No I understand very well and you can button /on all keys / one key or no keys.  That’s why I DON’T wire all together you tend to bump one or two Hi Hi.

I have used a Speaker Switch Box to handle 6 keys / one transmitter. RCA plugs on all my keys and works great. Look on ebay
I bet you can buy one for under 20 bucks ! !

These are comments well said, however you can adjust the drive of the HR 2600. I had a HR 2510 years back and did the same thing with a amplifier, but it’s a crappy radio !
Full ¼ wave whip is great way to operate Ten meters.  Shame to say it did feed my ego to QRO to 400 pep to break a pile up. If you build QRP rigs and operate them like I do,
It’s nice to have a amp to use when QRP is not viable. Otherwise save your money and buy a better radio with 100 or 200 pep output. To many Hams buy it 3 or more times till
they get it right !

KW6LA-

http://www.w8ji.com/rm_hla-150_test.htm

Take a look at this . If you use a monoband antenna and not over drive it, might be what you’re looking for. Tom said it passed holding his noise !

GL-   KW6LA

http://www.k0bg.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1743

Take a look at the antenna I am on this page of K0BG site. All handmade and I use very large cap hat on the lower bands for even more efficiency.
Yeah………. I pack a Mossburg 590 trench gun with 9 rounds out there. Coyotes are one thing , but I have see Mountain Lions out there. Goggle
Last Chance Canyon, Mojave and you can see what hell looks like and my sand box. Long as I know we are both packing we should get along fine.

KW6LA/M/QRP 

How did you know I was Fat LoL !

Can’t say you are wrong on what QRP means to you but picture this. After build the antenna myself $ 40.00 not 400 and 4 wheeling  20 miles into the Mojave interior @ midnight. I set up a cot and bag under the stars.
Temperature was   37f  and creepy when you are all alone on the back side of the moon. The coyotes hunt rabbits at night and its sounds like a woman being murdered with a knife. Didn’t sleep all that well cuz they had
about 4 kills that night. After hiking the desert most of the day I did park my butt in the SUV and made the contact 8 watts and fun. Point is yes I have backpacked qrp, but have had some very rugged trips with a QRP set
up at base camp. I went to the Quick mobile set-up years back, because BLM and the Rangers give you a nice talking to when you put a dipole up in THEIR TREES ! !  A lot of work goes into building one of these antennas and
I would do the hike rather than build another one. You might join me next time ?

KW6LA 

QRP is more about antennas than building anymore. Bad enough at 100w some of the ridicules antennas Ham run on HF with the Fix-all antenna tuners.
Last weekend in the Mojave Desert I used a mobile setup for a sked at 300watts. Conditions were so good I QRPed to 8 watss SSB on 17 meters and maintained
contact for 20 minutes. Did I do this for the thrill…………..No I didn’t want to kill my battery! The mobile antenna is BIG,  10 feet long with a 5 inch loading coil and
#10 wire. Home Brew and a flame thrower on 40m. I do this a lot camping to save power. I could start the engine and QRO to 400 pep, but why if you don’t have to.
Just another reason for low power and not to feed my ego when someone copies my / QRP/ M with their co-phased Beams on a tower. Get real about antennas
and QRP gets a lot sweeter !

KW6LA / T2

Ameritron AL-80B is the best bang for the buck out there. A dollar a watt is considered cheap !

Earl-

Go Back to K0BG.com and and if you don't find it there you don't need it. Lost of installs including one of my own in the photo gallery.

GL-   KW6LA

http://www.k0bg.com/images/history/mastermobile.pdf

They used a shunt coil at the base most of the time for matching. These were no nonsense  antennas with high Q like a Bugcatcher and worked great if  if  if
installed correctly.

 Hustler G7............ and a larson 5/8 wave beats a 1/4 wave spike hands down for general use. You have to own them and use um to find out !

The primary limitation on receive audio is the tiny speaker in the case. For any real use, it cries out for an external speaker !

Jan N8CBX

I made a tower out of EMT Hot dipped galvanized  electrical tubing. First a  triangle Jig on both ends to space the 10 ft. pipes. Then cutting up smaller pipe to make the Z braces . I used
heavy duty water pipe brackets with huck rivets to secure the corners / Z braces . The Z pipe have to be flatten 1  ½”   both ends so you can bolt together. 3 sections gave me a 30 ft.
tower. Then with only cement Lag bolt in to a patio slab for the base. The trick is to install close to a garage so you can bracket it at the roof line with more pipe. Its serious business to
hold a tower at the base, but a building holding it 1/3 the way up is very strong if done correctly. The drones will think this is crazy for they are not engineers !  I had a Mosley TA-33 up
on that tower plus 4 ft. of mast for 15 years and it didn’t budge in a wind storm. Food for thought… Good Luck.

 <<  It's Friday night and the WPX contest is in full swing. Every one is distorted, over modulated except for 17 meters. >>

Mike-   Had to have a quick listen to WPX 20 meters and WOW can you screw up the quality of a SSB transceiver more ? Roll of at 500 on the low and 2K on the top.
Then compress it so you might as well be running AM. Under load the Amp with the Heil HC-4 mic and you have contest nirvana . Oh.. don’t forget to scream into the
microphone so they hear you better. Worry about CB amps killing the hobby?  Not any time soon and like you Mike, might be a good weekend to give it a rest.

< < CB amplifiers could make the same mess of the bands, some hams just dont get it! > >

ZENKI…………………………………… I just don’t get it ?? I have been a Ham way to long and can’t tell you the last time I chase down someone using a dirty CB Amp on HF.

As Mike posted the top ten reasons above………. I have to listen to every time I get on the air ! Can you start Bashing those guys a little more and worry less about a guy
using a RM Italy to power up ones QRP/ CW Rig. I didn’t see a CB Amp on Mike’s list, so I don’t think he is going Atomic over this being a major problem on the air. Sure
some might be running dirty, but don’t stand on my foot ! Let see how many other Hams have had continuous trouble with CB Amps on HF ?