I think that those of us who are not involved in MARS need an education about what you guys are doing.
When I was in Army MARS about 35 years ago, we had no real traffic to handle at all. All we did was training. This was to be prepared - in case. I would think that the need for MARS (sadly) has not increased but rather diminished further due to increased 'normal' communication methods - Internet, cell phones, et al. Soldiers call home via Skype routinely from the battlefield - there's not a whole lot of reason for phone patches any more. Am I wrong? 73, Bob W5OV Ex- AAR2BQ -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Tim Tucker Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 5:52 PM To: Bruce Beford Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA-500 FCC docs The amount of power required is a function of propagation and intended recipient. I can't say in advance of an *event*, how much power will be required. If 100 watts isn't cutting it on the first delivery attempt (it usually does), I'm not fooling around with 250 watts...I'm going straight to 500 if that's how much power I have available. There is no "use the minimum amount of power requred..." rules here. Rather, we use the tools we have available and methods within our SOP to get the message handled efficiently and accurately. MARS isn't a trial and error service. The real question is whether or not the 10 minute duty cycle is a function of heat or is it a timer / firmware controlled function? The first circumstance can be managed, however if duty cycle is controlled by the latter then it doesn't seem viable to the MARS service to me. Any insight into this question? Tim On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 3:29 PM, Bruce Beford <bruce.bef...@myfairpoint.net>wrote: > > I'm a licensed Navy MARS operator. It is not uncommon to have very long > > digital messages that need to be sent using digital modes that will take > > longer than 10 minutes to send. This limitation pretty much eliminates > this > > amplifier from being able to be used in my shack for MARS purposes. Now > > with that said, we don't often need to use an amplifier to send > digitally, > > but in the event I did, I couldn't do it with this amp if there is a 10 > > minute duty cycle. > > > Tim > > AE6LX > > Turn.the.drive.down. You don't need to drive the amp to the full 500W > output > for your 10+ minute message. Perhaps 200-250W will do? -Bruce, N1RX > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
