[TenTec] Tentec and Alpha is a good thing

[Bob McGraw - K4TAX]

I agree with Jim on this point.  One of the issues we face on the bands 
today is the crud generated largely by solid state amps. Be they the 100 
watt class, the 200 watt class or the 1KW class.  We need cleaner 
transmitters and amps, not more power.

The solid state amp, be it the PA in the radio or external, has a very hard 
knee where by it is quite clean up to a point and then breaching the crest, 
it goes extremely nasty.  Thus the "nasty" is not what is heard on 
frequency, but what is produced as products likely distributed across the 
bands.  Tube amps have a soft knee which makes the area much smoother and 
generates much less crud when slightly overdriven.  This over drive issue is 
largely the result of the time constants in the ALC circuit of radios on the 
market today.  Some are really bad and do not control peaks adequately. 
I've measured a couple of current models and found the ALC overshoot to be 
notably over 100 watts and one was found to be near 150 watts.  With their 
internal solid state 100 watt PA's this spells trouble.

We must realize the number of old amps on the air today, the SB-200's, 
SB-220's, TL-922's. L4-B's and a host of others.  Hams are cheap and are not 
willing to invest by spending $3000 to $5000 for a new amp.  Why do you 
think Tokyo High Power went out of business.  Too expensive and not enough 
customers.  Why the Titan discontinued?  Too expensive and not enough 
customers.

Regarding manufacturing, I think many would agree that any company would 
prefer to make a million pieces selling for $1 each as opposed to making one 
piece selling for a million dollars.  There's very little profit in small 
volume production unless the mark-up is quite high or NASA is making the 
purchase.  Thus why do we see the "less than $1000 transceivers" selling 
quite well?  Why do you see all the products in the catalog from MFJ?  It is 
PRICE vs. value vs. performance vs. quality.

I personally view the merger/acquisition as a very positive move for both 
companies.  Yes, there will be changes and likely ones we won't care for. 
After all, we typically are one that resist change.  In the long run, I see 
it a very positive move.  We just need to be prepared to accept change.

73
Bob, K4TAX




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Brown" <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 10:10 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] TenTec and Alpha merger not a good thing


> On 5/12/2014 11:20 AM, Chuck Gerarden wrote:
>> 1. Why can't Alpha build a relaible 1KW+ solid state amp?
>
> They may not WANT to do so.  At the price level of ham amplifiers, solid 
> state amps are at least 10 dB dirtier than tube amps.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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