[Elecraft] Linear thoughts

[Fred Jensen]

Advising Elecraft about producing a larger amplifier is quite a bit 
above my pay grade so I won't go there. However, going to 1,500 watts 
from 500 watts is a bit less than 5 dB -- a little less than one 
International Standard S-unit.  5 dB might come a lot cheaper from an 
antenna change.

Before purchasing the KPA500, I ran my "1,500 watt Behemoth" at 500 W 
for close to a year to see if I could tell the difference. Admittedly, 
I'm a casual contester and DX'er, and I operate my ham radio for other 
reasons too, but I really couldn't see much if any difference in terms 
of who I could work or how long it took to snag the latest expedition.  
Operating skill [or lack thereof in my case] was a much bigger factor.  
The KPA500 was full QSK which its predecessor was not, which became a 
big advantage.

I have since sold the KPA500 [and KAT500] and run 100W from home. My 
HOA-Stealth "wire on the fence" is close enough to the house that I 
occasionally make something happen [like flash touch-lamps or reset the 
u-wave clock], and I figured 500 W might nuke the neighbor's dog who 
patrols the other side of the fence.  I'm very surprised that the wire, 
6 feet high, works as well as it does. If I quest for QRO and "real 
antennae," I can always run W7RN remotely.

73,

Fred ("Skip") K6DGW
Sparks NV USA
Washoe County DM09dn

On 3/16/2017 12:26 PM, Erik Basilier wrote:
> I recently sold my legal limit tube amp after a bit of a mental struggle.
> The seller in me finally won after I realized that "if I can't lift it, I
> shouldn't own it". I was tempted to replace it with an ALS-1306, but I
> operate RTTY and in that mode the 1306 wouldn't be good for more output than
> a KPA500. Today I received my (new to me) KPA500. However, in a contest
> someone with 1500 Watts will have a big advantage over my 500 W, so the
> subject of higher power may soon come back to me.