Hi All,
Excuse me if I inadvertently said "100%" duty cycle. What I meant to say
was "high duty cycle". In contesting, if you're serious about being
competitive in the contest, you will be transmitting a lot. The duty
cycle will be high. I'll leave it to you to crunch the numbers if you
really need to know what the percentage is.
My experience with contesting and a Titan 425 amplifier has been
exclusively 160 meter CW contests. (I don't care to operate SSB in
contests at all. I find picking out a particular CW signal from a pileup
to be easy and fun, and I find picking out a particular SSB signal from
a pileup to be grating and annoying. Just my preference. Those of you
who enjoy SSB contesting, good for you, keep having fun.) I found that
with my Titan 425 operating on 160 meter CW at full power, it got hotter
than I would like it to get. I felt that I should either back off on the
power, or back off on the duty cycle. That is why I consider it a bit
lightweight for full power contest operating. I am sure that if I were
running RTTY , which is roughly 2X the duty cycle of CW. (Yes, I know
that is not exactly the right number. The exact number is not important
in the context of what I am saying.) it would have become very important
for me to back off on the power. Therefore, I conclude that the Titan
425 is not quite up to the task, if what you want is full legal power
output in contest type operation.
The Titan 425 is no doubt not as efficient on 160 meters as it is on the
HF bands. Perhaps if I had some experience using it on other bands in a
contest, I'd say "it is great for full power contesting, except on 160
meters" or some other such qualified statement.
The Titan 425 is an excellent amplifier. I am glad I have one. It puts
out full legal power and has great QSK. I would not recommend it for
full power RTTY contest operation.
DE N6KB
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