Tubes will not be available forever. This video has some great info about solid state amplifiers....but don't buy a solid state amp without a good tuner. I use solid state. To those who argue about "just one s unit for 100w to 400w"....I couldn't believe the difference between 100w and 300-400w. 1 s unit is a HUGE difference. The comment in this video about "best bang for the buck for the first 500-600w" is absolutely true. A legal limit amp, tuner, and dummy load for LL is MUCH more expensive compared to 500w.
I tuned the rig on the other night and threw my call sign out. A friend from W.V. came back, it was then I realized I forgot to turn my Acom 700s on and was transmitting on 14 watts.......so I turned my amp on and got in much better. Point is they could hear me on 14 watts.
Man I struggle with this, Id love to buy a new solid state amp but notice most of those are 1KW and I really want 1.5KW. Understand 500 watts wont make a big difference on top of 1000 watts (but going from stock 100 watts to 500 would). What would you need 4k for one more S unit? Makes me want to consider a Henry 8k
An excellent discussion about tubes and solid state amps.-Lonnie, K4KZ
VK4QH is Ken, he is not very far from me
Tubes will not be available forever. This video has some great info about solid state amplifiers....but don't buy a solid state amp without a good tuner. I use solid state. To those who argue about "just one s unit for 100w to 400w"....I couldn't believe the difference between 100w and 300-400w. 1 s unit is a HUGE difference. The comment in this video about "best bang for the buck for the first 500-600w" is absolutely true. A legal limit amp, tuner, and dummy load for LL is MUCH more expensive compared to 500w.
I tuned the rig on the other night and threw my call sign out. A friend from W.V. came back, it was then I realized I forgot to turn my Acom 700s on and was transmitting on 14 watts.......so I turned my amp on and got in much better. Point is they could hear me on 14 watts.
dB yes but ...you have to 4X the power to produce 1 more S unit at the receiver end .
Man I struggle with this, Id love to buy a new solid state amp but notice most of those are 1KW and I really want 1.5KW. Understand 500 watts wont make a big difference on top of 1000 watts (but going from stock 100 watts to 500 would). What would you need 4k for one more S unit?
Makes me want to consider a Henry 8k
I use qrp, and made 355 qsos. 73 , pe2k