Legal Limit Solid State Amp - SPE 2K-FA, KPA-1500 or ??

KY6LA_Howard

I too am very disappointed that they my2K-FA Will not run 1.5 KW at 100% duty cycle for FTH. It’s enough they want me to order a PGXL which will do it

Ria

I ran mine at legal limit for a week on 80 and 6 meters alternating. I don’t like to run power on the high bands but the low bands and 6? You bet. I was running JA and Australia from here every morning on 80. You can say low power is good enough until you get endless repeats. Putting some fire in the wire puts an end to that.

Ria

On low bands and 6m I run high power. Other bands I keep it to about 30-300w.

N3NER

If you like science projects, this is the amp for you. 

N3NER

Its legit, I have purchased two from Bob.

N3NER

I just put my 1.5k-FA up for sale as I'm getting a 2K-FA

Rick - W5FCX

Good choice. The 2K-FA is rock solid. I don't use it for AM/FM, RTTY or long-running FT8 sessions, but if I did and it reverted from 1.5KW to 1KW to avoid overheating, I don't think that would be a huge issue for me.  What's the difference - one S-unit?

Chris DL5NAM

Why? What is the problem?

N3NER

I agree, I'm SSB only and maybe a little CW.  I got the SPE 2K from a friend, not new but I don't think the improvements that SPE made in the past 4 years was anything big.

KY6LA_Howard

Neither is FULL POWER for any sustained length of time. My 2K will barely put out 1200W on FT8 AFTER A FEW SECONDS OF OPERATIONS

KY6LA_Howard

]@Steve The difference of 1 dB was making the Q for country 201 on FT8 when he was -24

Rick - W5FCX

Sounds like something is wrong then Howard. I actually have to keep the drive level reduced on my 2K-FA to limit it to 1,500 watts; otherwise, it has the headroom to push 2.2 KW! I haven’t tried FT8 at full power - perhaps my results will be similar ?

Bill -VA3WTB

Howard is correct. The problem is when keyed down at full duty cycle. if one ever needs that...

N3NER

i don’t think the PGXL is going to be a reliable 100% duty amp. plus if it is, justifying over a $1,000 upward cost over a SPE 2K is hard nut.

KY6LA_Howard

@RICK LOTS OF HEADROOM FOR SSB But FT8 DUTY CYCLE IS TOO HIGH FOR 2K You Will find that ithermals out at 1150-1200W on FT8 For me anyways, that is frustrating as I thought I had bought ia full Pauer 1500 W amp for all Ham uses

KY6LA_Howard

The PGXL will sustain 1500W on FT8

Varistor

IMHO, it will be a while before ham SS amps can match the robustness and $ per watt performance of tube amps. Right now I cannot think of a single SS amp that can match the OM Power 2000+ Auto. It also has the best out of the box remote capabilities I have seen.

Wayne

Arnt low power modes great when people run 1.5kw .. you cant fix ****.

KY6LA_Howard

Tube amps take forever to warm up when ur trying to get that elusive ATNO. Had a few bad experiences with warm up times where I lost rare Q. Also tubes are HOT...heat up the Shack and are terrible for remote where instant on is necessary. I long ago dumped,my Alpha’s for a PW1 and then a 2KFA. I can’t imagine ever going back to the 20th century. Seriously considering a PGXL which will easily outperform Any tube Amp on Remote n

KY6LA_Howard

UNINFORMED is assuming that FT8 is a Low Power Mode

FT8 IS A WEAK SIGNAL MODE NOT A LOW POWER MODE

N3NER

Yup I had that same OM amp, lots of headroom but the fans and warm up time drove me nuts.  If RT8 power is so important to anyone, they should just go get themselves a amp like the OM 2000 or even the OM4000 and be done with it.  In general the SPE amps do the job for 90% of the HAM's operation. 

Rick - W5FCX

When will PGXLs be shipping and generally available?

N3NER

Knowing the normal, no time soon I bet.

KY6LA_Howard

Limited quantities are shipping NOW to preorders

Bill -VA3WTB

Yes they are, a few on the community have had their notice.

Varistor

Heat and fans have nothing to do with tube vs. solid state. It takes the exact same approach to disipiate certain amount of heat regardless of how you generate it. It all boils down to efficiency as the wasted power is what generates the heat. In fact, solid state amps require additional cooling for the power supply. Unlike tube amps, solid state amps draw huge amounts of current that must be actively cooled. The Elecraft 1500 is arguably a well built solid state amp that can handle 1500W with no time limits. It’s fans are extremely loud, louder than the fans in an Alpha 87. The one true advantage of solid state is instant on. Becomes a personal choice how to weight this advantage against price, headroom, etc.

mikeatthebeach .

The SPE 1.5K & SPE 2K both cut back to < 1200 watts out on FT8 .
The timer after 15 seconds of constant carrier sets the SPE 2K and 1.5K 
from High Power to Mid Power 

Have a 2K here I use on FT8

Plus one thing to mention - not well know - only by SPE factory

The 2K after about 1 to 2hours hours of non-stop FT8 has built in the software
if the Fans stay On Full Blast , the SPE 2K will actually remove RF drive from the amp as 
a protection measure from heat ( not well known but it's there ) if baseplate temp 
can not be cooled efficiently.

Built into the software of the SPE 2K is code to protect the MeanWell 48Volt supply Internal Supply from overheating that has no real fan to get the heat out of SPE 2K-FA !!!!

Only way to run continuous FT8 24hours a day is Low Power, say 200watts to 300Watts to max to prevent firmware acknowledging that the Fans are on Full blast !

Got a PGXL Amp on order because of this !!!!

Occasional FT8 1150Watts contacts are fine on 2K-Fa but if was ever an FT8
contest, things start to fall apart, that why so many want the PGXL

73 Mike

KY6LA_Howard

@Varistor Do you own a KPA1500? If so, have you run FT8 on it for extended periods of time? If not, I would suggest looking at the specs of the KPA1500 chip set it would not be able to sustain extended use at 1500W..but I would defer to you if you have actual real world empirical evidence.

Varistor

Howard, I understand it’s difficult for you to stay on topic. I am debating solid state vs. tube amps, not discussing the merits of KP1500. Whether or not I own an Elecraft is irrelevant. The BLF188 is rated at 1270W @ 50V. A pair of them, at a conservative efficiency of 65%, produces 1650W. So it is reasonable to expect that the KPA1500 produces 1500W out below 30 MHz. But since you asked, no, I do not own one. Having said that, I have had extensive discussions with two extremely well known and accomplished RTTY contesters who have used the amp in the gruling environment of 48-hour RTTY contests. They were able to maintain full 1500W out power for the duration of the contest. And yes, they complained about the loud amps. If interested, you can read the acoustics readings here: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/elec...

W2NER

I would put myself on the list if it was not so costly.  $7k is a big ticket.