[Amps] Slow start-up of Amps on CW

Paul Christensen w9ac at arrl.net
Tue Mar 12 12:52:15 EDT 2024


Although the IC-7300 is probably not at the top of a contester's wish list,
it truncates the trailing RF edge in all modes when used with an amplifier.
The 7300's RF Delay setting is useful for correcting leading edge
hot-switching but it does nothing to correct the release of the amplifier
SEND line before RF decays to zero.  Icom refuses to acknowledge the
problem.

What's perplexing to me is an almost rabid desire to own the most accurate
wattmeter but ops won't spend a fraction of that expense on an inexpensive
oscilloscope to monitor hot-switching effects.  It doesn't even take an
expensive RF sampler: often coupling turns of a wire around the amp's output
coax is enough to at least give an accurate representation of what's being
sent to the antenna.  Monitoring RF this way will assist in saving RF relays
from contact failure and eliminate CW key clicks.  

Paul, W9AC





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