[CQ-Contest] Contest DxPed amp

[Georgens, Tom]

What has been the contest community's experience with solid state amps
for heavy duty contesting?

I have often thought about the convenience of no tune amps for my
contest station.  It is also nice to have lighter models in case I have
to bring them home for repair.  My current amps (AL1200 and TenTec
Centurion) have been very reliable recently but are not easy to bring
home for repair.  I have spare transformers for each at home to make
transport easier, but the AL1200 is relatively large.

Is auto tune in these amps a requirement for stabilty/reliablitly as my
antennas are reasonably matched?  I have other means of providing SWR
protection in the event of a failure.  

Is the cooling sufficient for full bore operation (no RTTY) in a hot
room?

Does ALC work well enough to protect the amps from overdrive without
having to touch it every time you change bands?  This would defeat some
of the automation of the no tune amps.

The tube amps are not exactly convenient, but it has been a few years
since I had one fail during a contest.  I would hate to give that up as
my environment, long times between use and very hot and humid, is not
conductive to amp reliability.

73 and Happy Holidays

Tom W2SC 8P5A

-----Original Message-----
From: kr2q at optimum.net [mailto:kr2q at optimum.net] 
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 5:40 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Contest DxPed amp

I just happened to run into this:

http://www.ameritron.com/catalog/Ameritron_2009.pdf

See page 9.

Very light weight!

de Doug KR2Q

I have no vested interest in this company.
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