[AMPS] Dentron

[km1h@juno.com]

On Thu, 24 Apr 1997 15:16:26 -0400 RobertW@ewol.com (Robert W. Stankus)
writes:
>Carl/KM1H:
>Your comments are greatly appreciated and I respect your opinion.
>However, as I stated before...the quality of an amplifier starts with
>the bandswitch and the weight of the plate transformer. These cannot
>be comprimised!

I agree Bob....but then how do you explain that the MLA-2500 uses the
same series of bandswitches as the "senior"  Ameritrons AND the Alpha's
except for the 77.  Your comment holds no water I'm afraid. 
The MLA was rated at 1KW DC CW  and 2KW SSB PEP INPUT...not 1500W Output.
When those amps were built the FCC regs were quite different....or have
you conveniently forgot that point??  When run as DESIGNED, they had no
PS problems. It is only when they are either pushed well beyond their
design and/or users forget that filter caps have a finite life do we have
PS problems. New 1997 era xfmr materials improve the PS but you can only
squeeze so much RF out of a pair of 8875's. The operative word is SANELY.


>THe MLA - 2500 together with the Clipperton L represent the worst case
>of engineering ineptness that I know of.

Engineering ineptness has been around since day one. The Heath SB-230,
Ameritron AL-84, AL-811A /H , Galaxy 2000,  Dentron 160-10L,  are a few
that come to mind.
 The Heath SB-200 or SB-220  were no engineering gems either but they
both  sold by the thousands.
The Clipperton L was simply a take-off from the Hunter Bandit 2000. There
are plenty of both still running every day at 1000-1200W out.  Sloppy
design...yeah but the damn things are still in service after 20+ years. 

>Yes, Carl....when you start to modify commercial products, that means
>they lacked "sound engineering" in the beginning.

They are all built with a $$ value in mind. Plus they are meant to appeal
to the "great unwashed hordes" not a discerning and knowledgeable user. 
At the risk of starting another month long discourse I will say that the
average Alpha owner today has more money than RF brains. They fall into
the same crowd that actually believes that the Mercedes is really a great
automobile. 
Lottsa money, lottsa ego and more into status symbols. 

 But that is what fun
>is...taking these products and makimg them better.
>All equipment purchased today, can be made to function better with 
>know
>how and work.

After all the BS; you finally got the point Bob!  After all, the usual HF
operator "doofus" doesnt read this reflector. Joe Sixpack can barely find
the ON/OFF switch and is still searching fleamarkets for a $5 C64 so he
can graduate into computers. The readers here can actually read a
schematic and grab the right end of a soldering iron.  

73....Carl   KM1H


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