Medium-sized amp suggestions

[ND88]

I've been wondering the same thing, except I don't want to spend more than $200.
For that reason I am most likely buying the midnight special 250 very soon. How much will this help in the area of shooting skip when conditions are right?
I spend most of my time on sideband.

 

[Sonic]

250 watts will be ok if conditions are right and not many people on there. But when the big boys are on the radio you can just about forget it.

 

[M0GVZ]

250 watts will be ok if conditions are right and not many people on there. But when the big boys are on the radio you can just about forget it.

Yet I managed to get through a pileup to an Indian station 4155 miles away with just 21W.

I've regularly made DX contacts in pile ups full of 1.5kW stations when out mobile with 100W. I don't have any amps here, run everything barefoot and manage several hundred to knocking on a thousand contacts during weekend contests. My experience doesn't agree with your comment.

 

[2RT307]

Yet I managed to get through a pileup to an Indian station 4155 miles away with just 21W.

I've regularly made DX contacts in pile ups full of 1.5kW stations when out mobile with 100W. I don't have any amps here, run everything barefoot and manage several hundred to knocking on a thousand contacts during weekend contests. My experience doesn't agree with your comment.

And you made all these contacts on 11 meters?

73,
RT307

 

[2RT307]

I've been wondering the same thing, except I don't want to spend more than $200.
For that reason I am most likely buying the midnight special 250 very soon. How much will this help in the area of shooting skip when conditions are right?
I spend most of my time on sideband.

I personally would not recommend the Midnight Special line if you're going to talk SSB. They are class C biased, even though they have the SSB delay. I had the 700 model, and heard nothing but complaints about my crunchy crispy audio. That was with a low drive Grant XL. That's just my experience, your mileage may vary.

73,
RT307

 

[M0GVZ]

And you made all these contacts on 11 meters?

73,
RT307

10m so near enough. Plenty of stations running 1.5kW as its completely legal in most countries. Here's one entry I did in 2012. 502 contacts, 91 countries in 16hrs. All done on a Moxon at 22ft.


Would've been more but I was trying to see if was possible to do DXCC in a weekend so spent a lot of time trying to get specific countries instead of working through piles of European and American stations.

 

[The Jerk]

I have a TS HDV350 behind a PC76XL (similar to your 29).

There is a variable in the PC76 and its ran turned all the way down. I see around 50 watts of dead key and 200 watts of swing...which is more than enough to get the job done.

The only thing I can see as a benefit using the TS 500 is that you would not need to modify the radio, a Cobra 29 would never over drive it.

 

[tankthebiker]

Thank you! I have been trying to leave the output of the radio unmolested. I don't want to use the amp all of the time just to talk skip and when I move to ssb I will have the stones to toss over the distance. What are the input requirements for the TS500?

I have a TS HDV350 behind a PC76XL (similar to your 29).

There is a variable in the PC76 and its ran turned all the way down. I see around 50 watts of dead key and 200 watts of swing...which is more than enough to get the job done.

The only thing I can see as a benefit using the TS 500 is that you would not need to modify the radio, a Cobra 29 would never over drive it.

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[The Jerk]

Input requirements? As in electrical or signal?

It will probably draw around 40 amps on a typical 12VDC system.

Each 2879 transistor should take around 5 watts PEP of input for a 100 watts PEP (rated) output...so around 20 watts PEP or swing is about right. I think that's what I remember anyway?

You can't drive a TS as hard as a competition amp. For the minor gain you would see over driving the transistors, the amp will have a shorter lifespan. I want to remember it takes four times the power to make any significant effect in received signal strength...in other words, if you're at 400 watts PEP, it would take 1600 watts to get to the next step; so over driving an amp at 450 watts is rather pointless.

 

[tankthebiker]

Thank you. I don't plan on any competitions, I just like to talk. It's just a fun hobby. I just want to be able to get out there further and have fun. From what you are saying going from a normal dead key of around 4watts would end up with a significant increase by running the TS500.

Input requirements? As in electrical or signal?

It will probably draw around 40 amps on a typical 12VDC system.

Each 2879 transistor should take around 5 watts PEP of input for a 100 watts PEP (rated) output...so around 20 watts PEP or swing is about right. I think that's what I remember anyway?

You can't drive a TS as hard as a competition amp. For the minor gain you would see over driving the transistors, the amp will have a shorter lifespan. I want to remember it takes four times the power to make any significant effect in received signal strength...in other words, if you're at 400 watts PEP, it would take 1600 watts to get to the next step; so over driving an amp at 450 watts is rather pointless.

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[The Jerk]

Yes, you should see a significant increase over 4 watts. 4 watts - 16 watts - 64 watts - 256 watts - 1024 watts and so on.

Keep in mind that most DXing is dependent on conditions, and not so much power. If you don't have good conditions, added power won't mean anything.

 

[w9cll]

Thank you. I don't plan on any competitions, I just like to talk. It's just a fun hobby. I just want to be able to get out there further and have fun. From what you are saying going from a normal dead key of around 4watts would end up with a significant increase by running the TS500.






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Have you ever given some thought about getting a ham ticket?

 

[tankthebiker]

I am looking at that as well.

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[w9cll]

I am looking at that as well.

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Good, there are several good books out there as well as learning web sites. Good luck and if you have questions just ask.

 

[Grinder74]

Yes, you should see a significant increase over 4 watts. 4 watts - 16 watts - 64 watts - 256 watts - 1024 watts and so on.



Keep in mind that most DXing is dependent on conditions, and not so much power. If you don't have good conditions, added power won't mean anything.

What Jerk is saying here is you need to multiply your power by 4 to increase the signal at the receiving end of you transmission just 1 S unit(6dB's) so don't get power hungry. At 256 watts you have added 3s units to get 3 more it gets crazy, 16,000watts!