FS: 500W solid state HF amp.....
 

FS: Solid state Skywalker 500 linear amp with 200amp metered power supply.
Puts out over 700 watts on 75M. Amp it 9+ in appearance and 100% in
operational quality. Substantially less than 80 watts drives it full power.
Also has bandpass filters for all HF bands. It's very quiet and very
efficient. $850.

Odd... For some reason, this amplifier is available in kit form only, and only
to Hams outside of the US of A..... They are located in Surfside Beach, South
Carolina... Perhaps the Amplifier Kit does not meet FCC regulations (works for
11/10 Meters without Ham License verification)

I don't have personally verified information on this amplifer, and was
interested in it before I found it couldn't be purchased from the manufacturer
of the kit in the US..

If anyone else has better information on this amp, I would be interested, as I
could use a low priced solid state amp if it doesn't pollute the bands I work.
(primarily 80, 40 and 20 meters)

Thanks
--Rick AH7H

MICHAEL LINGER wrote:

FS: Solid state Skywalker 500 linear amp with 200amp metered power supply.
Puts out over 700 watts on 75M. Amp it 9+ in appearance and 100% in
operational quality. Substantially less than 80 watts drives it full power.
Also has bandpass filters for all HF bands. It's very quiet and very
efficient. $850.

In article ,
Rick Frazier wrote:

Odd... For some reason, this amplifier is available in kit form only, and only
to Hams outside of the US of A..... They are located in Surfside Beach, South
Carolina... Perhaps the Amplifier Kit does not meet FCC regulations (works for
11/10 Meters without Ham License verification)

That does seem to be the case. As I understand it, it is not
currently legal to manufacture or sell an external power amplifier (or
sell one as a kit) which can operate between 24 and 35 MHz. Such amps
cannot be certificated, under current FCC rules, and external power
amps are the only sort of amateur-radio gear which does require
certification. I don't believe that ham-license verification comes
into it at all, in this particular portion of the rules - commercial
amps simply can't be manufactured, or kitted, or sold in new condition
to anyone, if they can amplify between 24 and 35 MHz.

The FCC has proposed (on their own initiative) that this restriction
be dropped. It was never popular with hams and manufacturers, for
obvious reasons, and it doesn't seem to have been effective at keeping
CB "linear" amps from being churned out and sold in quantity... the
original goal of the rule.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:
In article ,
Rick Frazier wrote:


Odd... For some reason, this amplifier is available in kit form only, and only
to Hams outside of the US of A..... They are located in Surfside Beach, South
Carolina... Perhaps the Amplifier Kit does not meet FCC regulations (works for
11/10 Meters without Ham License verification)


That does seem to be the case. As I understand it, it is not
currently legal to manufacture or sell an external power amplifier (or
sell one as a kit) which can operate between 24 and 35 MHz. Such amps
cannot be certificated, under current FCC rules, and external power
amps are the only sort of amateur-radio gear which does require
certification. I don't believe that ham-license verification comes
into it at all, in this particular portion of the rules - commercial
amps simply can't be manufactured, or kitted, or sold in new condition
to anyone, if they can amplify between 24 and 35 MHz.

The FCC has proposed (on their own initiative) that this restriction
be dropped. It was never popular with hams and manufacturers, for
obvious reasons, and it doesn't seem to have been effective at keeping
CB "linear" amps from being churned out and sold in quantity... the
original goal of the rule.

License verification is not part of the FCC rules. However most
manufacturers of amps will supply instructions on how to modify them for
12/10 meter operation upon proof of license.
John

In article ,
John wrote:

License verification is not part of the FCC rules. However most
manufacturers of amps will supply instructions on how to modify them for
12/10 meter operation upon proof of license.

Yup. It's legal for a licensed amateur to perform such a modification
(no more than one amp per year or one per model per year, I can't
remember which), and it's also legal for an amateur to sell an amp
once modified to another amateur for amateur use.

License verification isn't required by the FCC, but I imagine it's a
good way for a manufacturer to show a good-faith defense against
charges that they're selling amps intended to be modified for CB use,
and for amateurs to make sure that they're selling used amps in a
legal way.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:23:23 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:

In article ,
John wrote:

License verification is not part of the FCC rules. However most
manufacturers of amps will supply instructions on how to modify them for
12/10 meter operation upon proof of license.

Yup. It's legal for a licensed amateur to perform such a modification
(no more than one amp per year or one per model per year, I can't
remember which), and it's also legal for an amateur to sell an amp
once modified to another amateur for amateur use.

The wording is no more than one unit of one model. Interesting that
you can build one from scratch, or modify a commercially built amp,
but you cannot build one from a kit capable of operation below 144

Dick wrote:
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:23:23 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:


In article ,
John wrote:


License verification is not part of the FCC rules. However most
manufacturers of amps will supply instructions on how to modify them for
12/10 meter operation upon proof of license.

Yup. It's legal for a licensed amateur to perform such a modification
(no more than one amp per year or one per model per year, I can't
remember which), and it's also legal for an amateur to sell an amp
once modified to another amateur for amateur use.


The wording is no more than one unit of one model. Interesting that
you can build one from scratch, or modify a commercially built amp,
but you cannot build one from a kit capable of operation below 144
But you can build a kit and modify that. I used to use a Heath SB1000
amp. I enabled 10m from the start - just did not install the wire that
prevented it from working. That's about as simple as a mod can get and
still not cause a problem with the FCC about not readily modifiable to
operate on 27MHz.
John

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:09:33 GMT, John
wrote:



Dick wrote:
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:23:23 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:


In article ,
John wrote:


License verification is not part of the FCC rules. However most
manufacturers of amps will supply instructions on how to modify them for
12/10 meter operation upon proof of license.

Yup. It's legal for a licensed amateur to perform such a modification
(no more than one amp per year or one per model per year, I can't
remember which), and it's also legal for an amateur to sell an amp
once modified to another amateur for amateur use.


The wording is no more than one unit of one model. Interesting that
you can build one from scratch, or modify a commercially built amp,
but you cannot build one from a kit capable of operation below 144
But you can build a kit and modify that. I used to use a Heath SB1000
amp. I enabled 10m from the start - just did not install the wire that
prevented it from working. That's about as simple as a mod can get and
still not cause a problem with the FCC about not readily modifiable to
operate on 27MHz.
John

I'm not sure about that John. 97.315 is pretty specific about kits.
97.315 (b) says that any amplifier kit has to be Certified by the FCC.
I would think the chances of getting the FCC to certify a kit of parts
capable of building a 10-meter amplifier would be slim to less than
zero.

Heath doesn't make kits anymore, and these rules were written after
Heath went out of the ham radio business. What you stated was true
many years ago. The only way to satisfy the requirements now is to
modify a factory built, certified amplifier, or build one on your own
from scratch without using a kit (unless of course you can find a
certified kit. Good luck on that.)

Dick

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:54:44 -0700, Dick LeadWinger wrote:

The only way to satisfy the requirements now is to
modify a factory built, certified amplifier, or build one on your own
from scratch without using a kit (unless of course you can find a
certified kit. Good luck on that.)

Dick

And of course you can always buy one from another amateur that is
already modified or buy one purchased new prior to April 28, 1978. My
comments above were related to buying something new.

Dick

"Dick" LeadWinger wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:54:44 -0700, Dick LeadWinger wrote:

The only way to satisfy the requirements now is to
modify a factory built, certified amplifier, or build one on your own
from scratch without using a kit (unless of course you can find a
certified kit. Good luck on that.)

Dick

And of course you can always buy one from another amateur that is
already modified or buy one purchased new prior to April 28, 1978. My
comments above were related to buying something new.

Dick

Didn't the builder of these kits get cited by FCC a couple of years ago for
selling them?

Jerry

In article ,
Jerry wrote:

And of course you can always buy one from another amateur that is
already modified or buy one purchased new prior to April 28, 1978. My
comments above were related to buying something new.

Didn't the builder of these kits get cited by FCC a couple of years ago for
selling them?

I don't know the details, but that certainly seems to be implied by
what he writes on his website when he explains why his products are
only available for sale to non-US amateurs.

He complains that only one company (Communications Concepts) can get
authorization from the FCC to sell certificated amplifier kits. In
looking through the Communications Concepts web site, though, I don't
see any _complete_ amplifier kits at all, nor do I see any discussion
of certification status.

C.C. sells PC boards, and selected sets of components which can be
used to construct some of the Motorola reference-design amplifiers,
but they state quite clearly that they do not provide manuals,
heatsinks, chassis, connectors, etc. needed to complete the amplifier.

Since you cannot construct a working amplifier solely from what
Communications Concepts is willing to sell you, the result isn't
something which would require certification. An amateur could
construct one amp per year using their components (plus others that
s/he acquires elsewhere) without having to have the resulting
amplifier certificated.

I suspect that this is the difference. Communications Concepts is a
component supplier (and components by themselves do not require
certification), while the kit builder in question is providing
completely kitted amplifiers (which do require certification). That's
probably enough to make the difference between all-is-OK, and an
enforcement action.

The kits *could* have been designed in a way which would allow them to
be certificated - they'd just have to have a difficult-to-defeat
rolloff of the upper HF frequencies - but the designer didn't do this,
and for this reason they don't meet the current rules for certification.

This issue seems likely to become moot within a few months, as the FCC
is proposing to drop the restriction on construction and sale of amps
capable of operating in the upper HF band.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:01:14 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:


snip

This issue seems likely to become moot within a few months, as the FCC
is proposing to drop the restriction on construction and sale of amps
capable of operating in the upper HF band.

Good analysis Dave.

Dick

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Jerry wrote:

And of course you can always buy one from another amateur that is
already modified or buy one purchased new prior to April 28, 1978. My
comments above were related to buying something new.

Didn't the builder of these kits get cited by FCC a couple of years ago
for
selling them?

I don't know the details, but that certainly seems to be implied by
what he writes on his website when he explains why his products are
only available for sale to non-US amateurs.

He complains that only one company (Communications Concepts) can get
authorization from the FCC to sell certificated amplifier kits. In
looking through the Communications Concepts web site, though, I don't
see any _complete_ amplifier kits at all, nor do I see any discussion
of certification status.

C.C. sells PC boards, and selected sets of components which can be
used to construct some of the Motorola reference-design amplifiers,
but they state quite clearly that they do not provide manuals,
heatsinks, chassis, connectors, etc. needed to complete the amplifier.

Since you cannot construct a working amplifier solely from what
Communications Concepts is willing to sell you, the result isn't
something which would require certification. An amateur could
construct one amp per year using their components (plus others that
s/he acquires elsewhere) without having to have the resulting
amplifier certificated.

I suspect that this is the difference. Communications Concepts is a
component supplier (and components by themselves do not require
certification), while the kit builder in question is providing
completely kitted amplifiers (which do require certification). That's
probably enough to make the difference between all-is-OK, and an
enforcement action.

The kits *could* have been designed in a way which would allow them to
be certificated - they'd just have to have a difficult-to-defeat
rolloff of the upper HF frequencies - but the designer didn't do this,
and for this reason they don't meet the current rules for certification.

This issue seems likely to become moot within a few months, as the FCC
is proposing to drop the restriction on construction and sale of amps
capable of operating in the upper HF band.

--
Dave Platt

Is there an announced date when this restriction is to be lifted, or is it
still just a proposal?


Jerry

In article ,
Jerry wrote:

Is there an announced date when this restriction is to be lifted, or is it
still just a proposal?

To the best of my knowledge it's still just a proposal.

This proposal was part of the FCC's "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking"
released on 15 April 2004. This was the same NPRM in which the FCC
proposed accepting the ARRL's request to "re-farm" the Novice/Tech Plus
CW sub-bands, reallocated these for phone operation, and proposed
accepting Kenwood's petition to allow auxiliary-station operation in
the 2-meter band (thus legalizing Sky Command).

The comment and reply-comment end dates were back in June of 2004.

I haven't heard anything recent about action on this. It would not
surprise me greatly if the FCC chose to do a single revision of the
rules, which would incorporate the changes in this NPRM and also
formalize the removal of the 5 WPM Morse Code requirement.

If that's how they decide to do it, then "sometime later this year" is
the best guess I can offer.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!