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

mikeatthebeach .

Have the 2K-FA here but also have on order a PGXL 
For serious duty cycle, the PGXL in a SSPA is a must for me !

Station 1 here is the 2K-FA for SSB/CW work

Station 2 will use the PGXL for hard core 1.5Kw 
heavy duty instant on  for FT8/RTTY use for SSPA's
in the radio shack !

73 Mike

Varistor

Wow, the first PGXL went up for sale on QTH.com. I would have bought it, but someone beat me :-(

W2NER

HUMM

W2NER

I have a SPE 2k for sale if you're interested

Chris DL5NAM

N3NER .... but you forgot to say your "good friend" buy also PA's from Elecraft and after 4 weeks he send back, then he buy from Acom and after 4 weeks he send back and from Expert  .....

All that with many, many trouble and cost for the dealer. To his friends he says ... i got for free to testing ! This guy is a shame for all Ham's ! ( we know his callsign - he is also on our list )

Now he is on "black list" of many dealers! Dealer dont want make business with him anymore! You have a real good friend !

So forgot you stories about this guy ! Tell your own experience and not bla bla from other you have heard !

W2NER

I say what I know is true and I'm sure at some point he will chime in with this post.   There are three great amps as I see it, Acom, Elecraft and Flex..

Bill -VA3WTB

Rick - W5FCX

After some time with the SPE 2K-FA I must say it’s a wonderful amp and tuner/antenna switch combo. Like others, my only complaint is it dropping out of MAX power mode after 10 seconds of steady power out. That’s not what’s expected from a legal limit amp with headroom over 2KW! I’m not sure why it does this, given it has every other angle covered for over-temp, SWR, etc. Alas, I mostly run SSB so it doesn’t affect me today.

Bill -VA3WTB

It simply can nor cool to keep up with full duty cycle

HCampbell WB4IVF

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Just a question, I'm still learning;   While I use RTTY ocassionally, and therefore fully understand why you might need 1500 watts at times, I don't understand why/when you would need that much for FT8?     On bad propagation days, (um, let me correct myself, they are all bad at this solar minimum),  on really really bad propagation days, I have found I need at least 100 watts to rarely almost 300 watts to close a link with far DX (like Spain from California).   But that is really rare, and I have a compromise simple rotating dipole on a 20 foot mast on the side of my house, not a nice beam on a 50 foot tower.

So when is that much power required on FT8 to close a link?
(and if you use that much, don't you make every pan-adapter in a 4-state radius solid red?  :-)  )

Thanks,

Neal

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

1.  But this is a Flex forum :-)

2.  My Flex 6600, driving my KPA-500 amp  (according to PSKreporter), apparently puts out a "clean enough" signal to decode at many many far away places.

No argument that you could be a little cleaner with A.P.D.  (Pure Signal), but it seems to work just fine right now, for hundreds and hundreds of FT8 users, even without being perfect.   Also no argument, if A.P.D. was put into Flex and Icom and Kenwood and Yaesu, it would be even that much better.   And maybe someday it will.

But for now, good enough seems to be working just fine, and the lack of A.P.D. on all these other brand rigs does not seem to be preventing people from using and enjoying the bands.    (Yes, I want to see the improvement some day, but I am not loosing sleep while waiting....)

Cheers,

Neal

Bill -VA3WTB

Good thought Neal. with the way SSDR is right now being able to transmit clean at least 40db down is plenty clean,,

One question I have is what amount of -db is acceptable? Anan users will say 70db,,,really?

KY6LA_Howard

@Neal I have 201 Countries worked on FT8 with172 confirmed now from California Spain is a local station for me. As I work it regularly U need that 1.5KW power when working very weak -20 to -24 signals ...like Midwest or Africa. Or Western Asia. Why? You have a 6 dB gain advantage over legacy radios so when ur copying a -24 it’s very likely that they are not hearing you. So by adding power gain you just might breaking their threshold. Further. Splatter is a function of how hard you drive the DAX TX gain. Keep the audio in the green and you will not splatter. Also splatter actually makes u harder to copy. So don’t overdrive when running power.

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Jim Runge

could you e-mail the info on your amp for sale.  Tnx, Jim K6JR  k6jr@outlook.com

KY6LA_Howard

Two answers When running barefoot, you’re OK keeping it below 0 DB or in the yellow When running power, you need to reduce the gain so that you’re below -10 DB or in the green Or you will create IMD which you will be amplifying And actually make your signal harder to copy

KY6LA_Howard

The flex article was written for Running barefoot

Edward Armstrong-WB2K

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Agreed regarding FCC, but it *is* a double  edge sword;    Higher gain amps can make for more efficient low power exciter drive levels, but higher gain stages can also have more stability problems in less than near perfect engineering.   The rule needs to go away though.
No argument.

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Howard:    Thanks.  Crystal clear now.
Last night I tried driving the amp at -10 on the audio level meter, and running about 50% amp power, I called CQ to a friend on the other coast  (USA West to East), and he said the signal was super clean.    I can work with this just fine.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.

Cheers,

Neal

KY6LA_Howard

@Neal Now go work some of those -24 DXstations that could not hear you

sky

Ria: What antenna were you using on low bands? Anything special?

K1UO Larry

I got a brand new OM Power 2000A+ auto with new spare tube I would swap for an KPA1500 or outright sale.

Larry  K1UO

Varistor

Keep the OMP!

Bill -VA3WTB

Visitor, I am interested why you would keep the OM over the KPA1500? Not that I disagree, but what reasons do you have?

Varistor

My main reason is ROI- for $4K I purchased an amp with warranty that can do full duty cycle at full power until the cows come home. I run the fan at full speed all the time, vs the auto or PTT settings, and the noise is not an issue at all, even without headphones. The OMP integrates well with Flex and all other rigs that have CAT. Or you can do RF sending. In my case, I use CAT. Also, unlike other amps that have zillions of antenna outputs, the OMP has a single output PLUS two outport ports for 1) BPF and 2) antenna selection. I firmly believe that antenna switching should be done remotely, at the tower base. I no longer need my microHam box. Auto tune is instant and very reliable. The RF deck is based on a classic, timeless platform that is well understood and refined over the years. It is beautiful to look at! The finish is outstanding and compared to anything Elecraft is luxurious. The touch screen is vibrant and gorgeous. Ability to do auto, factory, or user selected bias (aka the Meffa thing that 4o3a promotes as unique). Last but not least, remote access is the best I have experienced. There is nothing to dislike about the amp. The warmup time has never been an issue in my 30+ years in DXing and contesting.

Bill -VA3WTB

Interesting, I don't own such nice amp so I learn from people who do... Thanks..

KF4HR

Mike W9OJ

soldering of LDMOS to the heat sink ?

Mike W9OJ