[TenTec] Century/22 power out

[Rob Vaughan]

Hi All,

Recently took ownership of a Century/22 that I really like but a little bit disappointed by the "20 watts out" claim.  Mine puts out about 15W on 40m and 30m, but as little as 8W on 80m and 6W on 10m.  It would be nice to have closer to 20 especially on 80m where noise levels are higher of course.  I put my ammeter inline with the power supply and can see it only draws 2.5A when the drive control is full clockwise on 80m whereas I can drive it to 5.5A on 40m well before full clockwise drive and cause the 979 supply to cut-out (as its supposed to).

When I spoke to Paul at TenTec he suggested it could be the 80m bandpass filter (would that show low current though?) or that perhaps the "40m null" adjustment needed adjusting.  He said that can impact output on 80m.  I should have asked him what it does because I don't understand this adjustment.  Perhaps someone out there can explain it to me.  Don't want to go adjusting something before I know what the impact/pitfalls are. 

Thanks for all the help and 73,

Rob - VE3XGB