10 tube D&A Phantom watts

[Jimbo165]

Well I picked up another D&A Phantom triple stage amp and finaly have one that puts out the watts i have heard about. It is a creme and tan one with no band switch or btl switch and with a 3 watt swinging to 12 watt radio it is doing close to 900w pep and 500 avg. Driving it with a JB150 driver 1300 watts and you should hear the audio. I now am going to modify my T600 and my D&A 12 tuber with different power capacitors and see if it will give them a increase in power. 165 from the Great Lakes.

 

[Shockwave]

Just make sure when you're driving it that none of the tubes in the Phantom are turning red while you're keyed. That would be an obvious sign that you're over dissipating them.

 

[RatsoW8]

Those 6LQ6 tubes were designed to be TV sweep tubes. Running them at more than 50 watts out per tube will burn them out in no time. At 1300 watts I'm surprised they're not done already.

 

[Jimbo165]

I have been running sweep tubes amps for only about a 1 1/2 yrs so am no expert but my family and friends have run them for many years I have found out that sweep tube amps are one of the amps to own they will take a beating and keep on putting the power out and I have not had any major problems getting tubes or parts for them. Tube life seems to be what people worry about the most but alot of amps are still running atfer 25yrs with original tubes and now need replaced that is a good tube amp life as far as I am concerned I know people constantly burning up their pill amps and how many original ones do you think will be in use after 35yrs like my original phantom. As far as driving amps I find as long as you keep your radio or driver deadkey down to 4w or under I run 3w my tubes donot get cherry or orange I have had cover off and watched during a long time keyup. I believe that has alot to due with initial tuning I donot drive my creme and tan phantom much because it puts out so much I donot need to drive it. Remember almost all have owned a sweep tube amp at one time or another and did you really have that much trouble with it?.

 

[n0zna]

I remember Mr Delany making the 1st Phantom,and theres a reason why its known as a Phantom 500.Its a good 500 wtt amp,and not a high drive amp.3 in max pep is around 10 max,but if you want to run a jb12 into it,go ahaed...its your amp,so run the hell out of it.I have always went by db rating,there isnt any difference in db rating from 500 wtts to 750 or 800 wtts,ya dbl wtts to see a db rating.From 500 to 1k then so on and so on...just saying,73 de JW I have a mint Phantom 500 and it has band switch and preamp,and yes its not for sale,use everyday on 10 and 12mtrs...

 

[kc8adu]

you will soon need tubes if you insist on flogging it with that jb150.
a set of new ones cost more than 2 of those units are worth.
the guys that did that back in the day were lucky to go more than a month without failure.
not to mention the splatter!

 

[Oatmeal]

The last time I priced a 6LQ6 tube, it was 49 bucks....


Back in the early 80s I ran one of them, had the 10 tube amp, 3 stage and gray in color....I replaced the tubes in it and relays too.....but seems like then the tubes was around 15-20 bucks a piece.....but I had ran that amp for close to 8 years and used a JB 12 modulator with it and a Cobra 2000....that was a good combo then..

Id hate to think I had to replace them now a days..

 

[Jimbo165]

Well I have run my T600 for about 4 months driving it everyday and no problem with tubes checked them with my Sencore TC114 tube tester all still good only reason changed to this creme and tan D&A was just wanted to try it out bought it couple months ago and it was time to use it some and wow it puts out more than T600. I have not had any problem getting tubes and have extra set already but do not think I will need them for quite a while. Right Oatmeal you used yours 8 yrs with no problem so I have alot of driving amp time left even if I only get 4 yrs thats fine with me. These amps like I have said before are tough and can take it. As far as splatter the people around here are already killing us with their pill splatter boxes or 100 to 200w radios I think my Phantom just makes sure I can be heard on my home channel 27.165 . I also want to thank everyone for their comments I am grateful for them very much. PS I have not paid over 20 dollars each for my 6lq6 tubes so tube cost has not been a factor.

 

[Oatmeal]

10-4, I ran a Maverick 250 ( gray color ), for a few years, and then went to the Phantom 500, in which the 500 I ran it maybe a year before I re-tubed it, and put new relays in it as well...

But even with new tubes, I never saw the wattage you say you are seeing out of yours, in which the old Palomar meter may have been wrong....seems like my amp had 2 transformers in it, this maybe why don't no tho...been so long ago don't remember what it was doing, but I no the lights went dim in the house and it always turned on a touch tone light in the living room at home when I ran it..

 

[Jimbo165]

10 tube D7A Phantom watts

Oatmeal I have 4 phantoms a T600 triple stage 10 tuber, Creme and Tan triple stage 10 tuber, and 2 D&A two stage 12 tubers and this creme and tan is the only one putting out over 1k watts I have put 3 different watt meters and all show that this one is my best as far as watts go. My brother has had three phantoms and all three of his were in the 800 to 900w range also and we recapped his last one a creme and tan and it also does the 1k watts I know that the first thing people say is its the watt meter but ours are doing 500 avg so that shows us we are making power. Oatmeal we have had a maverick 250 and I still have a Scout which is tubed like the maverick but it will not make as much power as phantoms close until you put the drive on then phantom pulls away but I do really like the Scout & Mavericks because run less tubes and still make good watts that is why I will not sell my Scout. Thanks for your comments I hope you have a great day.

 

[Atlasta]

I've a 10 tube tan Phantom that Alan rebuilt for me to use 24lq6 tubes. I heartily recommend his services.

Yes, those amps will do 1,000 + if you drive the snot out of them. But not for very long and it won't sound good. Probably splatter all over the band as well.

Put it on a scope and look at the waveform. Does it look like a square wave as you approach max output? That's not good.

But hey, it's your amp. Me, I run mine well under it's maximum, the waveform looks really nice on the scope, everyone says I sound great and I have no trouble being heard. I run it constantly and haven't had to replace any tubes in over a year of service.

 

[n0zna]

dirty in,very dirty out...and if you run it hard,it wont last long.Look at cars and trucks,yep a camaro will do over 125mph,but its not made to do it all day for yrs...right,73 de n0zna Late note,have a Siltronix 1011d i got new,and still has the same tubes from then and use every day...ya want to hear it,its on 28420usb from 1600z till 0300z everyday,ham operators only please...hehe 73

 

[Grinder74]

Phantom watts...

 

[w9cll]

The OP excluded but far too many people on 11 are more concerned about how high the watt meter goes up as opposed to how clean the signal is. There are plenty of ham ops the same way as well.

 

[Jimbo165]

10 tube D7A phantom watts

w9cll your are right for sure and a great percentage of hams got their start on 11 meters they forget so quickly. I enjoy the 11 meter band have lots of regular contacts and when skip is running get to meet so many more I am just enjoying my radio system for sure and even use facebook to further my contacts i have made using my radio. Tonight went back and turned off all the lights watched amp during my keyups using no driver doing about 850 - 900w and my tubes hardly change color at all talked about 2 hrs using amp to contacts about 35 to 40 miles from me and it worked great did not even get hot this one is my keeper for sure at least until a higher watt one comes along LOL one more diference in this amp is I have a manual keyer made out of a pill bottle was going to make a foot switch but this is working good right now. Thanks for all the comments 165 from the Great Lakes