I'm currently running a DX959 in front of my 4x1446 AB-1...what would be a "better" radio, as far as driving this 4-pill? I'm assuming a dual-final radio would not be too much input drive for this 4-pill?? I still want it to be clean.
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SSB radio for a AB-1 4x1446?
- Thread starter The Jerk
- Start date
if it were a 4x2879, i would say run with the dual final radio. but since they are 1446's, a good tuned single final radio (like the one you already have) should drive the amp just fine. not real sure, though.
you MIGHT get away with a 2950dx but thats it.is this a comp. amp or or like a texas star or palamar
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
just because you can put more power into and get more power out of an amp isnt always a good thing . the pills/RF transistors in our amps have a certian ammount of power that they can deliver and when you go beyond that power output you signal suffers in the form or distortion and adversly affecting you and your neighbors electronics with bleedover and such .
1446's are good for 90 clean watts each according to the folks that did the research and design and manufacturing of them , and they should know their product better than any body else . however many CB amp builders will state their amps are capable of doubling or even
quadropling the manufacturers rating for the pills they use .
id suggest running the amp to not exceed 360 watts , 400 max . other wise that nice AB-1 biasing may as well be thrown out the window for a crappy calss C amp since the pills are pushed beyond their capability and themselves are distorting the signal output .
even if you double your power it doesnt have much effect . i had a texas star 500V (4X2879) and i got about 450 out of it pep (if i recall correctly) . i compared it to my 2x1446 palomar 225 doing just under 200 watts and i didnt loose any contacts locally and i was still just as effective talking skip .
you probally have a way to adjust or reduce the output power of your amp on the front of it , and you can probally put a dual final radio in front of it and set the amp to low and be ok , but then your spent $200 or more on a new radio when your 959 should be capable of getting all the clean power your 4x1446 amp can do .
of course if youre just looking for an excuse to get another radio itll work too
1446's are good for 90 clean watts each according to the folks that did the research and design and manufacturing of them , and they should know their product better than any body else . however many CB amp builders will state their amps are capable of doubling or even
quadropling the manufacturers rating for the pills they use .
id suggest running the amp to not exceed 360 watts , 400 max . other wise that nice AB-1 biasing may as well be thrown out the window for a crappy calss C amp since the pills are pushed beyond their capability and themselves are distorting the signal output .
even if you double your power it doesnt have much effect . i had a texas star 500V (4X2879) and i got about 450 out of it pep (if i recall correctly) . i compared it to my 2x1446 palomar 225 doing just under 200 watts and i didnt loose any contacts locally and i was still just as effective talking skip .
you probally have a way to adjust or reduce the output power of your amp on the front of it , and you can probally put a dual final radio in front of it and set the amp to low and be ok , but then your spent $200 or more on a new radio when your 959 should be capable of getting all the clean power your 4x1446 amp can do .
of course if youre just looking for an excuse to get another radio itll work too
Should not matter if it's a comp amp or not as the comp amps only use higher voltage value components but the output will not change.
A good volted radio such as a uniden pc-68 or 78 would do nicely, see the thing with that transistor and configuration is that it does not need a large carrier, 4 to 5 watts carrier and 25 to 30 watts pep should make a nice rig out of it and maybe even less carrier since it's an AB-1 biased amp.
The reason I suggest a volted single final radio is that while most single final radios will give you the carrier input you need the carrier to pep ratio will be too low.
That being said a decent dual final radio that hasn't been hopped up and has variable power should do as well.
Thanks for the suggestions...looks like it'll be staying.
This amp was sold as a AB-1 (and verified as AB-1 by a well respected radio shop), and is built on an all-copper board (like a competition amp)...it was built (more/less custom for me) by one-eyed Jack, FWIW. I believe I'm seeing around 80 watts dead key and about 200 to 250 watts PEP on AM...can't exactly remember right now. But basically my carrier is about half of my modulated wattage. That's with a "cheap" meter. FWIW, my modded (and at the time clipped) PC76XL would produce almost 350 watts of swing with about the same dead key.
This DX959 is not modded, only been aligned and tuned by a certified Galaxy tech...no other tricks. I want to remember it was getting about 6 watts and swinging around 18 to 20? The main reason I want to switch is to get a different radio...if my Uniden Grants would push similar wattage as this DX959, I'd use one of them.
I figured a dual final radio would provide a better "driver"...I thought I remembered those 1446s being rated for a 6-watt input?
This amp was sold as a AB-1 (and verified as AB-1 by a well respected radio shop), and is built on an all-copper board (like a competition amp)...it was built (more/less custom for me) by one-eyed Jack, FWIW. I believe I'm seeing around 80 watts dead key and about 200 to 250 watts PEP on AM...can't exactly remember right now. But basically my carrier is about half of my modulated wattage. That's with a "cheap" meter. FWIW, my modded (and at the time clipped) PC76XL would produce almost 350 watts of swing with about the same dead key.
This DX959 is not modded, only been aligned and tuned by a certified Galaxy tech...no other tricks. I want to remember it was getting about 6 watts and swinging around 18 to 20? The main reason I want to switch is to get a different radio...if my Uniden Grants would push similar wattage as this DX959, I'd use one of them.
I figured a dual final radio would provide a better "driver"...I thought I remembered those 1446s being rated for a 6-watt input?
Everything you ever wanted to know about that transistor.
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/stmicroelectronics/2805.pdf
Ok, got thinking...are the ratings for a transistor measured in average power in/out or PEP in/out?? That link was useful, but doesn't really indicate what the ratings are in.
At 90 watts the 1446 is producing quite a bit of IMD.
just because you can put more power into and get more power out of an amp isnt always a good thing . the pills/RF transistors in our amps have a certian ammount of power that they can deliver and when you go beyond that power output you signal suffers in the form or distortion and adversly affecting you and your neighbors electronics with bleedover and such .
1446's are good for 90 clean watts each according to the folks that did the research and design and manufacturing of them , and they should know their product better than any body else . however many CB amp builders will state their amps are capable of doubling or even
quadropling the manufacturers rating for the pills they use .
id suggest running the amp to not exceed 360 watts , 400 max . other wise that nice AB-1 biasing may as well be thrown out the window for a crappy calss C amp since the pills are pushed beyond their capability and themselves are distorting the signal output .
even if you double your power it doesnt have much effect . i had a texas star 500V (4X2879) and i got about 450 out of it pep (if i recall correctly) . i compared it to my 2x1446 palomar 225 doing just under 200 watts and i didnt loose any contacts locally and i was still just as effective talking skip .
you probally have a way to adjust or reduce the output power of your amp on the front of it , and you can probally put a dual final radio in front of it and set the amp to low and be ok , but then your spent $200 or more on a new radio when your 959 should be capable of getting all the clean power your 4x1446 amp can do .
of course if youre just looking for an excuse to get another radio itll work too
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
hey peakaboo , i was going by what jack/freecell had told me a few years ago about the 1446 . he told me that it is rated at 70 watts pep @ 50 MHz , but that @ 27 MHz it could cleanly do 90 watts pep .
im %99 sure i didnt missunderstand him . did he give me some bad information ?
i know you really know your feces about amps and would appreciate your comments on it .
thanks
im %99 sure i didnt missunderstand him . did he give me some bad information ?
i know you really know your feces about amps and would appreciate your comments on it .
thanks