[Elecraft] Duty Cycle of FT8 #Elecraft

[Lou Laderman]

I’ve been running my 1500 at 12-1300w out on FT8 when chasing rare dx, which results in numerous cycles until I work the station I’m calling. My SWR is always below 1.5:1, and I have no need to inject the tuner except on 160 where I’ll lower the power as a precaution. Have had no issues with the 1500. It handles the load well. 

73, Lou W0FK

Lou Laderman
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On Nov 10, 2023, at 8:27 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr at gmail.com> wrote:

I started operating FT8 while my KPA-1500amp was out for repair.  Now it's back and raising a question:

Operating with just my K-3, set at 100 watts, I would see 100 watts indicated on its meter through the whole 15-second FT8 transmission..  When I drive my amp, it only needs 30 watts for full CW power (on 24 MHz),  but the amp indicates 1200 watts input for the whole FT8 transmit cycle.  I'm wondering if I should back off to protect the amp,considering the duty cycle is so high - on the other hand, the temperature reading profile of the amp seems to be pretty much the same as on CW.

73, Pete N4ZR
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