My friend was using a deep-cycle battery to run his radio and amp, and that idea got old very fast. As you are aware, it is not a good idea to have and use a battery inside the house.
-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
RM Amplifier
- Thread starter Stumblefoot
- Start date
Yes you are right it is just a temporary solution to get on the air but the battery is getting old as I'm suppose to be out fishing with it. It's a constant juggle between have to do and want to do. LOL
I too just got myself a KL203P.. I have also a KL60. Most folks I have watched or read about with the 203 say they put no more that 2w deadkey in, and get about ~40W(ish) deadkey with the amp on.
In my case, on my Cobra 29 WX NW ST (from the 90s) the deadkey is 1.5w in and about 55-60W out deadkey out. Seems high for only driving on 1.5w no? I don't think I can turn the 29 down anymore without a variable power mod. But is ~55-60W deadkey a lot in my setup? I did salvage a case fan from an old computer case. Even has cool blue LEDs.... thx
In my case, on my Cobra 29 WX NW ST (from the 90s) the deadkey is 1.5w in and about 55-60W out deadkey out. Seems high for only driving on 1.5w no? I don't think I can turn the 29 down anymore without a variable power mod. But is ~55-60W deadkey a lot in my setup? I did salvage a case fan from an old computer case. Even has cool blue LEDs.... thx
Im going to keep the mic gain lower, and wait for my 980SSB to come back from the shop. I can turn that one way down even more.
I have seen the countless iterations of "no more than 1-1/2 DK", and some "Stock 12W SSB is fine - no more than 15 PEP" etc.. but is there a minimum power needed to open the relays, especially for SSB? Say modulation from the radio needs to be at least 1W or something? I find sometimes the 980ssb used with the KL203 can unwantedly close the SSB relay sometimes (even when SSB is switched on) if the power is too low (assuming)? Or is this just another relay problem 
I have my radio set to around 8w pep on SSB and into the KL203. Works well. But yes, if you pause too long between words the amp will unkey.
Around 70-80 pep. I wanted to keep everything lower and see if I could get some good time out of it. I have been using it everyday nearly for around 1.5 years or more with no issues after I rebuilt it.
I've been trying to turn down my 980ssb using the ALC control (am already set to 1w/4wpep) but it seems to peak when I get loud to 12pep but averages 5-7w. Are you running any mic gain?
Mine is on a PC-122. I have turned down the ALC to where its maximum peaks were around 8w. I am not really familiar with the 980 myself. I run a Ranger SRA-198 mic these days with good reports on both AM and SSB.
Nice radio. About 20 years ago I had a KL60 mounted to the top of a Uniden 122xl. The radio did like 1.5 dead key on AM and would swing 8-10 ish. This would key the KL60 at 14-15 and swing right at 50. SSB output was about 55 watts. Back then there were not as many higher powered radio's out there so this was a great combo.
on am from my lincoln im sending about 4 watts in n 90 out.on ssb im sending 10 in and about 125 out .any lower it wont keep the relays locked down. last nite i shot skip on ssb n didnt turn my fan on i put on top of the rm. it was just warm on top when i shut down last nite. i think very low swr helps life of amp as mush as anything