[Amps] Sad State of the Hobby

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:55:14 +0000
From: Bill Turner <dezrat at outlook.com>
To: "amps at contesting.com" <amps at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Sad State of the Hobby



<That's true and there is a reason for that. Building a legal limit
<solid state amp is not for beginners. A tube amp is much easier and
<more forgiving of rookie mistakes. 

<Not to mention he would also have to build a set of harmonic filters
<and get an antenna tuner, neither of which is needed with a tube amp. 

<FWIW. 

<73, Bill W6WRT

##  How are folks getting the RFI  out of their surplus  50 vdc switching supplies ?? 
The fellow on the  ANAN group who designed their latest ANAN 8000  sez the reason 
they didnt use a  50 vdc supply is because there are no commercially, off the shelf power
supplies that are clean enough.   They  all severely  affected the  delicate RXs inside the xcvr. 
So instead, they used a dc to dc  converter, that  converts  13.8 vdc to 50 vdc . 

##  But you are correct about the SS  legal limit amps.   Nobody is commercially making them
anyways.   The best we see is stuff that barely runs  ICAS  on cw.   The SPE wont handle
processed  SSB, nor 10 wpm CW, without dropping in power from 1.5 kw.... down to 1 kw. 
The latest amp from flex, has the fans screaming away at  1.5 kw cw 

## Then you also require the myriad of  switchable  1.5 kw rated LP filters, like  at least 6 of
em...and 7 if you include 6M.... and if done right,  another mating 6-7 HP filters if a diplexer
setup used.   Then a mating 1.5 kw rated auto tuner. 
AFAIK, there are no commercially made 1.5 kw rated  RTTY  SS  ham amps
in existence. 

##  Simple tube amps make more sense.   We have more surplus  parts available that can be used in
tube amps than back in the 70s and 80s.  Plenty of vac caps, lytics etc.  Wire is cheap, as is cu tubing
from home depot.  

Jim  VE7RF

Jim  VE7RF