Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:17:15 +0000 (UTC) From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: Bob Abernethy <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Topband: 5kW amps
>I always figured there is a pecking order on pile ups. ?The big power stations should get in and >out ?quick. Then the next layer and so forth. ?You either hang in and wait your turn in that >pecking order or you improve ?your station. ?Most of my DX over the years was made with a >very modest station. ?3 element tribsnder? on a mast above my chimney and an SB220 amp and >many sleepless nights waiting my turn in the pecking order. ? Now try the same stunt, but on 160m, from a city lot, using the typ lousy, compromised ant's used by most folks on city lots. I don't operate CW hardly anymore....on any band. I don't operate data modes on any band either.... at least not yet. In all due respect to K9YC, if I can't operate ragchew SSB on 160m, I throw in the towel. As reported earlier on, the noise levels on the lower bands have increased dramatically over the last 30-40 years. Then you wonder why folks design and build bigger amps...esp for the lower bands. A surplus 4x5 tube, NIB, is still cheaper than a new $2900.00 Eimac (throwaway) 8877. You want to run 1.5 kw using FT-8, for hrs and hrs on end, all night, every night, with any tube amp, well good luck with that. Most are not up to the task. re: data modes, 6M EME is another doozy. The data mode they used was aprx 1 min on, and 1 min off. It was recently upgraded with two new 6M EME data formats. One of em is still one minute on and one minute off. The 2nd new format is 2 minutes on and two minutes off. The issue with the data modes used (15 seconds on/off, 1 minute on/off, or 2 minutes on/off) is that they all have a 50% duty cycle. Problem is, the 'on' time is too long for many amplifiers, and the off time is not long enough to cool anything down. Even on SS amps, they become..'heat soaked', and the off period does essentially nothing. Jim VE7RF _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
