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illegal amps ???


1500 watts is legal limit in the usa. davemades are not fcc aproved either.

theres many reasons why an amp wont be legal in the us, if it needs less than 50 watts (or higher) input its illegal, if it can operate 10, 11, or 12 meters its illegal (anything from the 80's on needs to be modded to work on 10m and 12m)
 
thanks carl . thats pretty much what i was thinking QRN but i wanted to be sure . thanks guys :beer
 
LOL.
As an Amateur Radio License holder, you can have or build a Amp that will do 10KW +
It is The License holders responsibility to operate the Amp within the guidlines of his/her License.
If you re-read the text on the webpage...

This device has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased until the approval of the FCC has been obtained.
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I see no reason why it could not be offered for sale in the USA as long as it meets all of the FCC Spec`s on drive,IMD, and frequency limits.... they are probably waiting for approval...and as far as I know, there is no Max limit on how much an Amp is capable of outputing.
There is a 1500 watt Max Limit in the USA, for the holder of the Lic.
That is why they call it a " Legal Limit ++"
there are several amps on the market that will do over the Legal limit.
The FCC Expects the "holder of the License" to throttle back on them so as not to exceed the limit.

73
Jeff
 
Jeff,that is what I meant by QRO having regulations to follow. They have to wait for FCC approval before offering them for sale in the USA. I can see no real legit reason why an amp should be able to be marketed that exceeds the max legal power by a certain factor to tell you the truth. You and I both know that if the amp is capable of 3000 watts then it WILL be used at that power level at least some of the time and I am 100 % certain of that. Can't break a pile up? Crank up the wick. Here in Canada an amateur may not have in his possession an amp capable of exceeding the max legal power by a factor of more than 3dB, or twice the legal limit. that is not really a problem however as most of the time we cannot get an amp that will deliver max legal power here.We are allowed 2,250 watts pep output on SSB or a 750 watt carrier on AM which is equal to 3,000 watts pep at 100 % modulation. We have trouble finding amps that will do twice our limit. ;)
 
linearone said:
lets talk about amps for hamguys...

anyone ever read amps.contesting?

Ham guys talk all day about their 7kw 20kw 30kw amps that they "loaf along" at 1500 with 1 watt of drive etc... hmmm something sounds fishy here, how come in the back of every 73 or qst there are ads for 2,3,4,5,6,7 kw handling beams... whay would any ham, need that? whay would a "ham" need heliax? if 1500 watts is the limit then rg8x would be fine

sneaky hamsters
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Couple things in there.

Higher power handling means better longevity and less likelihood of saturating the baluns due to heavier components. It can be an indicator of higher overall quality in construction too.

Duty cycle is important so when you see a 300W rated antenna, if you try running 300W of RTTY through it, you may very well cook the matching section or other components depending on the design. If the antenna is 1500W rated, you generally can at least assume that a 300W high duty cycle mode should be o.k. with it.

As for low loss coax like heliax...it's always better to get more power out than have it heat the coax. Any radio op should be using the lowest loss feed line they can afford to make the most of the power they are putting out.

RG8x , though great for mobile because it is small, is quite lossy compared to other options. 9913, RG213U, LMR400, Heliax of varying types will outperform it. When you get into wide band antenna use, losses from high SWRs will eat all of your signal if you don't take care in feed line choice and application.
 
linearone said:
sure, longevity... no hamster needs a 3cx15000 tube to run at 1500 watts and "loaf along" when you read these guys posts and they quote the figure out for what they put in like for instance 3kw out with 20w in... give me a break oh I can do legal limit with 10 watts in thanks to the 3cx1500a7 driver... uh huh... yeah, thats legal...

cushcraft 2k yagis... yep... longevity... thats the same excuse I use with my 16 pill
Click to expand...


Freaking Rich loafers :p
 
QRN said:
You and I both know that if the amp is capable of 3000 watts then it WILL be used at that power level at least some of the time and I am 100 % certain of that.
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I think you're making absolute judgements here based on your opinion and biases.

I have an amp that is probably capable of 2 KW on SSB. I never have run it above 1 KW for 3 reasons:

A) I don't have a reliable QRO (> 1 KW) wattmeter.
B) The rules say 1.5 KW is the limit, and that's that.
C) If I have to go higher than the legal limit to break the pileup, then I think it just wasn't meant to be. Shrug and move on.

Now I agree there are some operators who, given the inch, will take a mile...every time. But blaming the amp is like saying "guns kill people" or "cars go faster than the speed limit", when in reality the machine only does what the human tells it to do.
 
Now I agree there are some operators who, given the inch, will take a mile...every time. But blaming the amp is like saying "guns kill people" or "cars go faster than the speed limit", when in reality the machine only does what the human tells it to do.


this is the best statement of the year and 100% to the point!

the spedo on a car in USA, most show 120MPH...do we do 120 to get through the traffic?

we have corn and veggies sitting on a stand(cart) out here to buy
no one around to watch the stuff...a box that says donate...

no mater if it is a buck or 2, we donate and take what we think is right!
 
Comparing amps to cars is absurd. A car can be driven,and often IS driven, well in excess of the legal speed limit. Maybe not by you but certainly by someone. Just like over-powered amps that are run well in excess of the legal limit BY SOME PEOPLE.

As for my statement above,it was made as a matter of MY opinion which I freely admit. As for any bias's, what bias's do you refer too? I have none.I have a transmitter in my basement that is capable of a full 1100 watt carrier plus 120% positive peak modulation that I hope to get modified for 80m. It is an RCA commercial broadcast transmitter I picked up for free. I am responsible enough to limit the power out to a mere 750 watts to be in compliance with the legal limit here.I also have the know-how to properly run and maintain such equipment. It was my job for 22 years as a commercial AM/FM broadcast engineer. My feeling is that since people all too easily give into temptation then something has to be done to protect the more responsible folks. People are people and in general are all about "ME" and never about "YOU". In a perfect world we would need no laws whatsoever because everybody would just do the right thing. Since that is just a fantasy we have laws to help society exist in a sane manner.

As for a 2K amp ,no big deal. The differance between it and your legal limit is almost nothing.Heck it is not even up to MY legal limit. LOL.It does offer some headroom and the power supply will handle high duty cycle modes better even at the legal limit. My beef is not with an amp capable of running UP TO twice the legal limit but rather with these guys running 4CX5000A's etc with capabilities of 5Kw or even 10Kw or more. No need whatsoever. None. Period.

Oh and just so you know,if I had the bucks I WOULD in fact own a QRO HF-2500DX Mark III or perhaps better yet, an Emtron DX-3. I like the almost 3Db headroom it has. ;) I like to run 80m AM and could certainly use the hefty stuff.
 
QRN said:
I have a transmitter in my basement that is capable of a full 1100 watt carrier plus 120% positive peak modulation that I hope to get modified for 80m. It is an RCA commercial broadcast transmitter I picked up for free. I am responsible enough to limit the power out to a mere 750 watts to be in compliance with the legal limit here.I also have the know-how to properly run and maintain such equipment.
Click to expand...

No you don't according to your own opinion. You need protection from yourself--because if it is capable of exceeding your legal limit, it will be certainly run above the legal limit. I suggest permanent modification of the equipment in question to fully comply with Canadian regulations. You can't be trusted.

QRN said:
My feeling is that since people all too easily give into temptation then something has to be done to protect the more responsible folks. People are people and in general are all about "ME" and never about "YOU".
Click to expand...

So you think it's OK for you to have equipment that can operate at above legal limit--but it isn't OK for me? Your solution punishes everyone (good and bad) regardless of behavior....unless you are of course, you. Who should be given a break because you are "responsible".

QRN said:
Oh and just so you know,if I had the bucks I WOULD in fact own a QRO HF-2500DX Mark III or perhaps better yet, an Emtron DX-3. I like the almost 3Db headroom it has. ;) I like to run 80m AM and could certainly use the hefty stuff.
Click to expand...

I enjoy 80 M AM as well...my dual 4-400's loaf along at 375 watts carrier and 3 kv on the plates (the PS is capable of 5KV@1 amp courtesy of an industrial induction heater). It's a nice, solid design that will probably outlive me, and I'm only 37. Hope to chat with you on 3885 kcs.
 
Sounds like I struck a nerve with Cyclops1970 :LOL: When you wrote:" No you don't according to your own opinion. You need protection from yourself--because if it is capable of exceeding your legal limit, it will be certainly run above the legal limit. I suggest permanent modification of the equipment in question to fully comply with Canadian regulations. You can't be trusted." did you not see where I wrote " I am responsible enough to limit the power out to a mere 750 watts to be in compliance with the legal limit here.I also have the know-how to properly run and maintain such equipment."? I said the power would be limited to 750 watts carrier which IS the legal limit. Besides,even unlimited it is legal for me to own as long as it does not exceed 1500 watts carrier or 4500 watts pep on SSB according to the Canadian regulations. Besides,not that it matters but,how do you know I have not incorporated input drive attenuation so that it cannot be driven beyond legal limit? That little 6146B driving a pair of 4-400C's drives REALLY easy. ;)

I guess you just did not see where I also said that I believe that it would be prudent to not allow amps to be sold that exceed the legal limit by a certain amount and suggested the 3 dB factor we have here.That would allow you to have 3000 watts pep capability,plenty of headroom. My real concern,as stated before and yet once again, is NOT with the guys that CAN run a bit over the limit but with those who DO run WAY over the limit with their 3CX3000A7's or the 4CX5000A's etc.

BTW just out of curiousity are your 4-400's in a homebrew amp? I was going to build up an amp using either a quad of 572B's or some 833C's which I have several of from my 22 years as a commercial broadcast engineer. When a collegue in VY2 offered me the RCA BTA1-S with a pair of 4-400's modulating a pair of 4-400's I could not refuse and put the amp project on hold.
 

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