Dave wrote:
I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks


How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...
Dave wrote:
I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks


How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."



Dave wrote:
How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...

Dave wrote:

I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks



How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

Here's another posting referring to 6 dB "S-units". Have you actually
measured how many dB between marks on your receiver's S meter? I have.
Here's what they are, on my Icom IC-730, 40 meters, preamp off:

S1-S2: 1.4 dB
S2-S3: 1.3 dB
S3-S4: 1.6 dB
S4-S5: 2.3 dB
S5-S6: 1.8 dB
S6-S7: 3.2 dB
S7-S8: 3.1 dB
S8-S9: 4.0 dB
S9 - S9+10 dB: 5.6 dB
S9+10 - S9+20: 7.3 dB
S9+20 - S9+30: 6.6 dB
S9+30 - S9+40: 10.5 dB
S9+40 - S9+50: 11.3 dB
S9+50 - S9+60: 13.5 dB

So if I put up an antenna with 7 dB gain over a dipole (about par for a
3 element Yagi), it would kick my S meter from S2 to S6 when switching
from the dipole to the Yagi. If I assumed my "S units" were 6 dB, I'd
conclude my antenna had 24 dB gain. I'd be mistaken by a factor of 50 --
that is, I'd think my antenna had the gain of an array of about 50 Yagis.

I don't understand why we need a 6 dB unit which doesn't bear any fixed
relationship to the marks on an S meter. Why not just use dB? Most hams
can't measure 6 dB "S units" any better than they can measure dB.

I've got it. When somebody asks for a signal comparison and it's a 7 dB
difference, I'll just tell him "My S meter went from S2 to S6, which is
a difference of 1.2 S units." Everyone should understand that, right?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ham op wrote:
7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."



Dave wrote:

How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...

Dave wrote:

I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks



How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile
station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
...
Why do you need one on 80? The reality is if you can hear the other guy,
he
can hear you. Now if your ego requires that you have to be the first one
in
the pile to break through, then I guess you need a big amplifier.

My pet peeve is hearing a DX station calling CQ DX and some high powered
asshole starts out "Good evening again Carlos, your almost as strong as
you
were last night when we talked........" while some guy with a 100 watts
gets to set on their thumbs until Got Rocks is through bloviating.

Many are trying to get a new country while Mr. Got Rocks plays "watch this
you lowly peons". Yes! you asshole in New England, I am refering to you.
You
splatter the entire DX window and have no regard for your fellow hams...
Not
one time have I heard him say, "Carlos listen for KB2***, he is trying to
call you".

Boy, I am glad I got that out of my system. :)

I know the feeling Fred. I was trying to work a new SA station on 17m the
other night with my measly 100w to an R7. Time after time I would hear the
DX station say.."nice to work you again ________", one guy he even commented
on working about 6 times over the last year. Well I finally worked him for
the new one, only to find I had already worked him on 20m 14 years ago. At
least it wasn't on the same band!

Max

"Ham op" wrote in message
...
7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."

I will agree that it is best to go with a beter antenna, sometimes it is
just not practical. Not many can put up a beam for 80 meters and not that
many for ever 40 meters. Most amps will do 80 to 15 meters. Some will go
to 10 meters. The specs for a TH3 tribander is only 5.8 db over a dipole.
That is slightly less than 4 times the power. That is only for 20,15, 10
meters. That only takes your 100 watt rig to 400 watts. An amp that is
worth buying will put out atleast 600 to 800 watts and you can almost double
that and stay legal.

If you have to pay someone to put your beam antenna, the cost will go way
over the $ 1400.

The thing of hearing a station and he can hear you is also bogus in some
cases. I was trying to work a mobile on 80 meters that was parked running
100 watts. I could hear him just fine. About 1/4 scale on my S-meter. He
could not hear me for some local (to him) qrm and qrn. By turning on my amp
we could work each other.

The amp will not let you turn it to cut out some qrm/qrn like the beam may.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
. . .
The thing of hearing a station and he can hear you is also bogus in some
cases. I was trying to work a mobile on 80 meters that was parked running
100 watts. I could hear him just fine. About 1/4 scale on my S-meter. He
could not hear me for some local (to him) qrm and qrn. By turning on my amp
we could work each other.
. . .

The idea that if you can hear a station he can hear you is totally
wrong, especially at HF. At HF, you can have a terribly inefficient
antenna and hear people just fine. This is because the dominant noise is
coming from outside the receiver and therefore both signal and noise are
attenuated by the same amount by the loss. I can easily hear 20 meter DX
on my little Sony SW radio with a 2 foot rod antenna. But there's no
hope they'd hear me if I were transmitting with that antenna, even if
I'm running an equal or much greater amount of power than they are.

At VHF and above, where receiver noise dominates, a station you hear can
hear you if you're running about the same amount of power and if your
receivers have about the same noise figure. But this isn't at all true
at HF and below.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 14:25:05 -0400, "MD" wrote:


"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
.. .
Why do you need one on 80? The reality is if you can hear the other guy,
he
can hear you. Now if your ego requires that you have to be the first one
in
the pile to break through, then I guess you need a big amplifier.

My pet peeve is hearing a DX station calling CQ DX and some high powered
asshole starts out "Good evening again Carlos, your almost as strong as
you
were last night when we talked........" while some guy with a 100 watts
gets to set on their thumbs until Got Rocks is through bloviating.

Many are trying to get a new country while Mr. Got Rocks plays "watch this
you lowly peons". Yes! you asshole in New England, I am refering to you.
You
splatter the entire DX window and have no regard for your fellow hams...
Not
one time have I heard him say, "Carlos listen for KB2***, he is trying to
call you".

Boy, I am glad I got that out of my system. :)

I know the feeling Fred. I was trying to work a new SA station on 17m the
other night with my measly 100w to an R7. Time after time I would hear the
DX station say.."nice to work you again ________", one guy he even commented
on working about 6 times over the last year. Well I finally worked him for
the new one, only to find I had already worked him on 20m 14 years ago. At
least it wasn't on the same band!

Do any of you ever think that the DX stations just might get tired of
giving out 59s (or 33s in you guys cases) and might actually want to
engage in some civilized conversation with someone they've worked over
and over?

If a big antenna and higher power make this more enjoyable, what's the
issue? Oh, I almost forgot, this is the land of welfare and
entitlements.

Come on Roy, your picking an example that has nothing to do with the real
world. How many people try to work 20 meters on a 2 foot Sony whip?

I failed to state the obvious. Given: Both stations are using antennas
matched to the transmitter and of a length appropriate to the band being
utilized. YaDa YaDa.

Back in the AM days, my wife heard me coming out of a skillet on the stove.
I doubt she could have talked back to me no matter how high she turned up
the heat. :)




"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
The idea that if you can hear a station he can hear you is totally
wrong, especially at HF. At HF, you can have a terribly inefficient
antenna and hear people just fine. This is because the dominant noise is
coming from outside the receiver and therefore both signal and noise are
attenuated by the same amount by the loss. I can easily hear 20 meter DX
on my little Sony SW radio with a 2 foot rod antenna. But there's no
hope they'd hear me if I were transmitting with that antenna, even if
I'm running an equal or much greater amount of power than they are.

At VHF and above, where receiver noise dominates, a station you hear can
hear you if you're running about the same amount of power and if your
receivers have about the same noise figure. But this isn't at all true
at HF and below.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

A similar set of examples of apparent one way HF communication:
Michigan to Bangladesh in the rainy season. [much more QRN at one end than
the other]
Michigan to Antarctica in the (N.A.) Summer [heavy QRN on one end, none on
the other end]

.... and then there are the paths that have to go through the magnetic pole
....

These examples assume reasonable equipment in a rural setting.

73 Mac N8TT

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...


The idea that if you can hear a station he can hear you is totally
wrong, especially at HF. At HF, you can have a terribly inefficient
antenna and hear people just fine. This is because the dominant noise is
coming from outside the receiver and therefore both signal and noise are
attenuated by the same amount by the loss. I can easily hear 20 meter DX
on my little Sony SW radio with a 2 foot rod antenna. But there's no
hope they'd hear me if I were transmitting with that antenna, even if
I'm running an equal or much greater amount of power than they are.

At VHF and above, where receiver noise dominates, a station you hear can
hear you if you're running about the same amount of power and if your
receivers have about the same noise figure. But this isn't at all true
at HF and below.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL