[AMRadio] When talking about AM power

[b.gaz at comcast.net]

? 
Well, I am kind of new at this. 
I have various rigs, and some do much more peak power then others. 
If I can get 4 times the carrier power, things are working well. 
I have had rigs that would not do more then 3 times carrier power if that. 
Before making some changes, my 32V3 would only do 2 times carrier. 

So, for me, carrier power tells me almost nothing, while both tells me a lot. 

Not enough people pay attention to PEP, if they did maybe there would be fewer 40% modulated signals on the band. 
Maybe they would find out the transmitter is not working right if they had very little peak power. 




----- Original Message -----

From: "Donald Chester" <k4kyv at charter.net> 
To: "b gaz" <b.gaz at comcast.net>, amradio at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Thursday, October 8, 2015 8:52:52 PM 
Subject: RE: [AMRadio] When talking about AM power 



From: amradio-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
[mailto:amradio-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of b.gaz at comcast.net 
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] When talking about AM power 


> I almost always say how much carrier power AND pep power I am running. 
> Is that ok? 

That's exactly what we were talking about. What's wrong with just stating 
carrier power? Adding the PEP leaves the impression of a phony operator. 
If you know your carrier power, and you are fully modulating the 
transmitter, that already defines PEP, so it's redundant to make it a point 
state the numbers. I suspect that when seasoned AMers hear this, it shouts 
"newbie!!". That PEP business when routinely stating your power level is 
something I have been hearing in AM conversations only for the past couple 
of years. 

OTOH, it could be legitimate to discuss PEP if, for example, you want to 
re-assure everyone in the QSO that you are running near but not over the 
limit, so you tell them your PEP meter is swinging up to the vicinity of 
1490 and occasionally hits 1500. But what's the point in expounding on PEP 
with a Viking II or homebrew 250-watt transmitter? If it isn't quite 
capable of fully modulating the carrier, just say it only modulates up to 
70% or whatever the maximum percentage of modulation is that you can squeeze 
out of it. 


Don k4kyv 


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