[Elecraft] power troubles

[Tom Childers, N5GE]

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:54:06 -0400, WB2ZAB wrote:

>here is the situation: I hold xmit to tune the ameritron al 1200 to  
>1400 watts.Then when  I key the mike all i am getting is 300 watts  
>out. i hold tune again and it is showing hi power.
>
>help pse!
[snip]

Some questions/things to check:

Are you just keying the mic without speaking into it?

Have you tried whistling into the mic?

Are you using a dummy load?

Comments:

If you are using a non peak reading watt meter you will not see a full 1400w on
the watt meter.  What you will see is the average power output which could be
considerably less than the key down on tune output.  Whistling into the mic
should give you the same reading as your tuning output unless you have the mic
gain too low.

You may have the mic gain too low.

Don't try to get the watt meter to read 144 watts when you speak into the mic
unless the meter is a peak reading meter.  If it's not a peak reading watt meter
and you drive the amp on speech to 1400 watts on the meter you may damage the
amp, and you will surely be transmitting more than the legal limit (1500w PEP).

If I'm assuming that your level of expertise in using an amplifier and watt
meter, please forgive me.

Tom, N5GE - SWOT 3537 - Grid EM12jq

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