Tough question to answer. Could I build a better amp? Yes. Would it be practical for mobile use? Yes and it would not use a voltage booster to get 50 volts from 12 volts either. it would use straight 12 volts. 50 volts is for base use.Would it be practically priced? Depends on what you call practical. I have built a couple class ab 2x MRF-454 amps in the past for others many years ago, They were wideband covering 3.5-30 MHz for ham use and were based mainly on the Motorola engineering bulletin EB63. I have also built a few small tube amps for base use. My current project is reworking a one kilowatt television amplifier for use on 6m. It uses four MRF-151G MOSFETS.After that I may tackle another MRF-151G project for 2m. As far as ability....yes I certainly have it. I worked on commercial broadcast equipment for 22 years involving everything from tubes to MOSFETS and from the AM broadcast band up to 1.7 GHz.
My comments above stem from the fact that a dynamic power supply, one that is not regulated and allows the voltage to swing up and down with current draw, will cause the amplifier to have relatively poor IMD (Inter-Modulation Distortion) performance causing it to generate spurious emissions. It's an undeniable fact bound by the laws of physics. Also since most 11m amplifiers are class C my comments about any linearity being a happy accident ring quite truthful. Class C is not linear.
What BBI is doing in his video is nothing that has not been known or used for probably a decade or two. MOSFETS have been used since the 1980's in RF amplifiers. It just seems to be new to CB however unfortunately the MOSFETS being used about 98% of the time were never meant for RF but rather switching applications. They just happen to "work" at 27 MHz. If REAL RF type MOSFETS were used there would be a big leap in performance. Amateur radios and commercial gear have been using them for decades with GREAT success.
Thanks for the education. When are you building mine?
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