looking to add linear

Or the amp itself

 

The RM amplifiers from Italy are nice. No need to wire to the battery, it can even share the same wire that feeds your cb.

It's only 100 watts (they have bigger ones though) and can be bought on Ebay for a little more than $70.

100 watts is good. If you work SSB it'll get you out all over the USA and into Europe and south America and up into Alaska.

$70 on ebay

See pic below for the RM203P

RadioPics Database - Linear Amplifiers - RM Italy KL-203P

 

Do those little 100 watt amps produce dirty and distorted RF like many bigger amps are accused of doing? It sure is tempting to try one of those cute little things.

 

For the small amount of power gain it's not worth the hassle

 

100 watts of power for $70 isn't worth it ??

That 100 watts will bury any radio within 20 miles of you and will be heard w/o skip for probably 50 or more miles, with skip you can be heard wherever the sun is.

ie: during the morning you'll be heard well into Europe and south America, as the earth turns you'll be heard further to the west such as Alaska and Hawaii.

I've been using the RM KL 203 P for several years along with a nice Ranger SRA 198 noise cancelling microphone that sells for $25 and talk back, I command the air waves when I talk. (God, I feel so important )



Ranger SRA 198 noise cancelling Microphone on ebay for $25

11 meters (which is what cb is) mainly gets skip during daylight. 40 meters (1 of many ham bands) gets skip 24 hrs a day, while some bands get skip at night, but not day.

Because this RM KL203P amp hooks up so easily (doesn't need to wire directly to the battery) it's well worth the $70.

I've never heard anyone complain about the audio performance. I've had it tested at a cb shop and they hooked it up to a watt meter and it puts out 100 watts dead carrier, even more when you talk.

They said it looked good when they hooked it up to an oscillator.

On SSB it puts out 200 watts dead carrier, even more when talking.

 

What causes dirty and distorted RF is power mics. and using too much input power. The power mic picks up all the noise in the background making it hard for anyone to hear you.

A Noise Cancelling mic such as the Ranger SRA 198 for $25 on ebay, or any noise cancelling mic, cuts out all the background noise, making for a clean sound.

If you wanna hear how bad a power mic sounds, go to a Whataburger drive thru during rush hour.

 

That all depends on the purity of the signal. According to the manufacturer it's a 25 watt amplifier so I don't really see the benefit considering that there's plenty of radios out there that produce almost the same amount of power.
There's been plenty of times I had a difficult time hearing someone with a Texas Star DX 1600 at distances greater than 10 miles due to the distorted signal they were producing while I was easily able to hear people talking on their bone-stock Cobra 29's from distances twice as great.

 

Rabbiporkchop

I'm not sure where you read it's only 25 watts. Is it possible you're referring to the maximum input power?

But, CB Radio magazine did a review of the KL 203 amp. That review indicates a very different story and they seem to think there is no distortion (unless you overdrive it by putting too much power in, but 4 watts input won't cause distortion) and that it puts out over 100 watts. app 100-120 watts on AM (CB) even more on SSB.

Heres the story from CB radio magazine:

CBRadioMagazine.com - KL203 CB Amplifier

Note: The KL 203 is red, the KL203P is blue. The 203P has a pre-amp built in which makes it easier to hear other cb's.. A switch on the 203P allows you to turn the preamp off if you want to. The 203P is app $70 all day on ebay.

Frequency 18-30 MHz (Europe)
Supply 12-14 Vcc
Input energy/power 10 A
Input power 0,5-10 W
Input power SSB 1-20 W
Output power 100 W Max
Output power SSB 200 W pep Max
Mode AM-FM-SSB-CW
Fuse 12 A
Output power level 1
Size 109x125x35 mm
Weight 325 gr.

 

It says output power 200w SSB.
But then it looks like hundred Watts pep which equates to 25 watts carrier. Not quite sure which one to believe

 

The c.b. shop I went to said it was 100 watts dead key. The CB radio magazine story said 100 -120 watts. The CB shop wattmeter only went up to 100 watts. So if it put out a million watts I guess it would still just show 100 ??

... oh well, maybe someone else on this forum will share their experience with the 203 or a better one.