Advising Elecraft about producing a larger amplifier is quite a bit
above my pay grade so I won't go there. However, going to 1,500 watts
from 500 watts is a bit less than 5 dB -- a little less than one
International Standard S-unit. 5 dB might come a lot cheaper from an
antenna change.
Before purchasing the KPA500, I ran my "1,500 watt Behemoth" at 500 W
for close to a year to see if I could tell the difference. Admittedly,
I'm a casual contester and DX'er, and I operate my ham radio for other
reasons too, but I really couldn't see much if any difference in terms
of who I could work or how long it took to snag the latest expedition.
Operating skill [or lack thereof in my case] was a much bigger factor.
The KPA500 was full QSK which its predecessor was not, which became a
big advantage.
I have since sold the KPA500 [and KAT500] and run 100W from home. My
HOA-Stealth "wire on the fence" is close enough to the house that I
occasionally make something happen [like flash touch-lamps or reset the
u-wave clock], and I figured 500 W might nuke the neighbor's dog who
patrols the other side of the fence. I'm very surprised that the wire,
6 feet high, works as well as it does. If I quest for QRO and "real
antennae," I can always run W7RN remotely.
73,
Fred ("Skip") K6DGW
Sparks NV USA
Washoe County DM09dn
On 3/16/2017 12:26 PM, Erik Basilier wrote:
I recently sold my legal limit tube amp after a bit of a mental struggle.
The seller in me finally won after I realized that "if I can't lift it, I
shouldn't own it". I was tempted to replace it with an ALS-1306, but I
operate RTTY and in that mode the 1306 wouldn't be good for more output than
a KPA500. Today I received my (new to me) KPA500. However, in a contest
someone with 1500 Watts will have a big advantage over my 500 W, so the
subject of higher power may soon come back to me.
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