While there are many amplifiers that can be pressed into service for SSB use on 2 meters, most are really not designed for linear SSB use and have a high level of IMD products if used for SSB. I spent a fair amount of effort during my tenure at ARRL looking for an exception. While in general operation in many areas, 2 meter IMD products will not likely be noticed by casual operators due to the sparse number of operators on the band, in contests -- when we find most 2 meter SSB and CW activity in my area -- it is a different matter.
The usual brick amplifier probably has a switch that says FM/SSB, but a look behind the covers will indicate that this only changes the TR switching time. Most have no bias arrangements and no hope to be close to linear. If similar They would be run off the HF bands in minutes. If you have access to QST, or are a member and can look at the archives on line, I recommend reading the following product reviews with a close look at IMD figures: Aug 2010 - QST (Pg. 52) A Pair of Mirage 2 Meter Amplifiers Jan 2012 - QST (Pg. 54) TE Systems 1410G 2 Meter Linear Amplifier May 2012 - QST (Pg. 48) Tokyo Hy-Power Labs HL-350VDX 2 Meter Linear Amplifier The last amplifier worked really well in this regard and was a real gem. Unfortunately, it was very expensive and the company is no longer in biz. As to the preamps, the internal Elecraft transverters have a better noise figure than the preamp in any brick amp that I have looked at. That means that they are not particularly useful unless you have them mounted remotely at the antenna and have a lossy coax run. My solution was inspired by an excellent QST article by Jim Klitzing, W6PQL: Oct 2012 - QST (Pg. 32) Solid State 1 kW Linear Amplifier for 2 Meters Jim described an amplifier that was built around a linear amplifier module that did all the heavy lifting. The rest of the amplifier was still more of a project than I wanted to tackle, although I think it would work with the transverters. I convinced Jim to design and build an amplifier that would make my K3 competitive with the typical 100 W HF-VHF transceivers. With my great receiver and 10 W transmitter, I was hearing people and they weren't hearing me. By staying at the 100 W level, I could use the same power supply that my K3 used for HF. I have been using the amplifier for years and been very happy with it. It is very linear up to 80 W PEP out on SSB, but happy to do CW and FM at 100 W. See the article at: May 2013 -- QST (p. 30) Build a Linear 2 Meter 80 W All Mode Amplifier Jim offers PC boards, unpopulated, as well as largely complete, for reasonable prices via his web page at w6pql.com. This amplifier is the size of a brick, probably costs less and is a much better product, in my view. I recommend it without reservation. Regards, Joel Hallas, W1ZR Westport, CT ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
