100w dk, no more. Last forever...
This 4 pill I just had reworked wont see more than 5w dk with 30w swing.
Hate to keep hijacking this thread...
It’s been a long time since I ran a “builder” style amplifier. But still fresh enough in my memory to know it’s not exactly the same.
Anyway, I run very low drive into my Texasstars. Finding good drive level recommendations on the internet isn’t easy. Lol.
For example, with the DX500...you can easily find a number of posts telling folks NOT to buy one because they don’t have a big enough radio. I’ve been running mine with just 12-14 watts in since last fall and I’m super pleased. With that level - on par with a single final radio, it runs just fine and makes more power than a DX350. But importantly, it does it EASY. 20watts peak would probably be a good sweet spot. I see minimal gains on my watt meter after that.
So, I’ve running my DX1600 just the same. The radio makes 30-35w, and the amp will show 900 with a tone. Modulated by voice, a little less. But I don’t care....she’ll run cool like that, and more importantly she’ll likely run for a long time.
I tend to think that spec sheets mean little to nothing when it comes to the Chinese transistors, but theoretically, I should be operating at level low in the IMD curve. I can say, I always had RFI problems in the past...even with just a couple of 1446s. None, zero, zilch when running my stuff like this.