I just want a little boost.....?

[WX2MIG]

I'm thinking that a little boost to my signal wouldn't hurt, especially for 80 meters, but running through a random wire I already bleed into the house telephone at 100 watts, and I don't want my signal doing that to my neighbor's.
Besides my antenna tuner is only rated for 300 watts, I'm not looking to set the world on fire, just a little boost to help get me through the noise level, or give me that little extra kick while trying to hold a DX contact in shifty conditions.

Does any of the leading manufacturers market either a 250 or 300 watt amplifier that covers all the HF bands.....?
What would something like this cost...(assuming one is available).....?

My antenna is as good as space will allow, unless I hit the lottery and can buy a Butternut vertical with the roof mount radial kit, improving my antenna is not an option.........

 

[Cajun Invader]

The best thing would be an Ameritron AL-811. It's twice the power you're looking for but it will be by far clean enough to where it shouldn't affect your neighbors.

I'm not sure if a KLV350 will work on 80 meter or not. Not even sure if you can retap the tank for 80 meter. That's along the power perspective that you are looking for.

 

[dxhound]

You can look into a few options at this point. One is to add an external processor to raise your avg talk power. A really Good unit is the TEN TEC 715 Ten-Tec

Another option is to run the RM Italy HLA-300. This amplifier is pretty decent and has good filtering.

Another "small" amp I reccomend is the LA-1000. They do 10-160 and can be had for about $350 in great shape!

 

[C2]

your best option is to fix your antenna. You will likely get more gain that running power and your recieive will improve as well. Plust it's cheaper.

 

[RickC.]

Having used random wires a time or two, that sounds like your culprit. I don't know how much room you have inside (or outside along the ground), but can you finagle a 1/4 wave counterpoise wire for 80 around the room/along the baseboard, or outside the house along the ground somewhere? That would be a cheap possible fix for your RFI in the house. I don't know if I'd want to run more power into an end fed random wire if you already have interference problems

Butternuts are a bit pricey, I hear you. Can you swing a Hustler 5BTV? DX Engineering has good prices on that line, and the traps are lower Q than some others which will give you more bandwidth. With most shortened verticals on that band have pretty narrow bandwidth anyway on 75/80 so you're best off targeting a favorite ragchew or net freq in any case. There is a very interesting article on eham.net about using Hamsticks instead of radials for verticals that are not ground-mounted. Those who have used that arrangement have reported good results, but I'd think 75/80 would be worst-case scenario with that. Just bear in mind that even with a very expensive vertical properly installed on 75 meters, you'll likely be trumped on the local net by just about everybody with a dipole up 25 feet.

By the way, I have a Heath SB-200 that works very well that I really like. I cooked up a small keying circuit to use it with my IC-718 (don't need it with the old TS-520), pretty simple to do if you get one of the older amps and need to key it from your solid state rig.


Rick

 

[n8fgb]

First, do as much as you can to improve you antenna. Then buy a better tuner if you can. After all that, try a SB200,FL2100. They will do about 700watts max.If you use it at 300-400 watts, tubes should last forever.Ameritron Al811/811h are also good choices. I just rent a room in town, put a compromise 75 meter inverted v up in the tree. Antenna works great from 80-6 meter with tuner and 300 ohm feedline. Then i got a bigger tuner, after that I found a Clipperton L that needed some TLC. I now have a good signal barefoot, and when needed, an extra kw.
Rich

 

[Moleculo]

If you want to go solid state, there are a few that manufacture 500 watt amps. For the price, I think I would look for an AL811, though.

After looking at your station pics, it looks like you have enough room for an 80m loop. Have you considered putting something like that up?

 

[RickC.]

\

After looking at your station pics, it looks like you have enough room for an 80m loop. Have you considered putting something like that up?

I was just about to say the same thing. It would be better than any vertical for your purposes, and you'd have a very good signal for nets and ragchews- not to mention multiband capability with the tuner-- even with feedline losses you'd probably have better signals on the other bands than with the random wire. Also, it's relatively cheap. (Cheap is good!).

Hey, I worked Slovenia on 40 SSB last night barefoot into my dipole because I haven't yet built the little switchbox I need to switch the SB-200 back and forth between my two HF rigs, and I was using the Icom while the PTT/ALC of the amp was cabled to the Kenwood-- my point in saying this is a good antenna (in this case just an 80/40 trap dipole at about 35' average in the 40 meter part) and 100W can surprise you.

Consider a loop for 80, it doesn't have to be absolutely symmetrical.

You have room for a 40m dipole-- can you do 110'? My 80/40 trap dipole ended up being 107' and a few inches when the tuning was all done, and it has given me great service the 3 1/2 years I've had it up. It's just the Unadilla 2 trap antenna with the W2AU balun. I have it cut for 40 and 75 phone and the VSWR is below 2:1 from 4.0 down to 3775 (I use the tuner on the rare occasions I need to go lower), and on 40 from 7.3 down to 7140. It's mounted in a flat top configuration and is 50 feet high on one end sloping down to 25 feet at the other, and fed with RG8-X. I have also added dipoles for 20m and 11m for it using PVC spacers- those weren't fun to tune, but once I got those done they have worked well and did not affect tuning of 80 and 40 at all.

Unadilla does give lengths for the wires and traps to give compromise matches on 80/40/15/10, but I optimized them for 75 and 40 phone since I wanted to use my amp there. It works 15 and 10 just fine with the tuner as well as 60 and 30, though the feedline losses on 30 are probably pretty high. I had great reservations about using a trap antenna but in my case I had no choice but to use coax, so my options were limited with a multiband antenna. I have no regrets, and honestly can't tell any difference in its performance and all the other full-size dipoles and vees I've used over the years.

If you have the room and can spare the hundred bucks, consider this alternative as well. It has been a very good antenna for me on 75 SSB and AM, as well as some occasional surprise DX on 40 (it's nice to have those SWBC stations out of the way!)

I know you're asking about amps, but maybe we can all put our heads together here and figure out a way to get you a better signal that will still meet your other criteria.


Rick

 

[dxhound]

Also look into the P1 portable antenna from Blue Star. I use one temorarily on 80 meter with 110 watts out of my 101e. The antenna is only good upto 150 watts but covers 440-80 meter and is a breeze to tune.

I get great signal reports for such a small antenna

 

[W5LZ]

All things considered, and especially with your neighbors getting the benefit of listening to you for free, I think I'd do the antenna route before an amplifier. It really isn't a matter of how 'clean' that amplifier is, but of over-load. 'Course, making your signal stronger also means 'they' (neighbors) are going to hear you too. Rats!
- 'Doc

 

[scantheband]

My antenna is as good as space will allow, unless I hit the lottery and can buy a Butternut vertical with the roof mount radial kit, improving my antenna is not an option.........

I guess some of the posters didn't read the above statement. With that said, check out an Ameritron ALS-600. Quiet, cool, no-tune...

Remember, 300W in relation to 100W will only yield a little over a half an S-unit increase in signal strength (doubling power output equals 3 db. or 1/2 S-unit). Sometimes that can really help, though.

 

[n8fgb]

I wish I had your trees. You should be able to get a 80 meter loop up around your lot. Feed it with twinlead, and tune it to 6 meter with your little tuner. That MFJ will not handle more that about 150 watts.
Rich

 

[Beetle]

From 100 watts to 300 watts is 4.8 dB, on paper.

 

[RickC.]

I guess some of the posters didn't read the above statement.

No, I read it. I see some possibilities, just looking at the photos-- others do, as well. A Butternut vertical is not the only option, and may not be one of the best solutions anyway.

Why would anyone advise someone with RFI problems with low power and an almost worst-case antenna to add an amplifier? I think that's the wrong tack. If there's room for a 40 meter inverted vee, there's room for a better solution.

If nothing else, I'd consider feeding the 40 meter antenna with open wire. It'd give a better account for itself on 75 than the random wire.

Don't give up!


Rick

 

[scantheband]

Why would anyone advise someone with RFI problems with low power and an almost worst-case antenna to add an amplifier?

Um... maybe because he *asked.* ??