[Elecraft] 100 Watts or 500 Watts

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Even the Elecraft 100 watt amps are integrated with either the K2 or K3
control logic so they cannot be used as a stand-alone amplifier with other
transmitters. 

The only reason I have ever seen from the FCC for the amplifier
certification and 15 dB gain limitation is to discourage the CB
'bootleggers'. Certainly building a stable, clean amplifier that would take
even a few milliwatts to 1000+ watts is a straightforward design exercise.
There's no real problem with using more than one stage of gain if there was
no 15 dB limit on the system gain. 

Ron AC7AC

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

Igor,

I think, at least in part, the regulation is intended to make amateur 
amplifiers less attractive to users of the Citizen's Radio Service.

Rather than being able to go from 5W to 1000+W with a single, relatively 
inexpensive amp, an amp to get from 5W to ~100W is needed in order to 
drive the KW amp.. And except for Elecraft, I'm not aware of any other 
5->100W amplifiers.

73,
Dave KQ3T