Texas Star DX 500v

[SMILEX2692002]

Had one of these many years ago.
Looking to buy one again.
The only place I found was Copper electronics and I don't like giving them my business due to issues in the past.

I have a Iota DLS 55 power supply. It is a 55 amp power supply that is rated for 14.2 volts and was hoping to use that to power the Texas Star Dx 500v amp at full output on SSB.

I used to have a 36 amp pyramid power supply and I remember that wasn't enough to power the Dx 500v at full output on SSB.

Is the Texas Star Dx 500v AB biased for SSB?

 

[psycho]

A 55 amp power supply wouldn't power the 500 sufficiently.......buy a 70 amp supply.
As far as SSB biasing, I won't answer that question because it has been discussed here about a hundred thousand times.

 

[SMILEX2692002]

I don't have time to search through thousands of posts on the subject.
As far as the amp goes I see no need to buy a bigger power supply. Sounds like the Dx 500v is to power hungry for my needs. The cost of upgrading my power supply and the cost of this amp alone would outweigh my needs.
I

 

[JCH]

I don't have time to search through thousands of posts on the subject.
As far as the amp goes I see no need to buy a bigger power supply. Sounds like the Dx 500v is to power hungry for my needs. The cost of upgrading my power supply and the cost of this amp alone would outweigh my needs.
I

Google up Texas Star CW transmitters and they have the specs on their website.

 

[psycho]

Google up Texas Star CW transmitters and they have the specs on their website.

He doesn't have the time to do that.

 

[TonyV225]

Yes it is Biased for SSB its said to be AB-1 Biased but there are people who love to argue its exact Bias rating all nI can say is it is by far your best option for an amplifier of this class. I have a few 500 non variable because there is a weak link to that variable pot. Ide suggest a straight push button

I actually use my DX 500 amplifiers on 10 and 12 meters their clean and dont need a ton of drive to run them in return equals a clean signal. The only thing better are the old Palomars like I have (TX5200) Which has bandpass filtering and a band selector for 80 - 10 meters also the Palomar 350 and 450 later models were excellent built and filtered amplifiers along with the "True hard to find Messenger amplifiers.

Stay away from the gitter doooone good buddy trash the whole band splatter box competition amplifiers which are class C Remember it doesntake a whole lot of power to be heard out there and your first 250-350 atts is your best bang for buckor money worth spending. I say this because a Texas Star 500 will idle along there allday long and you wont be pounding the hell out of it. Ive talke allover the world with a 100 watt Kenwood mobile and talked allover the US on 2-3 watts and an inverted V wire from my house so on a normal day it doesnt take much I just turn my yaesu FT-990 all the way down or whatever radio Im running and just have at it when possible.

 

[GnG8d]

Yes it is Biased for SSB its said to be AB-1 Biased but there are people who love to argue its exact Bias rating.

Since transistors can't be biased AB-1, there is no reason to argue

Having just recently purchased a TS500, I wouldn't personally recommend buying one.

A couple of guys keep recommending the TNT but my biasing questions have gone unanswered from current owners.

 

[222DBFL]

The TNT amps are biased b and perform well on ssb. They are made by xforce. They do a good job, just make sure to get one with the 2879 toshiba transistors if you can. JMO.

 

[AudioShockwav]

The TNT amps bias is not any better than texas star, I have owned both.
They both lack any regulation or thermal tracking to stabilize the bias as the device heats up.
In this regard, the older Palomar Magnum and TX series amps were better, because they were built with adjustable, electronic regulated, thermal tracking bias and some even had bandpass filtering in them.
Got to remember that these are "cb" style amps.
Some of the class c amps being run on this band are lucky to have negative feedback....I have even seen guys disable the negative feedback because it was
"wasting watts"


73
Jeff

 

[GnG8d]

I think some regulation is a minimum after messing with this TS500. I run base, so I can control Vcc, but regulation is too cheap to ignore.

As for thermal tracking, I'm split on that. All thermal tracking will do is keep the device from moving into class A and eventual runaway. I can see the need, but like the "low and slow" method better, lol.

 

[9C1Driver]

The TNT amps are biased b and perform well on ssb. They are made by xforce. They do a good job, just make sure to get one with the 2879 toshiba transistors if you can. JMO.

I agree, the TnT line is class B all day long. So far there is NO regulated class AB amplifier made since Joker stopped making amplifiers. The best bet is the passive class AB from Texas Star.

 

[9C1Driver]

I think some regulation is a minimum after messing with this TS500. I run base, so I can control Vcc, but regulation is too cheap to ignore.

As for thermal tracking, I'm split on that. All thermal tracking will do is keep the device from moving into class A and eventual runaway. I can see the need, but like the "low and slow" method better, lol.

359 if you ever can find a JOKER RAB (regulated class AB) you will be impressed and will NEVER let it go. They were built by the one and only Peakaboo. Nuff said.

 

[psycho]

I agree, the TnT line is class B all day long. So far there is NO regulated class AB amplifier made since Joker stopped making amplifiers. The best bet is the passive class AB from Texas Star.

I had a chance to buy a Joker AB 8 pill but passed because he put his work in a beat up TNT 600 Plus case. The Joker amps I saw looked rough until you take the lid off but I like my amps to look as nice as they perform.
Sure the X Force TNT line of amps are good for SSB, except the ones with built in drivers Just make sure you drive them easy and good dxing!
Texas Stars are great for ssb but you will need a fan on top of the case and also on the heat sink to keep those suckers cool.
For AM performance I would never run a Texas Star.

 

[TonyV225]

All the CB amplifiers are just toys and for what you pay its easy to see that you are getting just an add on or toy. I tell people to look at real amplifiers like Ameritron, Yaesu and Some of the Dentrons, As far as mobile the Ameritron ALS-500 hands down or Metron is also another great amplifier as far as mobile but most people dont understand the difference between these and easy to obtain CB amplifiers and they look at the Wattage ratings which is what their after and dont realize if pretty much a joke if your looking at specs and understand amplifier ratings and build.

I own several amplifiers 3 Ameritrons and a Yaesu 2100B I have two other CB / 10 meter base amplifiers 1 Grey I believe is what it is. Its Black with red writing on it and says GB 3OO and is a 4 transistor I have to look to research to see exactly who makes it. I also have a KLV 550 again their toys and will eventually be leaving here once I get to that closet. The only Mobile amplifier Im entrigued by is the Palomar TX5200 I have and I have several mobile amplifiers and as far as those go I run the Texas Stars and will agree that fans atleast on the heatsinks are extremely important!!

I like the clean build of the Texas Star units and I dont run them hard when I do run the at all and stay between 300-350 Watts with as low drive a it takes to achieve that. I will dig out my Palomar TX5200 one of these days because I want to set it up for portable use. The only thing that I personally dont care for on that particular amplifier is theres no real input tuning so an internal tuner in the radio is needed or a tuner inbetween the radio and amplifier which really isnt a big deal I guess.

As far as the Texas Star biasing we can all agree that it is what it is and isnt the best but its still better than most of the garbage out there today and as said its not even arguable but some people just cant live with the fact that it simply works for what it is and leave it at that. Thats why I said in my previous reply that there are claims of what it is but all it takes is some research or just opening the case and looking at what you have. For those who are not sure there are articles and pics on the internet on this very discussion that will help assist in understanding and recognizing the whole thing

 

[GnG8d]

I agree Tony, they are what they are. But after digging into this TS, literally $2-$3 worth of parts would make it a different amp. It wouldn't make it a great amp, but better.

Actually a 3 pole vs a 2 pole relay plus a $.50 regulator would be less than that, and the savings in chokes and massive wire wound resistors would probably be a net gain in profit.

But like you said, it is what it is.