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RM Italy amp choice ??????????

Help with amp choice, and does red or blue Matter.

  • Rm italy KL-203

    Votes: 5 31.3%

  • Rm Italy KL-203P

    Votes: 9 56.3%

  • Rm Italy KL-200

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • RM Italy KL-200p

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • Total voters
    16
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Grogan

Grogan

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Oct 1, 2011
1,133
343
93
Southern New Jersey
Was going to buy one cheap,small, low power,low amp draw. Got a cobra 29LX and was looking at the KL-200 and KL-203 if it's the model with the P and has a pre amp I most likely wont ever use the pre amp anyway. What is the best amp to get KL-200 or Kl-203 or P models, some have Rm-3 some have other transistors and I am confused. Does red or blue make a difference??
 
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The blue version's are the "newer" models. The 200p is a single 1446 final and the 203 amps use RM3 mosfets. All depends on what you want and if you need a pre-amp or not.

They are both lo drive light duty amplifiers. You will have to have your Cobra radio tuned for a dead key of 1 to 1.5 watts and no more then 18 watts PEP.
 
Grogan said:
Was going to buy one cheap,small, low power,low amp draw. Got a cobra 29LX and was looking at the KL-200 and KL-203 if it's the model with the P and has a pre amp I most likely wont ever use the pre amp anyway. What is the best amp to get KL-200 or Kl-203 or P models, some have Rm-3 some have other transistors and I am confused. Does red or blue make a difference??
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"Does red or blue make a difference" It will in November.
Just remember after you buy the KL amp, you definately will want something better. Save yourself some money and buy a good amp from the start. Xforce TNT 250 or TNT 350.
 
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Grogan said:
Jst looking for a small amp in the work van, Don't want to mess with the vans electronics Like RM KL-203P
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I know for a fact if you drive a late model Ford van an X Force 2x4 won't cause any type of problems. A GMC or Chevy late model it'll be a crapshoot.
 
The 203Ps move a lot at work. On a Cobra we see an average of 115 watts when ran on the same power supply as the radio or 180ish when ran on its own supply. I'm no master with this yet, but it seems that both the radio and amp ran off of the same circuit allows for the cb to steal some of the power that should be going to the linear. They run for IRF520 MOSFET finals and sound crystal clear.

I have a used CX3300HP (2 watt dk, swinging 55ish) on the shelf now hooked up to one that is dead keying around 40 watts and swinging over 200! I've checked this with 2 different Dosy meters and had the results confirmed by a more experienced tech.
 
dragknee89 said:
The 203Ps move a lot at work. On a Cobra we see an average of 115 watts when ran on the same power supply as the radio or 180ish when ran on its own supply. I'm no master with this yet, but it seems that both the radio and amp ran off of the same circuit allows for the cb to steal some of the power that should be going to the linear. They run for IRF520 MOSFET finals and sound crystal clear.

I have a used CX3300HP (2 watt dk, swinging 55ish) on the shelf now hooked up to one that is dead keying around 40 watts and swinging over 200! I've checked this with 2 different Dosy meters and had the results confirmed by a more experienced tech.
Click to expand...


Are you kidding? 55 watts peak, or even 25, into a KL200P will smoke it like a cheap 305 cigarette. You get exactly what you pay for when you buy that junk....a cheap throwaway amp.
 
dragknee89 said:
The 203Ps move a lot at work. On a Cobra we see an average of 115 watts when ran on the same power supply as the radio or 180ish when ran on its own supply. I'm no master with this yet, but it seems that both the radio and amp ran off of the same circuit allows for the cb to steal some of the power that should be going to the linear. They run for IRF520 MOSFET finals and sound crystal clear.

I have a used CX3300HP (2 watt dk, swinging 55ish) on the shelf now hooked up to one that is dead keying around 40 watts and swinging over 200! I've checked this with 2 different Dosy meters and had the results confirmed by a more experienced tech.
Click to expand...


The radio does not steal power from the amp but it does use current from the power supply. If and ONLY IF the current draw of the radio and amp combined exceed that which is available from the power supply will output suffer. The other possibility is that the radio may be getting about 13.2 volts or so from one power supply while the amp on a separate power supply may be getting a higher voltage ie. 16 volts or so as it could be set higher and will thus produce more power than it would at 13.2 volts.
 
55 Watts is an astronomical amount of peak power to put into one of the RM 203P amps.
They are a 100 watt amp, and as been said before, they are very sensitive to overdrive.
Granted, they are what they are, for $60/70 bucks a little hundred watt amp that is ok, it is a better option than the work involved in putting the RFX-75 on the back of a radio....but that kind of input is just asking for a failure.


73
Jeff
 
AudioShockwav said:
55 Watts is an astronomical amount of peak power to put into one of the RM 203P amps.
They are a 100 watt amp, and as been said before, they are very sensitive to overdrive.
Granted, they are what they are, for $60/70 bucks a little hundred watt amp that is ok, it is a better option than the work involved in putting the RFX-75 on the back of a radio....but that kind of input is just asking for a failure.


73
Jeff
Click to expand...


LOL WOW. You said it. I can't believe he has not blown the crap out of that amp yet, that's insane.
 
I liked my little 203 when I had it. I ran it with a Roadpro Titan II RSPY-485 radio that ran a 1.5 watt D/K, swinging about 7-8 watts max AM, about 12 watts SSB. The amp did an honest 100 watts, maybe a touch more on SSB, with great audio reports. I traded it in working condition to another guy that used it much the same way and liked it.

I think they are fine as long as you are easy on them.
 
They are all class C shit box amps... Save your $$$ and get something better.. I had one once and it SUCKED ASS on SSB....
 
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