[Elecraft] 100 Watts or 500 Watts

[John Ragle]

On 12/22/2010 11:30 AM, a lister wrote:

Grounded-grid is not the only way to design a tube amplifier. Although a
traditional grid-driven circuit is a little more complicated, it's one way to get more gain.

Amen to that. When I was little, "grounded grid" was vaunted as the way to use triodes without needing neutralization, even though one took a real hit on gain. Unfortunately, the old-time big amps that use/used several triodes in parallel in grounded grid still have a tendency to "take off."

The 813 and the various Eimac ceramic tetrodes are wonderful tubes, and if one can go high voltage low current, they are excellent performers. Again, when I was young, solid state devices wouldn't function in the VHF/UHF region, and the 4CXnnn series were practically a necessity. Need I refer to the beautiful amps vended by one of the early moonbounce guys?

I for one would like to see designs using these tubes. Not all of us need linear/linearized amps.

John Ragle -- W1ZI