I don't see how turning on an amp for a few hours every now and then to help
break a pileup will "run up your electric bill". The duty cycle for a good
CW
operator in a DX pileup is low enough (most of your time is spent listening)
that the filament power will make up the bulk of the power consumption. At
150 watts, it would take a 6 hour pileup to even use a quarter's worth of
electricity at today's rates. This is a pretty good deal when you consider
the
marginal cost of adding another 3dB of TX antenna gain to what was described
as a good antenna system (the amp is already paid for). Even if you spend
big
bucks on a rotary antenna system, why not use the amp for the tough pileups.
Three dB isn't much, but on the margin it makes a difference.
73 de Mike, W4EF.............
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Bryant" <kc5vdj@yahoo.com>
To: "Steve Litwins" <litwins@badsector.com>
Cc: <amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 12:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] al-1200 question
> IMHO, the half an S-unit gain on the receiveing end doesn't really do much
except run up the electric bill.
>
> You will get more mileage by playing with your antennae where you will get
far cheaper gains from that as well as more substantial
> gains.
>
> Of course, it's *your* electric bill, and if you want to only get a 3dB
gain from an amp, it's your call.
>
> I say your answer lies in your antenna system though.
>
> Steve Litwins wrote:
>
> > Hi all;
> > Has anybody ever tried to tune an al-1200 or an lk-500z on 30 meters, 10
> > Mhz? Easy guys...this is a legit question. I know abt the 200 w pwr
limit
> > etc. I use an MP. 100 watts on 30m leaves me in the pile sometimes for
> > hours. It occurred to me that if I cld drive one of my amps on 30
meters, I
> > cld maybe get 200 watts and that 3db might shorten the length of time
spent
> > in 30 meter piles. I have a very good antenna for 30 meters, several in
> > fact, so other than investing in a routable array for 30m, I probably
will
> > not get too mny dbs extra from the antenna farm.
> > There may be other suggestions here as well...so fire away guys, pse let
me
> > know what u think on this...73/dx
> > steve, k8wk
>
> jim
> --
> ET has one helluva sense of humor!
> He's always anal-probing right-wing schizos!
> -----------------------------------------------------
> POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
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>
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