[TenTec] LEGAL LIMIT PLUS AMP

[Ken Brown]

Hi All,

Excuse me if I inadvertently said "100%" duty cycle. What I meant to say 
was "high duty cycle". In contesting, if you're serious about being 
competitive in the contest, you will be transmitting a lot. The duty 
cycle will be high. I'll leave it to you to crunch the numbers if you 
really need to know what the percentage is.

My experience with contesting and a Titan 425 amplifier has been 
exclusively 160 meter CW contests. (I don't care to operate SSB in 
contests at all. I find picking out a particular CW signal from a pileup 
to be easy and fun, and I find picking out a particular SSB signal from 
a pileup to be grating and annoying. Just my  preference. Those of you 
who enjoy SSB contesting, good for you, keep having fun.) I found that 
with my Titan 425 operating on 160 meter CW at full power, it got hotter 
than I would like it to get. I felt that I should either back off on the 
power, or back off on the duty cycle. That is why I consider it a bit 
lightweight for full power contest operating. I am sure that if I were 
running RTTY , which is roughly 2X the duty cycle of CW. (Yes, I know 
that is not exactly the right number. The exact number is not important 
in the context of what I am saying.) it would have become very important 
for me to back off on the power. Therefore, I conclude that the Titan 
425 is not quite up to the task, if what you want is full legal power 
output in contest type operation.

The Titan 425 is no doubt not as efficient on 160 meters as it is on the 
HF bands. Perhaps if I had some experience using it on other bands in a 
contest, I'd say "it is great for full power contesting, except on 160 
meters" or some other such qualified statement.

The Titan 425 is an excellent amplifier. I am glad I have one. It puts 
out full legal power and has great QSK. I would not recommend it for 
full power RTTY contest operation.

DE N6KB