[Amps] 5 kw amps -- why?

[lncarman]

What happen to the good old days. Old timers engineered things to be 
dependable and long lasting.
Double the rating on all the components and it last 10 times longer. Some of 
the border-line legal limit
amps of today would fail miserably upon undetected increased SWR due to 
whatever the cause.
I worked for a military contractor for 10 years.  The rigorous testing the 
units went though to pass QA
was unbelievable. If you were a pilot flying sorties in hostile territories,
wouldn't you feel more comfortable knowing your equipment is built to take 
the heat ( without question )?
I feel that way about my amps. Just because a ham buys an amp capable of 5 
kw doesn't mean he will
exceed legal limit. You're not breaking the law by owning excessive amps, 
are you?
I have two homebrew amps ( 3cpx5000a7, 3cx3000a7 ). I very much enjoyed 
building them. I seldom
exceed 1 kw when I use them, which is seldom.  Call it an overkill if you 
like, but when I fire them up I
don't worry about how hot the tubes are getting at 1.5 kw, or even if I make 
a terrible mistake of
not retuning after switching bands ( no ham has ever done that, have 
they? ).

I like the195mph  Ferrari analogy.

My two cents worth.

Larry N5BIP        PS: Why worry about the FCC if you're operating legally.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vic Rosenthal" <vic at rakefet.com>
To: "R.Measures" <r at somis.org>
Cc: "Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj at hotmail.com>; <amps at contesting.com>; 
<n8de at thepoint.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Amps] 5 kw amps -- why?


> R.Measures wrote:
>
>> I bought this 195mph  Ferrari because it has no heating problems at 
>> 65mph.
>
> That's not a good analogy, Rich.  You bought the Ferrari because it can 
> accelerate faster in the 0-85 MPH range, because it handles well, etc. 
> There are NO similar advantages to having 5KW plate dissipation available 
> in an amateur amplifier that is used at 1.5 KW output, if the tubes are 
> cooled properly.
>
> Actually, there is a possible advantage, but I don't know of anyone 
> actually doing it:  if you have an exciter that has a class-A mode for low 
> IMD, you could run the amp class-A as well, for super clean SSB.
>
> -- 
> 73,
> Vic, K2VCO
> Fresno CA
> http://www.qsl.net/k2vco
>
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