Wilson 5000

I used to sell quite a few RM Italy amps on eBay and got shut down by eBay on a regular basis. Since the amps were simply a sideline and a tiny fraction of my eBay sales, I dumped 'em all at cost and said to hell with it. Thats one of the many reasons I dont sell much on eBay any longer

 

I just bought a KL-203 on ebay for $75 shipped. I don't see why ebay would care. The listing did not say it was for doing anything illegal, immoral or politically incorrect. Even though amps can be used in an illegal manner, so can a hammer, a screwdriver, a power saw, and etc and etc.

 

I like the way you think. eBay is reactive, not proactive. If a competitor or disgruntled Ham operator reports your auction, eBay will often shut you down and say mean things to you

 

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Are you happy with the Amp

 

Yep, I am happy with the little KL-203 box-o-fire. It fits in a small spot right next to the little Uniden 520 that drives it. They work well together. When I've used it so far, the number of responses I get in return are significantly more than I would otherwise expect.

The reason I finally got an amp, the KL-203, was for the occasions that I need a bit more power. That is not very often, since I use the CB strictly for on-road travel information on channel 19, and the nominal 4-watts works well for that. I certainly don't need more muscle when the trucks I'm communicating with are within a mile or three of my location at any given time.

But once in a while I need to get or give information to drivers farther away. In such a case is when I now can turn on the little amp and boost my range to maybe 15 miles or 20 miles or so. Of course, the actual range boost depends on various prevailing conditions, but I know going from the standard 4 watts to perhaps 80 or 100 watts makes a noticeable difference.

An example of when I want an amp is when I'm driving and get a clue of a problem up ahead, The clue may be a broken or garbled transmission about a "wreck" or "backup" or some such message. In this case, if I don't hear anything more for a couple of minutes, I ask on standard power if anyone knows about a problem ahead. If I get no response, I'll flip on the amp and ask again. I've already found that the amp will garner noticeably more responses than without it.

I can remember in the past that I've seen wrecks that just happened and I know that drivers many miles away would like to know about it so they can take alternate routes if they know soon enough. In such a case, now I'll flip on the amp to spread the word to those heading towards the problem, giving the location and conditions of the wreck so they can decide what to do.

A couple of days ago I was westbound on I-10 approaching the Bonnet Carrie Spillway which crosses a piece of Lake Pontchartrain west of New Orleans and heard on channel 19 something about a wreck up ahead on the spillway. The report said it was at MM 218 and if you wanted to avoid it, take the 220 exit, I heard another report that indicated the wreck had already been moved to the side and the traffic was moving slowly. I was far enough from exit 220 to take the exit, but I was too close to look where 220 would take me and besides, the reports indicated the wreck was already on the side and traffic was moving. So, I crossed my fingers and stayed on I-10. As it turned out, the delay was bumper-to-bumper only a few minutes, so it wasn't a big problem for me. As I passed the wreckage, sure enough the cops had moved the wrecks to the side and both lanes were open. I radioed on standard power that the wreck was at 218.5 (the spillway has 1/10 mile markers due to the need for precise location in case of wrecks etc) and traffic was moving past slowly. A driver responded about which lane he should be in, and I responded that either lane because both of them were open and moving equally well. He came back with an "appreciate it."

Now, for that wreck I didn't need or use the amp because of several reasons: The wreck was already moved to the side, the traffic was moving, and so it would be better for a driver to stay on I-10 rather than try the 220 exit anyway.

However, there will be other times that a bit more power will be welcomed, and now I have it.

So, I'm happy with my little booster. As I said, I don't need it much, but when I do, it's really beneficial to have. And it's cheap enough and small enough to fit my needs.

 

You are not increasing from 4 watts to 80 to 100 watts, you are increasing from 4 watts to carrier wattage of amp which is probably 20 to 25 watts which is still significant enough of an increase to increase signal by 1 S unit or more on receiving station so point is well taken, a couple years ago I used to run my Cobra 148 into a Texas Star Mod V ( 2290 pill) and it would deadkey 20 watts and pep to 80 watts and never had a problem Tx and Rx 20 to 30 mile range.

 

Looked up manufacturers recommended input requirements for the KL 203 amp and was a little surprised is wa 0.5 watts to 10 watts, dont know if I would trust 10 watts, plus a 10 watt radio should pep to 40 watts so you really arent gaining a whole lot.

 

Yeah, the KL 203 manual says input wattage can range from 0.5 to 10, but that's highly suspect. From my research before purchase, a couple of owners have reported damage to the amp even at 4 watts input, but most don't report problems with legal radios.

Because of the unusual input range they specify, one guy said he contacted an Italy rep and was told the range they cite includes pep. Ain't that a hoot. Such tactics seem to be common when it comes to CBs and specs. Live and learn.

I chose a Uniden 520 for use with the amp partially because it provides the lowest factory wattage output of the radios I own, namely 1.8 watts at 14.5 volts. I figured this was a good, safe figure. Most of the folks experimenting with the KL 203 recommend such lower wattages for theoretically best longevity.

Since I don't talk a lot anyway, I doubt higher wattage would heat up my amp to any damaging degree, but why not play it safe since it's working well at 1.8 watts.

 

My only meter is a cheap Workman, so I don't expect anything closer than "in the ballpark" numbers from it, if that.

I've had some luck measuring dead-key values that seem to make sense, but I can't seem to get any pep values that do so. I don't think the meter is able to read the pep, so I quit trying.

So, with the Uniden 520 and KL 203 hooked together, at 13.2 volts feed power and a Wilson 500 4.5-foot antenna, the Workman reported the following:

On Channel 19, with the amp turned "off," the dead key output registered 1.5 watts with an SWR of 1.1. With the amp turned "on," the dead key output was 60 watts with an SWR of 1.6. These values varied some when on other channels, but since I use only 19, it's the ones that count for me.

Does this make sense?