I made the comment after building the Motorola EB104 amp demonstration board. The proper toroidal transformer for it cost over $200 and I had to wind the secondary.
The MFJ replacement transformer that some builders of this board use cost about $75 and isn't in the same league with a properly sized toroidal transformer. It may put out 600 watts for 5 seconds - but not for long. The linear power supply is unregulated in the MFJ and in my opinion 50% undersized. Fine for low duty cycle SSB - but not what I would expect from Elecraft. The "Southern Boy" comment is a bit of a slight to us technical guys who live in the south. Most of the MFJ stuff that I have owned was made in China and had pretty awful QC. Comparing Elecraft gear to MFJ isn't a fair shake. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack Brabham" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 2:44 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA-500 Features and Pricing > Phil, > > No anger with Elecraft, they are my favorite ham company, and I'm quite > proud of my K3 even if it did take months of research and hair pulling > to figure out how to get a decent output from it on SSB. > > I am concerned, based on the KPA500 rumors, that Elecraft may be > deliberately pricing themselves out of the average ham's range. The > "Oh, it cost so much to produce a product in the USA!" argument doesn't > hold water either. Where do you suppose MFJ's are made? Or for that > matter the K3? > > I'm thinking that if them old southern boys at MFJ can make a /decent > /amp for around $2/watt, the folks at Elecraft "ought" to be able to > make a /great /amp for about the same money. They definitely smoked > Yaesu and Icom on value postion with the K3. > > FWIW "Stupid Yuppies", in my book, would be those folks who are willing > to pay twice what something is actually worth just for a label, or for > the joy of owning the most expensive. > > 73 Jack KZ5A > > K3 #4165 > > > > > > On 9/9/2010 9:46 AM, Phil Townsend wrote: >> Ewww, Jack You are soo mean... "Stupid Yuppies"... Come on Jack, why so >> angry at a great USA company that ACTUALLY builds some great products? >> >> Phil >> Santa Fe >> >> > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
