WW4DX.RADIO – HICKORY,N.C.

Just spoke with the Canadian amateur who purchased my OM Power OM2500HF, on-air. Amp is working perfectly. He went from S6/7 to S9 +15/20 (at legal limit) when he put her in line. And BTW there is more left to put in line, however really not needed.

The Palstar AT4K has gone down the road. Fantastic Transmatch.

The OM Power OM2500HF has gone down the road. Great HF amplifier.

Confident the new owners will enjoy them as much as I did.

This is not a review. Just my initial thoughts. My review will come much later, after putting it through it’s paces.

The RF-KIT RF2K-S has arrived! Arrived in less than 3 weeks of the order being placed. It arrived via FedEx. Zero damage.

Thoughts…

Excellent build quality. You can tell a lot of thought and planning went into design.

Lightweight as compared to a similar gain tube amp. About 1/3 of the weight.

Takes up much less desktop space.

No warmup period. No cool down period.

Zero, I mean zero fan noise.

Very attractive chassis and touchscreen display.

Setup/configuration is quick and simple.

Did I mention ZERO fan noise? LOL. It’s so quiet you’ll not even know it’s on.

No bandswitch. No load or plate controls. No stepper motors. No tuning whatsoever. Turn it on, and go!

Very clean, linear output. I did a lot of monitoring of my signal on several on-line SDR’s. It’s very clean. In addition I’ve had several take a look a their scope. Yes, it’s very clean. Cleaner than ANY tube amp I’ve ever owned. I have always taken exception with wide, nasty signals on amateur radio.

Power output is 1.5KW, with headroom, just as advertised. Between 32-37 watts, depending upon the band, produces legal limit. Max drive is 55 watts.

Internal transmatch? Tested. Works. Am I going to be using it? Probably not. My Palstar HF-AUTO would be hard to beat.

As compared to ANY tube based amp I’ve owned, at this point without any doubt, the RF2K-S is superior in every operational aspect.

Will I have this same opinion 6 months from now? Time will tell. However my initial thought is I’ve made the right decision, finally departing the tube based amplifier world. Unless there is some unforeseen technology advancements in tube based amateur radio amplifiers, I never see myself purchasing another tube amp for my main station. Would I buy an older tube based amp for my vintage station? Sure. The future is Solid State. Tubes are the past.

Is a Soild State amplifier for everyone? Maybe not. If you don’t jump from band to band like I do chasing DX, care about the noise, care about the heat, and don’t mind fiddling around with multiple controls, this isn’t for you. However for me it is!

These ‘wide-band audio’ hams sound like clowns on HF.

Who in the right state of mind, wants to sound like your speaking into a microphone, from inside a barrel?

I’ve heard several of them say, they have ‘broadcast’ audio quality.

However I’ve never heard a professional broadcaster sound like any of these clowns.

Too each their own…..

Helpful hint for the lesser experienced ham ops.

If you hear a station calling CQ, and you hear him/her answering several others, yet you only hear him/her, it stands to reason that he/she is probably operating ‘split’ (QSX).

If you were to actually listen closely before transmitting, you will more than likely hear the station calling CQ, say up 5 to 10. This means they are listing up 5 to 10kHz from the frequency they are transmitting on.

If you continue attempting to answer the station working ‘split’ on their calling frequency, you will wake the Frequency Police roaming the bands, and they too will respond on the stations calling frequency (causing additional QRM) saying ‘ up up” without the benefit of a call sign!!!

So don’t be a LID. Listen a minute or so, before making a fool of yourself on-air. There is no need to be in a hurry, the station is probably going to be on-air for hours to come.

This has been a ‘ham radio service announcement’ from WW4DX.

Sold my OM Power amp. This has been a fantastic amp. Makes a lot of power, with very little drive. Sold it, due to downsizing the station. Less stuff Sue has to deal with, down the road…

Also going to sell the Palstar AT4K. No longer have the need for such a large transmatch, once the OM2500HF is gone.

What is the fascination of sounding like your speaking into a microphone from inside an empty barrel? Echo, echo, echo.

Do these LIDS think they sound good?