RCI 2970N2 power ?

[Limeybastard]

The best way to tune this radio is to not exceed 100 watts on am and 150 on SSB. The extra watts are not going to improve DX much if any until you hit 500-600 watts so why heat soak the parts and stress the unit?

Install some form of compression or NPC that is switchable. I like the SP1a or the Greek made NPC board. Set the unit to dead key 25-35 watts and to swing to 100 watts on am. Set it to 150 watts on ssb.

Now you can rag chew or run NPC or compression all day and not over heat the radio or splater. The unit will last 17 plus years of daily use before you need to fix anything!!!

So effectively the 2970N4 is a gimmick in relation to the 2970N2?

 

[nomadradio]

Not so much gimmick as hybrid. His name for retrofitting an amplifier board meant for a different RCI radio model into this one. Pretty sure that amp board was meant for the RCI "69FFB4" model. Might have mangled that model number.

He was incredibly lucky to find the holes already drilled and tapped for his new setup. Tells us that the RCI factory intended to use that heat sink for both the N2 radio and for the other one, both. Drilling and tapping the eight holes to mount the four new RF power transistors would have been a pain in the neck, even if your metalwork skills are good.

Should be a step up in reliability. The amplifier with the eight IRF520 parts is really easy to blow out with only a modestly-high SWR.

73

 

[Limeybastard]

Not so much gimmick as hybrid. His name for retrofitting an amplifier board meant for a different RCI radio model into this one. Pretty sure that amp board was meant for the RCI "69FFB4" model. Might have mangled that model number.

He was incredibly lucky to find the holes already drilled and tapped for his new setup. Tells us that the RCI factory intended to use that heat sink for both the N2 radio and for the other one, both. Drilling and tapping the eight holes to mount the four new RF power transistors would have been a pain in the neck, even if your metalwork skills are good.

Should be a step up in reliability. The amplifier with the eight IRF520 parts is really easy to blow out with only a modestly-high SWR.

73

Yeah, thanks for the explanation, appreciate it.