[NLRS] Killed my amp? Probably

[David Palm]

OK, time to tell on myself.  I was checking out my gear last night.  222
MHz ampflier is working fine and playing well with the transverter there.
So good to go.

On 432 it's a different story.  Here's what you get when you don't use
stuff for a long time and forget when you have.  I connected the rig to the
amplifier, an RF Concepts 4-110.  I had long forgotten that this amp can
only take a max of 15 watts input.  My FT-897 puts out just over that.  So,
I was keying the amp and getting about 80 watts out, which is actually
rather low, especially with that much drive.  But then as I watched, the
output just started dropping before my eyes, until I basically am getting
little to no amplification at all.

I presume that I burned out the driver stage.  The schematic says that this
is an MRF646.

Those of you who know about such things, does my diagnosis seem correct?
And do you know of any better source to get an MRF646 than this guy, who
has them for $20 apiece:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-MRF646-/281687443775?hash=item4195e1493f.
Hopefully this will not be a big problem to swap out and be back in
business.  If you've done such things before and have some good advice, I'd
love to have it.

Doh!

73,

David  W9HQ