1000 watt protection
1000 watt protection
Since there is now going to be a high power version of the Saturn… Does anyone know what protection for high swr and high current there will be for this radio? Solid state amps at the KW and above level can be damaged extremely quickly even when you think you have resonant antennas. Without an automatic high power tuner, if the design and protection mechanisms aren’t rock solid, this could be a disaster for repair/warranty. There just isn’t enough information that I’ve seen yet to make me feel confident about ordering this, even though if it works, it’s the best value in ham radio bar none.
Re: 1000 watt protection
The current 7000 already senses high SWR and protects the PA from damage. I see no reason they'd abandon such a feature in a newer rig.
Mark
Mark
Re: 1000 watt protection
Going to depend on the software developers. We will not know until it is delivered if anything additional will be done hardware wise for protection. It might be possible since the inclusion of the RPi CM4 in the radio now.
Re: 1000 watt protection
I was certain there is some level of protection. But there is a big difference between 100W and 1Kw tolerances most of the time. In any case, I’m extremely interested in this new radio for a lot of reasons. This is a massive development. 73 to all.
Re: 1000 watt protection
Yeah especially seeing it is using 2 times 1.6K devices. Now just need to interface an automatic tuner on the CAT or via UDP.
Re: 1000 watt protection
It's the thermal management I am curious about, A 1000W+ is a lot of heat to dissipate!
My guess is since it’s still the same heat sink as in prior versions of the 8000 its going to need a lot of Hi-Speed/CFM fans for cooling so fan noise may be an issue for heavy users?
Anyway it’s all speculation on my part until we see the final product.
That being said this is an industry first and a game changer!!:)
My guess is since it’s still the same heat sink as in prior versions of the 8000 its going to need a lot of Hi-Speed/CFM fans for cooling so fan noise may be an issue for heavy users?
Anyway it’s all speculation on my part until we see the final product.
That being said this is an industry first and a game changer!!:)
Last edited by KC2QMA on Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
- Conrad_PA5Y
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:11 pm
Re: 1000 watt protection
Yes it is nice to see development activity from Apache. If you look at the 100W and 1000W PEP versions the cost of the extra PA is very reasonable.
If you look at the website you can see that VSWR protection is available.
If you look at the website you can see that VSWR protection is available.
Re: 1000 watt protection
KC2QMA wrote:It's the thermal management I am curious about, A 1000W+ is a lot of heat to dissipate!
My guess is since it’s still the same heat sink as in prior versions of the 8000 its going to need a lot of Hi-Speed/CFM fans for cooling so fan noise may be an issue for heavy users?
I've got my 7000 and my amp behind a soundproof partition just so I don't have to listen to the fans.
Mark
Re: 1000 watt protection
Absolutely Mark. 1 KW is a big big deal. I am hoping they successfully pull this off because it’s an incredible opportunity and likely where other mainline manufacturers will go at some point but I too am interested in the cooling and subsequent noise related to it.