[Amps] Overdrive protection

[Carl]

Why the heck not build in the attenuator so a 100W+ exciter can be used 
without having to crank it down on every band since many vary per band.

National used a swamped grid input tetrode amp in the 60's that had an 
internal jumper for 20-200W output exciters.

Now that swamped grid tetrodes are the in thing again, what is so hard for a 
company who overcharges for amps that offer nothing special in the RF 
section along with touchy and problematic software/firmware to spend a few 
more dollars??  Maybe they just like telling owners...."Sorry, your warranty 
is void since you overdrove the amp and now we can rape you on repair 
costs."  Someone there must have worked at a car company that pulls the same 
stunts.

Carl
KM1H





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vic K2VCO" <k2vco.vic at gmail.com>
To: "Amps reflector" <amps at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 12:36 PM
Subject: [Amps] Overdrive protection


> Alpha's email newsletter talks about damage to amplifiers as a result of 
> overdrive -- the
> example is given of amplifiers designed to produce 1500w output with 40w 
> drive being
> driven with 150w. They say that there is a log maintained by the firmware 
> which records
> overdrive incidents and that they won't repair damage caused by this kind 
> of abuse under
> warranty.
>
> I am sympathetic to their attitude and don't approve of the philosophy 
> that all knobs
> should always be set to 11. But sometimes it's unintentional.
>
> My question -- and maybe there's an Alpha employee on the list who wants 
> to answer -- is
> "isn't it possible to make an overdrive protection circuit that will cause 
> the amplifier
> to fault fast enough to protect the tubes and components?"
>
> -- 
> Vic, K2VCO
> Fresno CA
> http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/
>
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