[Amps] combine

[R.Measures]

>Hi jim,
>I wouldn't do 'air' combining, as you invariably will find dead spots 
>in the overall radiation pattern, due to proximity effects of objects 
>to each antenna, etc. Also it is expensive and takes real estate.
>
>Use a combiner. Build or buy one. (ARRL and Orr handbooks cover 
>them). Just be careful if one amp craps out or gets weak or shifts 
>phase, that there is a way to protect the other one. In other words, 
>either have isolation in the combiner, or have protective circuits 
>like VSWR trip on each amp.

**  Or -- build a tetrode-with-handles 20db amplifier.  I see  8171s  
going for under $300 on eBay.  Svetlana makes sockets.  
>
>73
>John
>K5PRO
>(still reviving the Johnson 500).
>
>
>At 9:07 AM -0500 1/20/04, amps-request at contesting.com wrote:
>>Hello fellow amp gurus- I have a question for the experts. I have two TE
>>systems 350 watt 2 meter solid state amplifiers and wanted to combine the 
two.
>>What is the best way of doing this? Should I use a power combiner? 
>>Should I run
>>each amp into a seperate antenna with equal feedline lengths while 
>>driving both
>>with the exciter simultaneously?  Any other ideas, suggestions? Thanks for
>>any and all input.
>>
>>73,
>>Jim