On 6/21/2011 5:51 AM, Ian Kahn wrote: > Why should I buy > the KPA500 when I can get higher-powered (although, admittedly, not much > higher powered) solid state amps for about 2/3 the cost of a KPA500?
I don't pretend to be an expert on all of the power amps available. But there's far more to buying power amp than watts. We're buying reliability, operational convenience/features, technical specs (low intermod and harmonics), and a physical package that fits into the space on our operating desk and on an airplane for a DX trip. Last fall I had the negative thrill of using an el-cheapo amp during CQWW at PJ4. (Two larger el-cheapo amps had been fried by a previous user. One had been dragged back to the factory (in MS) and repaired, but the second one wasn't known to have been fried until we fired it up, and we didn't have the parts to repair it). Although rated for 500 watts, the little amp fell back to 300W when presented with moderately mismatched antennas. A few months ago, I had a pre-production beta KPA500 for a major RTTY contest, with orders to run it with all the lights lit. When my antennas presented it with a 2:1 SWR, it fell back from 600 W to 500W. I installed my new KPA500 the same way the Elecraft engineer installed the loaner for that RTTY contest -- coax in and out and PTT. The first sniff of RF drive causes the amp to set itself to the right band, and I'm rolling. If I'm working CW, I simply hit a dit after I've switched, and it's there. This is also the way that later generation Alpha amps work, except that they're also doing antenna tuning. :) I'll buy the Elecraft tuner when it's available. And having looking inside those el-cheapos and the KPA500, I think cost comparisons with Alpha and Acom are far more appropriate. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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
