Any AM Deadkey Input Difference for the RM Italy KL 503 vs KL 503HD?

[9C1Driver]

What does he wish he would of bought?

A good amplifier for use on SSB. He thought it would be a decent choice considering how well the KL203's work.

 

[Kristopher burt]

Just my 2 cents. I had bought a 503 regular non HD. It performed very squirrelly. Power output from the amp very sensitive for what ever reason. Like 2-3 watts input would give full power and it was all over the place, and it sounded like garbage. I had converted it to a High drive and now the 503 is perfect. 4.5 watts into the amp wide open on the power output knob on the 503 and I get a full 90-100 watts on a dead key. Smooth continuous power and smooth operation. I have been running it that way for about a year as a base set up.

 

[trondyne]

I have the older 503 that i just got in a deal and my testing shows that it likes a low RMS dead key. Im hitting it with 1.5 watts RMS / Bird average and getting over 250 Bird PEP out of it. I turned up the DK and it did not make much of a difference on PEP. I personally would not suggest you hit it with anymore than about 3 watts RMS if you want it to live very long. For what it is and what it costs, it seems to work well.

No more than 3 watts but this is a high drive? Huh?

 

[9C1Driver]

No more than 3 watts but this is a high drive? Huh?

There are many amplifiers that have HD stamped on them because they will sell better that way. Very few cb amplifiers that are advertised as such can actually handle higher drive levels. The KL503 in either version is a squirrely amp.