[TenTec] The Titan IIII ????

[Ken Brown]

I have a Titan 425, and I like it a lot. I call it an "almost legal 
limit amplifier" because it will not generate a full 1500 watts on every 
band, and what it can produce, it cannot do continuously without 
overheating. It is better than some amplifiers that are called "full 
legal limit" in that it will produce 1500 watts on most bands, and it 
will do it long enough that you can see it on a wattmeter that is not a 
peak reading wattmeter. The 425 is a good medium power amplifier. I used 
it in the ARRL 160 contest a few weeks ago, and it performed flawlessly 
throughout the whole contest, at about 1200 watts output in CW mode. I 
expect that even in a 48 hour contest with daylight hours operation it 
would work just as well at that power level. I would not attempt to use 
it at 1500 watts output in RTTY mode, and so I don't consider it a full 
legal limit amplifier.

DE N6KB
> My Titan 425 Owners Manual: " POWER OUTPUT: 1500 Watts ssb or cw,  1000 
> Watts continuous RTTY, SSTV."
>
> Heat build up in the shack may be a problem at higher power levels and high 
> speed  CW / high qso rates but its unlikely that you can exceed 50% duty 
> cycle of the Titan 425 at 1500W and 40 WPM even if you are QSK and only 
> going to full receive to make a contact.
>
>   
>> I take your point, except it's hard to imagine 100% duty cycle CW... 
>> Unless
>> your weighting is a lot different from mine.  ;-)
>>
>>
>>     
>>>>  a true legal limit 1500 watts amp.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> There are various interpretations of what a true legal limit 1500 watt
>>> amplifier is. To some that means it can produce 1500 watts peak in SSB
>>> service, but less in CW or RTTY service. Others say it is true legal
>>> limit if it can put out 1500 watts for a short period of time, like a
>>> minute with 5 or 10 minutes of idle time, in CW or RTTY mode. And there
>>> are those (myself included) who insist it is not a full legal limit
>>> amplifier unless it can put out 1500 watts in high duty cycle, nearly
>>> 100% duty cycle, RTTY or CW contesting. There are a lot of people who
>>> stick with tube amplifiers, because few if any of the solid state
>>> offerings are true full legal limit 1500 watt amplifiers by that
>>> definition. If Ten-Tec made one, it would be one of the few available,
>>> and if the price was comparable to similarly capable tube amps, it might
>>> sell a bunch.
>>>
>>> DE N6KB
>>>
>>>       
>