I have a chance to get a Palomar Elite 300 linear amp CHEAP! Is this
thing any good? I haven't been able to find any information on it and
it doesn't come with a manual. The questions I have a

Is this amp good for HF Freqs 10 meters down to 80 meters as the seller
claims?
What purpose does the preamp serve?
With a boost in transmitting power, how will this affect receiving?
Would I be transmitting further than I can actually receive?

Sorry for the dumb questions. I have absolutely no experience with
linears, and this little amp seems too good to be true, so it probably
is!
Anyone know where there's information online for this amp?

Thanks!

That's a CB amp - NOT a ham amp. Not legal.


"Dennis" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a chance to get a Palomar Elite 300 linear amp CHEAP! Is this
thing any good? I haven't been able to find any information on it and
it doesn't come with a manual. The questions I have a

Is this amp good for HF Freqs 10 meters down to 80 meters as the seller
claims?
What purpose does the preamp serve?
With a boost in transmitting power, how will this affect receiving?
Would I be transmitting further than I can actually receive?

Sorry for the dumb questions. I have absolutely no experience with
linears, and this little amp seems too good to be true, so it probably
is!
Anyone know where there's information online for this amp?

Thanks!

Yes, I had a feeling about that and confirmed it earlier today. Thanks
Alan. I never got a chance to actually look at the amp close up so I
knew very little about it, including its FCC status. There's no cheap
way around this so guess it's back to HRO or Universal Radio.



Alan wrote:
That's a CB amp - NOT a ham amp. Not legal.


"Dennis" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a chance to get a Palomar Elite 300 linear amp CHEAP! Is
this
thing any good? I haven't been able to find any information on it
and
it doesn't come with a manual. The questions I have a

Is this amp good for HF Freqs 10 meters down to 80 meters as the
seller
claims?
What purpose does the preamp serve?
With a boost in transmitting power, how will this affect receiving?
Would I be transmitting further than I can actually receive?

Sorry for the dumb questions. I have absolutely no experience with
linears, and this little amp seems too good to be true, so it
probably
is!
Anyone know where there's information online for this amp?

Thanks!

I have a chance to get a Palomar Elite 300 linear amp CHEAP! Is this
thing any good? I haven't been able to find any information on it and
it doesn't come with a manual. The questions I have a

Is this amp good for HF Freqs 10 meters down to 80 meters as the seller
claims?
What purpose does the preamp serve?
With a boost in transmitting power, how will this affect receiving?
Would I be transmitting further than I can actually receive?

Greetings! I don't believe that it will go down to 80 meters. The ones like
it that I have seen will generally go down to 40 meters. The pre amp is for
receive purposes only, and is generally the first thing to go on these type of
amps. They are made for the eleven meter crowd and that is where they do best.
I don't forsee any real change in your reception with the amp. It has a low
input of probably no more than 10 watts. What transiever are you planning on
using it with? I think its best use for you would be on ten meters with a QRP
setup. You may be able to get this one cheap, but you need to determine which
bands you would want it for and do some more homework on it first. Copper
electronics is the big seller of these things. You might be able to get some
more info there. If I were you I would save my money and get something
actually designed for amatuer radio use. Jon.

Thanks, Jon. There's a lot of confusing information on the web about
FCC rules regarding amps. My understanding is that in the U.S. you
can't have a linear amp with less than 50 watts drive power? I have a
10 meter mobile rig running off a power supply at home with 10 watts AM
and I believe 25 watts SSB. The palomar does not meet these drive
rules (5-25 watts), plus I seriously doubt it was issued an FCC type
acceptance, so it would be illegal to use it. I could be wrong here,
so please correct me if I am.

So it seems I can't put ANY type of amp on my 10 meter rig because of
it's low power. I may as well pack it away until the sun cycle
improves. It's pretty useless the way things are now, but damn can it
reach out when the sun activity is favorable! (RCI-2950)

Also, I heard these black market amps are really dirty as far as
interference goes. I definitely don't need to be upsetting the
neighbors. They wonder about enough as it is. :-) I woldn't blame
anyone for using this amp for QRP, but its dirty output could really
create problems not only with the neighbors but with the FCC.

I also heard this amp is a real current hog - at least 20 amps when set
on low (it's obviously not very efficient).

So, I agree with Jon that if I were to buy a linear amp, the extra
money for a good quality, reputable brand amateur radio amp is money
well spent. Clean, efficient operation really costs, though!

Glad I posted this, as I totally forgot about the minimum drive power
rule. Doing your homework can really pay off sometimes. :-) Thanks
to all for your help and advice.

I don't think type acceptance applies to equipment applied for Amateur Radio
use.........think of all of the hams that have built thier own amplifiers.
Drive power also shouldn't be an issue..............if you have a QRP rig,
you should be allowed to design your own amplifier or use a commercial
amplifier that has low drive requirements. Using it on 11 Meters is a
different story, but the Amateur frequencies should be an exception. I don't
use the myself, instead, using a barefoot 100 watt rig on the HF bands, it
eliminates the "other box", but everybody has preferences.............

Pete

"Dennis" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks, Jon. There's a lot of confusing information on the web about
FCC rules regarding amps. My understanding is that in the U.S. you
can't have a linear amp with less than 50 watts drive power? I have a
10 meter mobile rig running off a power supply at home with 10 watts AM
and I believe 25 watts SSB. The palomar does not meet these drive
rules (5-25 watts), plus I seriously doubt it was issued an FCC type
acceptance, so it would be illegal to use it. I could be wrong here,
so please correct me if I am.

So it seems I can't put ANY type of amp on my 10 meter rig because of
it's low power. I may as well pack it away until the sun cycle
improves. It's pretty useless the way things are now, but damn can it
reach out when the sun activity is favorable! (RCI-2950)

Also, I heard these black market amps are really dirty as far as
interference goes. I definitely don't need to be upsetting the
neighbors. They wonder about enough as it is. :-) I woldn't blame
anyone for using this amp for QRP, but its dirty output could really
create problems not only with the neighbors but with the FCC.

I also heard this amp is a real current hog - at least 20 amps when set
on low (it's obviously not very efficient).

So, I agree with Jon that if I were to buy a linear amp, the extra
money for a good quality, reputable brand amateur radio amp is money
well spent. Clean, efficient operation really costs, though!

Glad I posted this, as I totally forgot about the minimum drive power
rule. Doing your homework can really pay off sometimes. :-) Thanks
to all for your help and advice.

"Pete KE9OA" ) writes:
I don't think type acceptance applies to equipment applied for Amateur Radio
use.........think of all of the hams that have built thier own amplifiers.
Drive power also shouldn't be an issue..............if you have a QRP rig,
you should be allowed to design your own amplifier or use a commercial
amplifier that has low drive requirements. Using it on 11 Meters is a
different story, but the Amateur frequencies should be an exception. I don't
use the myself, instead, using a barefoot 100 watt rig on the HF bands, it
eliminates the "other box", but everybody has preferences.............

Pete

Decades ago, you'd open up the Lafayette catalog, and see amplifiers on
the CB page. They'd have relatively low output, but then they only required
5W drive. And they'd all say "Illegal for Class D citizen band use".

IN other words, they were being sold for such use, with the disclaimer
so Lafayette could at least say they warned people.

There were plenty of other examples.

So in the late seventies your FCC introduced a law to clamp down on
those amplifiers for illegal use. The issue wasn't to restrict amateurs,
the issue was that many an amplifier was using the guise of being
an amateur amplifier to cloke that it was intended for the CB market.

Michael VE2BVW

"Dennis" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks, Jon. There's a lot of confusing information on the web about
FCC rules regarding amps. My understanding is that in the U.S. you
can't have a linear amp with less than 50 watts drive power? I have a
10 meter mobile rig running off a power supply at home with 10 watts AM
and I believe 25 watts SSB. The palomar does not meet these drive
rules (5-25 watts), plus I seriously doubt it was issued an FCC type
acceptance, so it would be illegal to use it. I could be wrong here,
so please correct me if I am.

So it seems I can't put ANY type of amp on my 10 meter rig because of
it's low power. I may as well pack it away until the sun cycle
improves. It's pretty useless the way things are now, but damn can it
reach out when the sun activity is favorable! (RCI-2950)

Also, I heard these black market amps are really dirty as far as
interference goes. I definitely don't need to be upsetting the
neighbors. They wonder about enough as it is. :-) I woldn't blame
anyone for using this amp for QRP, but its dirty output could really
create problems not only with the neighbors but with the FCC.

I also heard this amp is a real current hog - at least 20 amps when set
on low (it's obviously not very efficient).

So, I agree with Jon that if I were to buy a linear amp, the extra
money for a good quality, reputable brand amateur radio amp is money
well spent. Clean, efficient operation really costs, though!

Glad I posted this, as I totally forgot about the minimum drive power
rule. Doing your homework can really pay off sometimes. :-) Thanks
to all for your help and advice.