Palomar Question

[banjopicker939]

If any of you folks have ever used a Palomar Elite 250, do you have any tips on safe wattage drive for them? I bought (2) of them at a deal, and I'm actually tickled with their performance so far. i don't want to shorten the life of them by driving them too hard, though.

They have (2) 1446s in them. I was told by a bud too not drive the Elites with over 2 watts, and they'd last a long time.

Just wondering.

thanks

 

[Turbogus]

Howdy, I'm running the Palomar E-250 coupled with a Stock Uniden 538 XLW, they've been connected and stable for over 12 years now with no failures, perhaps different chips in mine

 

[Toll_Free]

1.5 to 2.5 watts carrier... Up to approx 16 watts PEP should about saturate them.

--Toll_Free

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

get a power meter . measure the power output your radio drives the amp to and adjust either the radios output or the amps input to not let it exceed the clean power capability of the pills in the amp . for AM use adjust the dead-key of the radio to make the amp dead-key %25 of that clean power capability .

 

[W5LZ]

Booty',
Change that 25% to 50% and I'll agree with you. Why? Cuz you aren't measuring that with a scope, but with a watt meter. Big difference in how the two do that measuring. It's exactly the same thing, just a difference in how it's measured.

As for mixing power unit measurements, AVG/Pep, that's silly to start with. What's the point?
- 'Doc

 

[9C1Driver]

Banjopicker, some Palomar amplifiers are better then others. You have been given some decent advise so far. Something like a dead key of 1.5-2 watts and a max peak wattage of 14-24 will work depending on if your talking AM or SSB.

Some of the cheaper black face versions are class C and on the junky side as far as amplifiers go. An example of this is the Palomar Elite 300. They sound bad and perform poorly on SSB.

If you notice things getting hot you can add a fan to the heat sink area, this will move some air around and keep you cool. If they are working and your happy time to have some fun and do some talking.

 

[n0zna]

Thats right,dont drive over 2 wts dead key and 10-14 ssb...they will last forever...i have one from back in the 70s...same pills...use it even on 10ssb no one can tell with my mag257 with 1 wt dead key on 10am...on 29.200am...and on 28.420usb 12 wt ssb...73s de n0zna/John 2w1267 em48sd

 

[Toll_Free]

Thats right,dont drive over 2 wts dead key and 10-14 ssb...they will last forever...i have one from back in the 70s...same pills...use it even on 10ssb no one can tell with my mag257 with 1 wt dead key on 10am...on 29.200am...and on 28.420usb 12 wt ssb...73s de n0zna/John 2w1267 em48sd

You are sadly misinformed.

The SD1446 is about 10 or so years old.

The Elite 250 STARTED production in the LATE 80s.... The Palomar name was from Palomar / Pride Electronics (owned by Westcomm Engineering... What we NOW know as RF Parts )

So..... The original 250 Palomars USUALLY used 454s or 455s, and the A models (stud mount). The later ones used regular 'pill' type transistors. NONE of the original Palomars from the 70s could have had SD devices, as Thompson wasn't even producing semiconductors (at least for US usage).

--Toll_Free