> I can confirm it is more than "apparently". I owned an
> AL-1200 which
> twice had the plastic coil supports let go while running
> at full
> power, once on 80 meters and once on 160 meters, both
> RTTY.
>
> I sold the rig to a non-RTTY op and as far as I know he is
> happy with
> it.
The AL12 series bower was downsized after the first six
months of production because no one wanted a high speed
blower. On SSB and CW the change wasn't an issue.
If people read the manual, which few do, they would see a
higher speed blower is available or as an option the inlet
could be pressurized with a booster fan.
We use an AL1200 in 160 CW contests and with two rigs (there
is a voting system that allows only one TX at a time to
transmit) the amp runs virtually continuously on CW. There
isn't an issue if the manual is followed. Mine uses the
stock blower set on high speed and has a booster fan on the
inlet.
What critics (especially those who never have built a
commercial product or been in any type of amateur radio
manufacturing) is amplifier noise is a much bigger issue
than RTTY operation, so the compromise is set according to
end use. The amateur market is entirely different than a
commercial market, both in margins and what users expect.
It's pretty easy to pick apart any product that is design
driven to meet a certain market.
73 Tom
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