Batboard

Group,

I am wondering if there is a way to turn off or turn down the power to next to nothing using Astro Tuner. I am specifically speaking of the TX High,Mid, and Low Power settings. If I turned all of these down to the lowest possible value will it just TX in a few millawatts or is this not possible?

Thanks in advance

Radio43

RADIO43 wrote:Group,

I am wondering if there is a way to turn off or turn down the power to next to nothing using Astro Tuner. I am specifically speaking of the TX High,Mid, and Low Power settings. If I turned all of these down to the lowest possible value will it just TX in a few millawatts or is this not possible?

Thanks in advance

Radio43

Of course this is possible, I just do not know how low the power is - I guess something like 100mW should be possible. But why not give it a try? Note down the old values, then nothing can go wrong.

I've never tried it, but beware that many PAs, depending on their construction, do Bad Things if you turn the power down too much (you might create a broadband noise generator if you're not careful)...

I'd suggest you look at the output with a spectrum analyzer after tweaking on it, just in case.

Mot doesn't recommend going below around 400milliwatts due to the power amps going spurious below this level. 100 milliwatts would definitely not be recommended.

mike m wrote:Mot doesn't recommend going below around 400milliwatts due to the power amps going spurious below this level. 100 milliwatts would definitely not be recommended.

Interesting to know. I never dod go below 500mW, without any spectral abormal behaviour, but I will do some tests when I have some more time :)

Not that it's a portable, but 110-watt X9000 power amps tend to get weird under 60 or so watts of output... same basic premise on portables, just less power (I could go on about transistors, Q-points, and all that, but it would bore everyone and bring back memories of Electronic Circuits I <shudder>).