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Upgrade or wasting my money
- Thread starter Ziploc
- Start date
No one would ever see/hear the difference. You’d have to jump to a four pill.
I run a Carl built 400 on my Madison and Texas Ranger 936 sometimes. Any radio with big modulation will benefit from having an amplifier with adequate headroom. The 936 has the NPC mod and would make my Texas star 350 buzz and rattle, the 350 is definitely too small.
Yes….if you bought a CarlBuilt 400HD then you could drive it with more than your Cobra 29
No difference. Save your money and get a 4 pill or bigger
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You must raise power 4x for a difference on the other end, so at least 180W DK
Mike
Mike
Save the money. Only you can see that wattmeter. The receiver meter at the other end works very differently.
Unless you come up with a four-to-one boost over what you have now, nobody will know but you. And even a four-to-one difference will be modest.
Think about the difference between the barefoot-radio power level and what comes out of the linear. Probably in the ballpark of ten-to-one.
If you want that same before-and-after difference you need a box ten times the size of the current one.
And a few other things to make it work besides just the amplifier.
The first step up in power from the barefoot radio is the cheapest.
But past that starting point, every added S-unit on the receive meter at the other end will cost more than those first few numbers you get from the box you're using.
The higher the wattage, the more expensive every S-unit becomes.
73
Unless you come up with a four-to-one boost over what you have now, nobody will know but you. And even a four-to-one difference will be modest.
Think about the difference between the barefoot-radio power level and what comes out of the linear. Probably in the ballpark of ten-to-one.
If you want that same before-and-after difference you need a box ten times the size of the current one.
And a few other things to make it work besides just the amplifier.
The first step up in power from the barefoot radio is the cheapest.
But past that starting point, every added S-unit on the receive meter at the other end will cost more than those first few numbers you get from the box you're using.
The higher the wattage, the more expensive every S-unit becomes.
73
I agree with above comments. You probably won't see much change at all. Put that $ toward a better antenna or raise your existing one up.
Your current system has it's own power supply issues.
Although an older system - if you treat it PROPERLY, (READ: Non-COMP) it'll last nearly forever, or at least work thru your life time - that is; if it's being treated right.
Now, since the other one you're thinking about is also a 2 pill, why stick with that platform?
You already have one.
You know it's performance.
Unless you need to replace, keyword REPLACE - then any upgrade you'll need to invest more into the box, and its own needs...BOX being - the thing that holds all this together - not just the amplifier.
See @nomadradio - post - there used to be a factor called $$-per watt - still is, but now it's not really in the amplifier - the biggest investment comes from the SUPPORT it will need to accomplish the upgrade, that is my concern. It should also be yours.
You'd do more damage to the equipment trying to fit the higher pill counts into the same "box" - referring to what that box is already in - Upgrade means Upgrade - making it bigger and better improving it's capacity - not JUST making it "fit."
Although an older system - if you treat it PROPERLY, (READ: Non-COMP) it'll last nearly forever, or at least work thru your life time - that is; if it's being treated right.
Now, since the other one you're thinking about is also a 2 pill, why stick with that platform?
You already have one.
You know it's performance.
Unless you need to replace, keyword REPLACE - then any upgrade you'll need to invest more into the box, and its own needs...BOX being - the thing that holds all this together - not just the amplifier.
See @nomadradio - post - there used to be a factor called $$-per watt - still is, but now it's not really in the amplifier - the biggest investment comes from the SUPPORT it will need to accomplish the upgrade, that is my concern. It should also be yours.
You'd do more damage to the equipment trying to fit the higher pill counts into the same "box" - referring to what that box is already in - Upgrade means Upgrade - making it bigger and better improving it's capacity - not JUST making it "fit."
That is the case when we keep looking for the next 6db to come from the FPA or a doubling in the length of the boom. What happens if we take the two opposing side bands of AM and electronically bring the two into perfect phase alignment?
The results on the spectrum analyzer are quite surprising. The bandwidth has been cut in half and that's a 3db advantage. The best part is the modulation from both side bands now overlap each other in half of the bandwidth, with twice the modulation index. That's another 3db advantage.
If you understand how selective fade degrades the typical AM signal in DX propagation, keep in mind this modulation technique does not produce an opposing side band...
Put the money into the antenna, this is where you will see your biggest gain. As others here have pointed out you really need to 4x your current power to see any difference. The antenna is everything, too many skimp on the antenna and then buy power to compensate.