[TenTec] Omni-D ALC light

[Byron J Watts]

I've heard alot of people say this about a lot of rigs, keep the ALC 
light (or meter) low or off... Well my particular Omni-D doesn't seem to 
have a problem.  I should note before i say anything else that i'm 
driving it from a car battery with ample size wiring, there's no 
possibility of power supply overload ;)  So, like a good little boy i 
kept my drive down enough that the ALC light flickered once in a while.  
Well, as i figured, one day i was workin on 40 meters and the station 
could barely hear me, so i cranked up the drive a little bit, my average 
reading wattmeter (read: pathetic, built into MFJ 941D tuner) was now 
well over 100w on voice peaks, the ALC light was almost solid on, and I 
figured I was splattering everywhere, but i finished the contact. Later 
i found a good strong station and asked about my signal quality, drive 
way up still.  There was no splatter and i guess i sounded ok.  Neither 
contact was hugely overly long, but the heatsink didn't even get warm 
when i drove it that hard.  I don't even have to worry about it up on 20 
meters, the ALC light almost never flickers up there (i assume becuase 
it's more efficient).  Anyway, my question is, how much ALC should i 
allow, do i rely on signal reports?  I don't have an amplifier of any 
kind so crankin up the drive is the only tool i have when the band is as 
crappy as it is.

73 de KC0NPF