On Saturday 07 August 2010 21:50:07 Steve Sala wrote:
> What is the next step in increasing your power on 432? I have a Icom
> IC-910 with 50 watts out and would like to increase it. I see MFJ Mirage
> amps only go up to 100 watts on that band. What's the next step before a
> Lunar Link?
>
> Steve K7AWB
> Nine Mile Falls, WA
> DN17es
I think the next step is figuring out what you really need. I have about
100w on 6, 2, 222 && 432. A 10dB increase in that means expen$ive
amps, and say 200w to 400w gets you something, but still costs.
Getting better antennas however means that you up your ERP *and*
gets you a noiseless increase in receive abilities. Having more
antenna in the air--and getting them higher--seems the best option
to me. You might want to get a 100w amp, but really, unless you
can find a cheap 150w class amp, I think it makes more sense to
optimize on the antenna situation.
This isn't theoretical for me: I'm one of the cheerleaders for W8PGW,
the club station for the Arrow Communication Association in Ann
Arbor MI. We have a 30 ft tower and a trailer just outside town.
This is a group effort, and without spending gobs of money we've
needed to think about what to do to make the station better. It
seems that better antennas are the most cost effective way to
achieve this.
Of course, I'd love to hear others ideas on this...
--
STeve Andre'
Disease Control Warden
Dept. of Political Science
Michigan State University
A day without Windows is like a day without a nuclear incident.
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|