[NLRS] 2m-440 Rigs

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

25 watts is 2/3 S unit below 60 watts and 60 watts is less than 1/2 S 
unit below 100. 100 watts is just one S unit above 25 watts. 100 watt 
amps won't stand 60 watts drive but there are 20 watt drive versions. 
There is a 60 watt drive 160 watt output amp, and since it has one less 
gain stage than the 10/160 amp its cheaper to buy.

I think I've had better results with 100 watts than with 10 or 20 watts. 
Not everybody you'd like to work has a low noise location and it can 
take a distant preamp, e.g. your PA, to get over that noise and the 
front to side and front to rear attenuation when their antenna is not 
pointed your way.

More antenna gain is a good way to improve station performance both 
receiving and transmitting. I think the 5WL I used to have up is too 
directive but when its aimed right I've made some really long distance 
contacts. My future plans are based around the first 9 elements of K1FO 
designs, two stacked give almost the same gain as the 5WL with three 
times the azimuth beamwidth and booms only 10 feet long at 2m vs 33 feet 
for the 5WL. I compared those in my paper How Close? presented at Aurora 
2011, and CSVHF 2012, published in several other proceedings and on line 
at: www.geraldj.networkiowa.com/papers/2012/HowCloseBa.pdf

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 3/25/2013 8:46 AM, Russ Ramirez wrote:
>
>
> This thread is timely as my next planned purchase is a DEMI transverter for
> 2M. I am wondering how significant the difference is between 25W and 60W on
> 144 SSB weak signal. Obviously more is usually better, but what I am asking
> is with 25W the next step might be to an amplifier at 100W, but is 60W good
> enough to hold you over for a while considering there's only about a $100
> premium between the 25W and 60W models? Thanks.
>
> Russ
> K0WFS
>
>