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Airborne
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Username: Airborne

Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 12:23 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i have a voyage 9000 and i run a palomar 250 with a para dynamics meter inline. everything is hooked up but when i power the amp the meter doesnt really go up to the 200s. is this normal?
i set the deadkey to 2 watts. if i can get any help on this setup i would really appriciate it. oh and this setup is running off a power supply with a antron 99 base antenna. thanks airborne
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Unit199
Intermediate Member
Username: Unit199

Post Number: 377
Registered: 8-2003


Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 8:54 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

HOW MANY WATTS IS IT PUTTING OUT AND WHAT SIZE POWER SUPPLY ARE YOU USING?

HARVE
UNIT199
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Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire

Post Number: 1900
Registered: 1-2005


Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 3:53 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Palomar 250? I think it has two sd1446 transistors and they are rated at 90 watts a piece. Amp should dead key no more than around 40-50 watts and swing to about 180 watts PEP tops. The radio deadkey at 2 watts is safe and personally I would not drive the amp swinging any harder than 15 or 20 watts PEP for good clean signal and long amp life.
Hope this helps,
CEF491
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Sonny
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Username: Sonny

Post Number: 109
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 7:38 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Air, I'v learned many times the amp rating is or seems about 1/3 less most of the time just like your finding out a 250 watt advertised amp is really 200 watts max. Yes they want you to drive it enough to get the 250 so you have to get it repaired with new finals. :0
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Airborne
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Username: Airborne

Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 10:57 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yeah these amps never really drive all thAT POWER. i am using a pyramid 40 amp power supply. i did a little experimenting today with the dk and radio. i can raise the dk and get about 180 watts....but i didnt think the amp was really enjoying it. so i went back to 2 watt dk and max of 15 watts.
when i drive the amp at 15 watts dk i get a 100 watt reading but it will swing higher when i talk. at 2 watts dk i only get 15 watts on meter...seems wierd. ?????
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Airborne
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Username: Airborne

Post Number: 3
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 11:27 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

well i played around a little more with it and my current settings are 17 watt DK and a max of 22 DK when i raise the RF power.
on the 17 watt DK i get the amp to do 105 watts and on 22 watt DK the amp does 148 watts.
i can always go back to 2 watt DK if you think this will affect me later down the road.
the thing will really start swinging when i start talking. on this current setting. any more advice????? airborne
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Airborne
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Username: Airborne

Post Number: 4
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 11:37 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

another question which swr meter would u guys believe? the one on the radio which gives me a 1:1 or the inline one which gives me 1:8 ?????
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Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire

Post Number: 1902
Registered: 1-2005


Posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 1:51 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I would go with the Para Dynamics meter. Many built in meters are inaccurate.
You can try a little more deadkey and see what you get but be careful not too much. Maybe 4 watts tops. Like you said, the amp is not going to enjoy abuse. The amp should not get hot real fast. If you drive those little amps hard you will notice the heat increase rapidly.
I say if you are happy with what you have now and you sound great then go with that. Get some good radio checks. Reliable checks, dont go with "it works". Ask them what the audio sounds like. Should be clean, no crackles, pops, or garbles. If you happened to squezze a few more watts out nobody will notice on the recieving end.
One more thing to consider is the power supply. Be sure it has the juice to power the amp. If you run the amp and radio on the same supply you can run into problems. I like to run my amp and radio with each having their own power supply. This way I know the radio will always have the volts steady.
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Airborne
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Username: Airborne

Post Number: 5
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 9:04 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

well i went back to the settings u told me earlier. i went back to 2 watts and i can bring up to 15 watts. i run it at 4 watts and it does great. yeah i am ganna have to reset my swr. i got some clean radio checks.
the only reason i didnt take it to a tech is because i wanna learn and the only way is to get your hands in there and mess around?
whats your 20 man?
im over in san francisco
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Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire

Post Number: 1912
Registered: 1-2005


Posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - 2:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live in Franklin, Indiana, 30 miles south of Indy. Waiting for the west coast skip to start back up, been wondering where its been.A Frisco contact would be a nice change from all the NewYork contacts this season.
Be readin the mail!

CEF491
27.115 LSB

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