I have a 1500 watt alpha sitting in the corner. It is a great amp, although, I don't like the clunky relays and the fan noise to cool the tubes. Once in a while I like to not have to use cans to operate, but for the most part I do use the headphones. After having the Alpha and SB 220, and TenTec Titan amps the Alpha was the loudest. It is kind of an antique and it is my only piece of boat anchor equipment that I own. I bought a THP 1.5kfx amp and I have been running it at 500 watts when ever I turn it on. I can run it at 1k or 3db increase in power and from the other end there is no change in the rx station report. I run CW 98% of the time. But the amp is used on SSB for the rag chew on a local level and yes I use an amp to talk across town on 40 meters just to keep the cursing hog farmers and drunks from messing with us. It works well for that. People just stay away. But it also attracts the casual drop by who joins the QSO and is welcome to stay awhile.
500 watts for the last 3 years has been more than enough. It is easy to hold a frequency in a contest with that power and it causes no problems with neighbors. Since I only use balanced antennas, my RFI problems have disappeared. I can run 1500watts with no problems or lights going on and off and garage doors opening. It is nice to have some headroom in an amp and that is what the THP gives me. It just loafs at 500 watts. I run it on 220v and the panel lights don't even change intensity. I would vote for a 1k amp by Elecraft but probably would only run it at 750 tops. And No I don't need 6 meters so a 160-10 would be great. After all, Elecraft came out with the KX2 vs KX3 and did just that, 80-10 no 160 or 6, and I am just fine with that. So if they made an amp with 160 - 10 then that would be fine by me. It may be even as simple as saying with the software that the KPA 500 if the software were to change and state 750 watts 160-10 and 500 on 6, heck I would be even happy with that. Elecraft stuff just works and I am happy with that. I so want to pull the trigger on the KX 2 or 3 and it temps me every time I visit the page to see what new stuff has come out. In the near future, like right now, SDR radios are going to dominate the field and I really want to see what Wayne, has cooked up for dealing with that issue. SO2R is the wave of the future in contesting and K9CT is the poster boy for the Flex 6700 and Maestro interface when it comes to contesting. He sold all of his K3/P3 stations and has a full compliment of Flex. Maybe, if Elecraft made a great interface that would work with the K3S/N1MM then that is an area that should be explored for SO2R. Every thing is contingent on market share and perceived value. Face it K3 owners are rather an elite crowd. First we are buying radios, when fully equipped are nearing the $4k mark and from a cosmetic stand point of view, they are not pretty on the out side. Utility is everything for us, and simply the K3 works. In the end, if Elecraft made a better amp than the KPA 500, I would probably buy it. Maybe even 2 of them for my station conversion to SO2R. I know guys that buy 2 KPA500.KTA500 for running SO2R with the Flex 6700/maestro set up. It works well for them. Once I retire, I will probably do the same and run 2 k3s with them. It is the logical solution for me, especially since I love the quiet relays/pin diode switching and the almost silent fans when running hard with the KPA500. Vy 73, Morgan Bailey NJ8M On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 2:44 PM, Bill Johnson <k9...@live.com> wrote: > Erik, I sold my solid state THP2.5kfx for the same reason of not being > able to lift it easily. I bought the KPA500 to replace it. The difference > in power isn't all that much to me but I don't contest. I can make up for > the power difference easily by improving my antennas. I am doing so now as > weather permits. At least I have a great amp with nearly as much on the > receiver's S meter on the other end. > > 73, > Bill > K9YEQ > > -----Original Message----- > From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of > Erik Basilier > Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2017 2:27 PM > To: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Subject: [Elecraft] Linear thoughts > > 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. With the competion > today in solid state linears, I have to believe that Electraft will in the > future offer a bigger linear. To me it would be sad if the new Elecraft > amplifier were a lot heavier than the KPA500. I am a fan of linear > supplies, but I would have to hope that the bigger Elecraft amp would use a > switching supply, located in a separate box. In the meantime, I am set up > with two radios (both K3) and only one amp. For SO2R one would want an amp > on each radio. With two KPA500's one would have two radios with 500 W each, > and when that little extra is needed, on > e could run both amp's in parallel from a single radio. Liftability would > be very good! I know that is not a new idea, but implementing it seems a > little messy. Might Elecraft consider offering special cabling and firmware > to allow operation with the two amp's in parallel be as slick as running > the single amp? Even slicker would be the ability to go back to one amp per > radio, without any change in cabling. > > > > 73, > > Erik K7TV > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 k9...@live.com > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 mbaileyc...@gmail.com > ______________________________________________________________ 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
