[Amps] Sunset of old technologies

[Catherine James]

Mark,

I think you are right about this, but the sunset of analog front-ends is happening
faster than the HF tube PA one.

Price of late-generation analog transceivers:

Kenwood TS-590SG, about $1700
Yaesu FT-991A, about $1500
K3S, about $2900 (assembled, 100 watts)

Price of next-generation SDR radios:

Icom IC-7300, about $1400
KX3, about $1900 (assembled, with 100 watt outboard amplifier)

So we are already at a point where you can move to the next generation of transceiver design
without paying a huge premium for comparable performance. For about $1500, you can get
a seat in the game, and you won't find a new analog rig of similar performance for less.


But what does the situation in HF amps look like?

Price of tube-based amps:

Ameritron AL-811H, ~600 watts, about $900
Ameritron AL-80B, ~800 watts, about $1500
Ameritron AL-82, 1500 watts, about $2800
ACOM 1000, 1000 watts, about $2800
ACOM 1500, 1500 watts, about $4000

Cost per watt:  $1.50 - $2.80


Price of solid-state amps:

Ameritron ALS-600, 500 watts, about $1400
ACOM 600, 600 watts, about $2800
Elecraft KPA-500, 500 watts, about $3000
Elecraft KPA-1500, 1500 watts, about $6000
ICOM PW-1, 1500 watts, about $4900

Cost per watt:  $2.80 - $6.00


So it's still not practical to get the same performance *at the same price* from
solid state power amplifiers.  It will come, but it's not there yet.

You can quibble with the choices of amps that I picked to make the point, but
I don't think you can refute the core argument.

73,
Cathy
N5WVR

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Mark Hill <g4fph at mjha.co.uk> wrote:
> I think we are truly seeing the sun setting on valve HF PA and analogue
> front-end transceivers.