A little while ago I found a power amplifier for my 1296MHz setup.
This is essentially a W6PQL design with improvements and control/safety circuits by OZ2ELA.
A group had built this as a project, and one of the participants lost interest and sold the unit.
A test showed a solid output of 80 - 90W, enough for my purpose.
Controlling the mast preamplifier through the coax was not available, so I got myself 2 high power bias-tees for 1296MHz, capable of handling 600W.
Now I can bypass the DC control voltage from the radio to the preamplifier, and still use the PA as TX amplifier. This works well, and I am now running 50W on 1296 most of the time, with a drive of 3W from the transceiver.
I do have some cable loss, so often I could hear people who did not use mast preamplifiers at the antenna, but they could not hear me. With the amplifier, now there is a better balance between the local (FM) stations and my station.
There is still a lot to optimize here, mostly with respect to antennas and cable loss, and now the spring is coming, I can get started with that.
At the moment I am using a vertical monoband 1296MHz antenna.
Some yagi or other directional antenna is in the planning for use with DX (SSB/CW/DIGI modes, or even FM), and I do have some decent cable available for this purpose.
3 comments:
Jan. I keep trying to post here but it won't work. Maybe this time. Good progress. That linear looks like a good idea. The coax is a tricky issue for cost/vs/performance. My coax losses are almost 3dB at present! 73 Jim
Hello, Jim, I have been traveling, and apparently moderation has been activated. I don't know.
I think there is a possibility. There is also the rare option of going to a hill to try, but it's quite tedious to bring the whole station there (no parking on the hill).
But from home with a small yagi, it should be possible under excellent tropo, even though we need to cross th mainland (Jutland) part of the country.
Be seeing you on 23cm, or any band we can work on.
Vy 73 de Jan.
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