Actually. many older rigs used external power supplies such as
the Heathkit SB and HW series rigs, many of the Hallicrafters
(HT-44, etc) and Collins rigs (S-line). Not that many 100 watt
tranceivers used internal supplies. The reason its gone the way of
the dodo bird is because of solid state output stages that require
lotsa current.

Cost....I'm looking for used, older stuff at a junkfest. Take a
guess! ;-) Don't even mind taking on a fixer-upper if
the price is right.

I prefer tube finals for several reasons. They are inherently more
forgiving to things like high SWR, mistuning, etc. Plus I have a
nice stock of 6146's. I feel very comfortable working with tubes,
replacing capacitors, etc. Also true for transistors, but replacements,
when they are needed, are expensive and a pain to install.
Over the years I have come across many rigs with solid state
finals for sale, cheap (blown outputs). I can take a hint!

Thanks to everyone that has offered their advice. Its greatly
appreciated. Maybe if I win the Lottery, I'll buy a new radio.

Steve W6SSP


Dee D. Flint wrote in message
.com...

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Hi Gang,
The junkfest season starts here next weekend, and I've been
thinking about searching for a newer, more capable low band rig.
My current rig is an old TS-820S which I am very pleased with.

Here are my requirements;

tube finals, 160-10 meter bands including the newfangled (!) WARC
bands,
100 watts out, internal power supply

Would be nice, but not necessary;

12 VDC supply built in, general coverage receiver, 6 meter capability,
a Kenwood rig, AM

YOu left out the most important thing. How much money do you plan on
putting into the rig ?

While the tube finals are what you want, it may be time to rethink that
to
the solid state finals as the tubes (inexpensive) and tube rigs are
getting
harder to come by. By now some of them are getting old enough that the
capacitors are starting to give problems.

Also the built in power supply seems to have gone the way of the dodo
bird.
None of the current Kenwoods or Icoms come with a built in power supply.
Of
the Yaesu models, only the FT-1000D has the power supply built in but this
radio is HF only.

If you want built in 6m capability as part of the radio, you need to look
at
radios made in the last 5 to 10 years. The Kenwood TS-570S(G) but not the
TS-570D(G) covers HF+6m and is all mode. It does not have tube finals.
It
does not have a built in power supply. The TS-2000 covers HF+6m+2m and is
all mode. Again it doesn't have tube finals and doesn't have a built in
power supply.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE