Interesting to think about how the dominant movie delivery technology has changed since this message was originally posted:

Circa 2001:  VHS tape

In between:  DVD

Now in 2013:  On-line streaming (aka Netflix)

So, I wonder if someone gives life to this thread again in 2023, what will be the dominant technology then?

Typically, a tube amp would have the following connections between the XCVR and the AMP in addition to the COAX connection (XCVR Antenna out to AMP RF Input).

(1)  Keying relay interface.  This is where you might use a relay buffer like the ARB-704 (See Ameritron web site).  This is to protect the relay in your XCVR from over voltage damage caused by the amp.  Not all XCVR/AMP interfaces need one.  If you know that your amp cannot cause damage to your XCVR keying relay then you may get by without one.

(2)  ALC control line.  This is used with a tube amplifier to protect grid current (usually) in the amplifier from being too high by overdriving from the XCVR.  Depending on how you operate this may be important (but, your amplifier will work without it too).

Caveat -- I am not near as experienced or knowledgeable as other's on this forum with regard to ALC and other practices with tube amps so take my comments above with a grain of salt.  If someone like Tom, W8JI, or Steve, WB2WIK, comment then their comments will always trump mine with regard to amps.

73, phil, K7PEH

A 4-element SteppIR at 20 Meters has a gain of roughly 9.5 and on higher bands about 10.5.  So, a 100 watt signal will appear to be boosted to a range of about 891 watts to maybe 1100 watts.  If the G5RV is flat in gain then it is a close contest, the height of a tower might have an advantage but it is not always the best solution (tower and SteppIR).  Especially so when you physically cannot install a tower on your property.

That is my case, I would put up a 4-element SteppIR with the 40-meter band option in half-a-heartbeat if I could -- money is not the issue. Indeed, SteppIR is located just 15 minutes away from my home QTH in Bellevue, WA and I have been there to discuss my situation to see if anything can be done.  The newer smaller antennas might work but the gain is no better than my Hexbeam on average.

So putting up a nice SteppIR on a tower does help but it is not always an allowable solution.  By the way, did I miss something.  I didn't see anything about the original posters antenna setup.

I think the first hump to get over in making your choice is cost.  If cost is a driving factor in the decision then I think the answer is tube amps.  But, if you ignore cost then you want to look more closely at the features versus your operating style.

Everything that W9KDX says in his post I agree with but I own two solid-state amplifiers instead of tube.  I just like the operating features better.  One thing is that about 90 percent or better of my QSOs is CW so QSK is a definite requirement.  For many tube amps, QSK is not included but only available as an extra cost add-on (if that).  I do like the no-tune aspects of the solid-state amps and they seem to be quieter than my previous tube amps.  My KPA500 amplifier I never hear -- maybe I should check the fan.  No, it works, just very quiet.  My Icom PW-1 sits on the floor and away from my operating position so I do not hear that either.  By the way, I am thinking of selling the PW-1 but preferably to local pickup only.

If you want a tube amp though I recommend the AL-80B.  If I were to buy a tube amp, that would be the one I get.

I have owned only 4 amps in my ham radio history:

1.  My own homebrew dual-811 linear I built in high-school (1964/1965) and I wonder what ever happened to that.
2.  An AL-572B:  bought in 2004, sold in 2005.
3.  Icom PW-1 to turn my Icom 756 Pro III into a 1kw transceiver (still have the PW-1)
4.  Elecraft KPA500 to turn my K3 into a 500 watt transceiver (still have the full Elecraft K-line).

My opinions -- if I had bought the AL-80B I might still have it.  In fact, I may yet buy one just to have another tube amp.  Both of my solid-state amps have operated flawlessly.  Those who say that these can be fickle must be thinking of some other solid-state amp.  Yes, I have faulted both of these due to high SWR but it never causes a problem and I am operating again, at full power, within a second or two at the most.  The KPA500 will automatically self-correct sometimes, other times I merely need to switch from STANDBY back to OPERATE.  No, I would never buy an Ameritron solid-state amp.  I would buy (maybe) a Tokyo Hi-Power amp though if I were in the market for another.

I prefer solid state though as they are nice to use.  But, the cost per watt for solid state is indeed higher than most tube amps (except possibly for some high end amps).

If you are watching your budget though the AL-80B is probably the best 1 KW amp you can buy today.

I have a Chevy HD2500 Silverado Crew Cab Pickup that gets exactly 14 mph no matter how I drive.  Actually, I don't care that much about the price of gas -- if I did, I would not have the pickup truck.

I typically go to the following Hamfests each year from my home QTH of Kirkland, WA:

1.  Salem Repeater Hamfest in Rickreall, Oregon in February (Total round trip milage: 476 miles).
2.  Puyallup Hamfest in Puyallup, Washington in March (Total round trip milage: 80 miles).
3.  Stanwood Hamfest in Stanwood, Washington in May (Total round trip milage: 100 miles).
4.  Seapac Hamfest in Seaside, Oregon first weekend of June (Total round trip milage: 412 miles).

So, not short at all in distances but these are my favorites.  I go to Salem the night before and stay in a hotel so that adds to the cost.  For Seapac on the Oregon Coast my wife goes along and we stay in Cannon Beach, Oregon for the weekend which is very nice in the summer.  Cannon Beach Oregon is about 7 miles south of Seaside, Oregon.  My wife's hobby is bird photography and that is one of her favorite spots for shore birds.  I make the long trip to Salem to hook up with my high-school ham radio buddies so that trip is sort of a mini-reunion and often the only time we meet.

But, I have never gone to Dayton -- that is too far.

73, phil, K7PEH

A couple of years ago, I bought a very nice J-38 with the black bakelite base and knife shorting switch for $40.  This was a hamfest, not Ebay.  I think the general range is $25 on the low end and maybe $50 to $60 on the high end.

Problem for me is that I am never around at the close of the hamfest.  I have never seen anything interesting to buy that I would spend the time to stick around for a cheaper price.  Typically hamfests start at about 9 AM but it is a very rare occasion for me to be around as late as 12 Noon let alone the afternoon hours.  Another problem is that when something does catch my interest, it is usually gone early.

73, phil, K7PEH

Ha!  I did that kit about 9 years ago.  The AL-572 worked great for about two days and then two tubes would not light up.  Opened it up and found a broken cold solder joint feeding the filament wiring for two of the tubes.  I sold the AL-572 about a year later.  Currently, my two amps are both solid-state.

A previous message mentioned hamfest junkers.  I have been keeping my eyes open for those.  Indeed, mostly because the idea of merely using the cabinet alone if nothing else survives would be useful.  I did see a junked old home-brew amplifier at a recent (just last week) hamfest here in the northwest.  No tube but guessing it might have been a 4-1000 amp.  Also, the power transformer was missing from the amp and the owner was asking way too much.

73, phil, K7PEH

OK, I think my question might have been misunderstood.

I am not looking for some commercial product, that is a kit product such as Heathkit used to provide.  But, rather, I am wondering if anyone has provided some of the harder to DIY components for such a home-brew amplifier.

Example -- for a number of the projects listed in ARRL HB there are PCBs available at a reasonable cost.  In fact, such kits are nothing other than a schematic, a parts list (of major parts), and some textual description of details for the kit.  What I am wondering is the next level up.  I do not expect, nor would I want is a kit that is a box with all the parts, all the cabinet pieces, and so on.

Another example, more of what I am looking for, is the offerings of the Communication Concepts web site for solid-state amplifiers.  They offer circuit descriptions, heatsinks, combiners/splitters, and so on as individual components useful in building one of their amplifier designs.  I am looking for the same kind of thing (maybe) for tube based amplifiers.  Maybe it does not exist, too bad if it doesn't.

73, phil, K7PEH

Has anyone created (recently and still available) a tube amp component kit?  What I mean by this would be an amplifier kit using a standard available tube capable of about 1000 watts or more to legal limit plus.

By component, I mean a kit that specifies and provides printed circuit boards for particular area such as power supply, rectifier and filters, and maybe components (or, sources) for pi-network inductors and capacitors.

Close, but not quite to the level I am asking about, might be some of the amp designs in the ARRL HB.  Although I understand the problems and cautions of providing a complete, high-voltage, tube amp kit, something that outlines details and provides components or good sources is more of what I am looking for.

So, I am familiar with everything available in the last 10 years of the ARRL HB but I am looking for something that may be more than the typical HB article.

When I was in high-school (circa 1964/1965) I built a dual-811 linear amplifier from the circuits available in the HB back then.  It worked fine with the slight problem that harmonic suppression was not as good as it should have been by today's standards.  I just might want to build another tube linear amp before all the key components (power transformer, tubes) are lost to antiquity.

Thanks.

73, phil, K7PEH

I own an LP-100A and I would buy another one if I had the need.  I looked at the wavenode but I don't want anything that requires a computer.  I am not opposed to computers, I have three in the shack but they are all about my chosen profession and my other hobbies.  I do not actively use a computer with ham radio.

I assume you mean MFJ instead of FMJ.

Your SSB output is based on the average voice level and other factors and you will never see the peak 250 watts of the rig.  You will see a lot less but this is normal behavior.  I am not saying nothing is wrong with the 430 though, not enough information yet.

When measuring power output you should use a good dummy load and use key-down CW instead of SSB.  Measuring output power using an antenna may not always tell you what is happening due to matching, fold back on the rigs (if high SWR protection circuitry is in use), and so on.

AM power levels is always less than SSB or CW on rigs due to the fact that the power is used for carrier and sidebands.  I do not know the AM capabilities of the 430.  Indeed, I have operated AM once in my life (going back to the 1960s).

Ten meters is a good band when it is open -- when closed, it is a nice white noise generator for your shack.  I always check 10 meters and typically get some good DX contacts but this does not happen every day.

Also, if you can, arrange for another band to check out.  How about 40 or 20.  A 20 meter dipole does not take up too much room.

As a summer job in 1964 I worked for the Coos Forest Protective which patrolled logging
roads up in the deep forests of Coos County.  One of our jobs was servicing the needs
of the fire lookout tower in our region.  This meant mostly bringing in bags of food goods
and carrying up canisters of drinking water.  The road to that tower was the worst part
of it -- basically a raw logging road that had not been kept up.  A raw logging road is
nothing more than a pathway cut by a huge "cat" and then prepared mostly due to the
heavy truck traffic.  This one was long ago abandoned.  Our 1-ton 4-wheel drive
pumper truck could barely make it.  But, that tower would be a great transmitting
location.  I wonder if it is still there.  Also, as we approached the tower, it was our
job to radio ahead and warn the young women who was manning that fire lookout.
This is because most of the time she worked totally nude!

I meant to say "good" roads, not "goof" roads in my previous post.  My iPad sometimes takes control of my spelling.