Silver streak 150 watt

[boeing46]

Does anybody know how many amps this amp draws.
I have a tube type Footwarmer that splatters like crazy.
I was thinking about trying to use it in my shack.
Would there be more or less rfi an tfi. I have a 12 amp 12 volt supply.
I am trying very hard to keep my interference down.
I mostly talk to people within 10 miles mostly on 2-5 watts.
I use the kicker only when necessary.
My tube type does not have ssb and the Silver Streak does.
I am going up 40 ft to also try to be a good neighbor. At 58 feet i will be able to get out there better barefoot.
Thanks for any help

[boeing46]

Some of the radios are not mine but they are the same. My camera takes horrible pictures. But these are the radio's i run with the footwarmer and the Silver Streak.
Gadfly is gonna have a coronary seeing this stuff. I keep it on the am 40 if that makes ya feel better.

[clantonman1983]

Originally Posted by boeing46

Gadfly is gonna have a coronary seeing this stuff. I keep it on the am 40 if that makes ya feel better.

I almost spit my drink out....

[Carolina Thunder]

Originally Posted by boeing46

Does anybody know how many amps this amp draws.
I have a tube type Footwarmer that splatters like crazy.
I was thinking about trying to use it in my shack.
Would there be more or less rfi an tfi. I have a 12 amp 12 volt supply.
I am trying very hard to keep my interference down.
I mostly talk to people within 10 miles mostly on 2-5 watts.
I use the kicker only when necessary.
My tube type does not have ssb and the Silver Streak does.

I am going up 40 ft to also try to be a good neighbor. At 58 feet i will be able to get out there better barefoot.
Thanks for any help

Some amps tend to be a little more dirty than others. If you are causing hell to the people around then try this. Make sure your radio has not been clipped and set modulation at no more than 100%. This means no mod kits/swing kits! Open the speaker side of the radio and look in the back of the radio to see if any of the small copper coils have been spread apart. If so then gently squeeze the coils back together. CB techs do this to cause a Dosy meter to show more output power but your radio does not make any more power. It produces more harmonics and the meter sees this as power,this will cause you to bleed 40 above and below and also cause all kinds of interference to those around you even with a barefoot radio.


Another thing is to ground the hell out of everything! The radio,amp,antenna....everything! Here is a little info.

[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

This is a web site you can go to and search all kinds of information on just about anything radio related.

[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Ground is everything and it's pointless to spend the money on a base station if you can only talk on it at night! You also need to make sure you have a clean radio and not one that is dirty. An amp behind a dirty radio will make it much much worse but if you take the time to do everything right then you will be a lot more happy and so will those around you. You can also raise your antenna higher and run high quality coax to cut down on interference.

I have done most of this stuff myself and i have run well over 5000 watts (big tube amp) and not bother the people that live behind me.........and they live only 60 feet from my antenna. With a dirty radio and poor ground i could make their toaster talk with a 50 watt radio!

You can try the power supply but i dont think it will be enough.You may need to set up to a 20 amp to pull it.

[WA4GCH]

You guys make me feel sickly ......

I ran 900 watts for my MOONBOUNCE station back in 1971 into 4 stacked 17 elm beams and thought it would melt the local trees .......

Strangly I knew a SK HAM who worked over 1,000 miles on 2 meters with 1/4 watt output. He would follow me when I was working DX with a big 2 meter antenna and one time got a 350 mile contact who commented when he asked can you hear me?

" Hear you your almost as strong as your buddy is "

When He died in 1988 ( he was 1st licensed in 1919 ) he had more than 20 states on 2 meters .....

5,000 watts must be nice .....

[Carolina Thunder]

Originally Posted by WA4GCH

You guys make me feel sickly ......

I ran 900 watts for my MOONBOUNCE station back in 1971 into 4 stacked 17 elm beams and thought it would melt the local trees .......

Strangly I knew a SK HAM who worked over 1,000 miles on 2 meters with 1/4 watt output. He would follow me when I was working DX with a big 2 meter antenna and one time got a 350 mile contact who commented when he asked can you hear me?

" Hear you your almost as strong as your buddy is "

When He died in 1988 ( he was 1st licensed in 1919 ) he had more than 20 states on 2 meters .....

5,000 watts must be nice .....

It was just to make a point that if you do everything right then you can run as much power as you want and not bother anyone. That amp belonged to a guy that i knew who had it built just to talk on the Superbowl and i only used it for about 10 minutes just to see what it was like to DX with that much power. I myself was not very impressed with that much power vs the normal 1000 watts i used at the time. Since then i dont run anymore than 150 watts,if i cant talk to someone with that then i dont wast my time!

Since i made a few 4000 and 6500 mile contacts on 38 and 37 LSB with only 20 watts, the big power AM thing seems kinda pointless!

[FriedTater]

No more pointless then any other luxury one could afford
if you can afford (by proper means) to run 1-2KW's in a mobile rig then spend the money and have at it IMO.

I dont drive into trailer parks knocking folks in double wides because I live in a 2K sqft house........
Abit much for just two people but what I prefer none the less

[quote=Carolina Thunder;996868]Since i made a few 4000 and 6500 mile contacts on 38 and 37 LSB with only 20 watts, the big power AM thing seems kinda pointless![/quote]

[WA4GCH]

Originally Posted by Carolina Thunder

It was just to make a point that if you do everything right then you can run as much power as you want and not bother anyone. That amp belonged to a guy that i knew who had it built just to talk on the Superbowl and i only used it for about 10 minutes just to see what it was like to DX with that much power. I myself was not very impressed with that much power vs the normal 1000 watts i used at the time. Since then i dont run anymore than 150 watts,if i cant talk to someone with that then i dont wast my time!

Since i made a few 4000 and 6500 mile contacts on 38 and 37 LSB with only 20 watts, the big power AM thing seems kinda pointless!

PERSONLY .....

I don't beleve in power the controled studys I've seen show that it solves nothing ..... That said except for the moonbounce days I never run over 150 even on 2 meter SSB.

I have Wymans old station well whats left of it ..... He was a bell labs engineer who worked on the transistor in the 1940's and his 1/4 watt transmitter and receiver boards are even being only in parts 20 years after he died show what good workmanship can do even home made stuff can do ..... I still try to build my own but my eyes are bad the diebetas has cost me much of my eyesight so its hard to see the small stuff any more ...

Too bad HEATH, KNIGHT and others are gone ......

[Carolina Thunder]

[quote=FriedTater;997484]No more pointless then any other luxury one could afford
if you can afford (by proper means) to run 1-2KW's in a mobile rig then spend the money and have at it IMO.

I dont drive into trailer parks knocking folks in double wides because I live in a 2K sqft house........
Abit much for just two people but what I prefer none the less

Originally Posted by Carolina Thunder

Since i made a few 4000 and 6500 mile contacts on 38 and 37 LSB with only 20 watts, the big power AM thing seems kinda pointless![/quote]

I say pointless because with a good antenna setup you can talk just as far with 200 watts as you can with 2000. Hell with my old Tram D-201A that only does like 12 watts i've talked to the west coast on AM,even walked over a few guys doing it! I have also talked a bunch of AM skip in my car or truck using just a 95T and nothing else, talked just as much as i did when i had my big Dave Made in line. It's all about mother nature not power. If she does not want you to talk then your not going to talk. No matter if you have 100 watts or 25000 watts which is why i say all that power is kinda pointless.


I have been playing with this stuff for years and having a boat load of power just so you can walk across the guy down the street is (to me) a wast of money. Now I'm not going to knock you for it,if that's your thing then more power to you. It's a free country and if you want to run enough power to run a small town then go right ahead but power is not everything.

If i can talk around the nation with less than 200 watts then i dont need to put my Heathkit,Henry,Drake,Pride or one of the old Elkins ( i dont run big AM power anymore but i have the stuff sitting here if i get the urge ) in line just to talk over some loser with a wanna be big radio. I'm more concerned about the high level of sound quality i get from my equipment then i am about impressing the guys on the local channels with 20 DB's of forward swing!

[FriedTater]

Still amounts to personal preferences,its fun to run big power to smash the ghetto lips that shoulda "bought more"
Running on the edge is the challenge,finding the limit
to stock vehicle allowances and running it consistently without recourse(breakdown) is in itself satisfying.

Its all part of being a radio nut,diversity,flexabiltiy.
My favorite is honesty I tell you what I smashed you with ,then I talk about it on the short channels.