Running Texas Star 350HDV, Any "Good" Reason To Upgrade to 500V or 667V?

Yes in College my best friend not from school was a guy I hustled pool with and poker with. It was easy money and a little dangerous. Anyways we where 43 miles apart as the crow flys aka line of sight point to point. He had an Archer Bow .64 Antenna and a Cobra base-station. I had my RCI2950 and a 102" whip on my 4Runner in the dorms. I had a 2xMRF455 linear bolted to the chassis. The RCI2970's did not have feedback circuits in 1991 so it was better not to get the 2970 at the time. On AM as long as no one else was on the channel we could talk to each other easily and be heard. I seldom used my power and when I did use it I never turned my RF power on the radio higher than 12 O'Clock. When he upgraded and got an SSB Radio that trip was even easier. I always started off with no power and was always very cautious. I never wanted to be a a problem for anyone elses fun!

On SSB I talked to a circle of older men that where between 40 and 100 miles away from me. As long as they where on omni directional antenna or had their beams my way I had very little problem being heard. I always got compliment on the audio and talk power of my radio for a mobile. Everyone always thought I was I a base station. I worked in an electronic shop when I bought that and I aligned it once a year. Even in college I would sneak into the electronic lab use the Universities gear.

I think the problem is people do not cover the basics or they have questionable modifications done to the radio. This makes their talk power and intelligibility lower. So they toss more power at the problem instead of figuring out the real cause of their problem.

Too much bass in the audio kills performance and intelligibility. Poor soldering on the PL259 wastes power. Poorly shielded cheap coax wastes power and lets noise in. Over modulating, under modulating, pinching on the negatives or flat topping kills performance. Grossly breaking the 4:1 rule normally results is less favorable results if your goal is to be easily heard and not confused with skip. Too much swing makes your signal look like skip on another persons meter and they might ignore you. A bad match kills performance! Too many harmonics kills your effective radiated power! If you get enough things wrong it is like putting Toyota Prius tires on a Dodge Viper you got the power but you are not putting it to the pavement!

w9cll said:

No I just remember my 11 meter days and I easily worked stations 20 miles away on SSB with 12W. Maybe things have changed on 11 meters, polar shift, the moon is out of alinement?

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Nothing has changed. I talk further with less than 20 watts on a regular basis. There is something soothing about a brisk breeze blowing through a ceramic tube on a cold night.

Barefoot or an amp with the switch turned off works just the same, just because you have an amp doesn't mean you need to run it all the time. I like to have a little juice available but to be honest it's a rare occasion I use it.

It's nice to have a little flexibility in your station so you can run the power/fidelity/whatever that's appropriate for the situation at hand.

How are you liking the 500 and did you sell the 350?

I just ran across a 667v and they are asking $300 for it but I’m sure I can get it for 250. I just don’t really NEED it at the moment.

I only run the flat side, so I need to keep my 3000 on to talk to my locals.