The same wattage should be OK. With carbon composition resistors, they all change with time, regardless of manufacturer, unless they are high stability ones which, over here at least, have an extra pink band....I use carbon film now, but metal film is OK. Whichever you have or maybe get cheapest.

Whichever you go for, get some spare tubes or transistors. I'm seriously thinking of an Acom, one reason being that I already have a pair of good 4CX1000 as spares.

One thing you do need a good dummy load for is you have to start troubleshooting.

A better investment is the absolute best antenna you can get up! A 4 element Steppir at 60 feet and 100 watts will do a lot better for DX than a G5RV at fifteen feet and 1500 watts.

Once you have the best antenna you can manage, then look at an amplifier. Remember, too, that an amplifier can lead you into RFI problems, so be prepared with lots of ferrites.

It is said, Jim, that the guy who has himself as a lawyer has a fool for client.

I doubt that it is more true than in the case of K1MAN.

Regrettably, the Feds will never get back the amount that he has cost them - as they say on the billboards advertising  CalTrans "Your tax dollars at work".

The ones I wound on both grey and white PVC pipe had Qs of less than a hundred.

I guess YMMV, and winder, Beware!

The hot air gun heats the body quickly. The 40 watt Weller is enough to keep it hot.

I've put on many PL259s very successfully that way. No molten inners.

I'm serously thinking about an Acom 1500 - one reason being that I have a couple of good 4CX1000 in stock. I've figured that I am now not in good enough health to do the building and the question before buying an amp is what the doctors are going to tell me about life expetency. The pension guys are giving me an 8% return on the pension pot which doesn't bode that well.....

Getting old is a sh*t, especially at 66..............just the alternative is worse.

But the Acom 1500 looks very good......and likely to outlive me.

W1QJ is totally correct. Do as he says in this respect.

73

Peter G3RZP

Wouldn't go for PVC myself - a bit lossy.

The plastic sheet with holes is probably the easiest unless you have a lathe.

A hot air paint stripping gun will get a 259 hot enough to melt the solder and then a 40 watt Weller will keep it hot enough for you to finish the job. It's also good shrinking heatshrink sleeving.

Also consider if you are a guy who changes rigs frequently or one who would be looking long term. Then figure how old you are if you are looking long term. If you're in your in your thirties and looking long term, then solid state is probably best but get some spare final transistors while you can. If you go for tubes, get some spare tubes, too, and swap them around every couple of years.

If you change rigs or amps every few years, it doesn't make much odds, although the SS amp with spare devices may well hold its value better - depending which one you get.

Unless you go for an autotune tube PA, it takes marginally longer to change band.....

It all depends on what you are wanting in terms of noise figure, gain compression point, intermodulation performance and how good the phase noise of the local oscillator is, since with high phase noise, the other parameters are effectively compromised.

It looks to me that WA4D had the technical knowledge necessary anyway, so it was a familiarisation exercise with the exam rather than a 'learn by rote and still know nowt', as they say.

Simple answer. Cost.