regulation than the CBers, except for maybe on a few
narrow slivers of the phone bands.
Jim N6OTQ
* You need to see the inside of a Texas Star 667.*** And THEN explore the
reasons why you can legally buy this and other Texas Star radios legally,
and why they're all FCC type accepted.
** And what about the FCC's decision to add 17 CB channels in 1977, a
choice that put Hy-Gain out of business at a time when we could not afford
to hemorrhage any more jobs to Japan, Inc.?
*** And then compare THAT to the inside of an Ameritron ALS600.
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