The question of "how much power is enough?" is always good for a lot of chatter. Yes, an extra S unit requires 6 dB more power. Under some conditions, if 100 w gets you to S7, then dumping in enough power to get you to S8 is a case of diminishing returns. But, if 100 watts gets you to S3 with ambient noise hovering between S2 and S4, then that extra S unit can make the difference between making that contest Q or getting that new country.
Emotionally, it's hard to grok that going from 500 watts to 1500 watts makes scant difference in what's heard on the other end of the circuit. I know that there are rare cases where cutting back from 1 KW to 500 watts reduces the R from a 5 to a 4, but usually it makes no difference. After a zillion years of running 100 watts or less into random lengths strung out of windows, I got my first yagi in 1981, and my first amp - an Ameritron AL-80 (the very first one with quasi-QSK built in). It put out about 700 watts, comfortably, and with the TET 4-element/triband yagi, I felt indominitable. Pile ups? No problem. Contest score surges; big time. Since then, I've spent considerably more on tower, yagis, SO2R radios and amps, and I've never felt the same sense of differentiation as when I first got a yagi and an amp. Right now, I have a Alpha 87A and Ten-Tec Centurion. I never run either above 1 KW. When the KPA-500 comes out, I'm inclined to put it in place of the Centurion and see how it plays. If I see little difference, I'll probably put the Centurion on the shelf, or sell it. If the difference is really scant, I may do the same with the Alpha. I already have 240 at the rig desk, so that's not an issue. I have been hesitant to go solid-state QRO because of the horror stories I've heard about amps blowing up. But, I don't think Elecraft will put an amp on the market until they believe it's reasonably bullet proof. My dos centavos, Rob K6RB ______________________________________________________________ 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
