I purchased an icom-7300mk2 from Gigaparts and I wish to increase the output power by at least 100-200 watts. What options do I have?
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Jim Hoover
@James_Hoover
Not sure I understand your question. Your Icom 7300 MK2 is a 100 watt transceiver. To increase your output you need a linear amplifier. There are no linear amplifiers that increase output from 100 watts to 200 watts. Most linear amplifiers increase the power from 100 watts to 500 or 1000 watts.
You may want to consider the Icom IC-PW2
https://www.gigaparts.com/icom-ic-pw2-1kw-linear-amplifier.html
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TLDR - you will do better by selecting an antenna type with gain, usually a directional type.
Doubling power sounds like alot right?
Thats not how it works in radio.
Power doubling is 3 decibels. 3 dB.
Receivers measure power in S-Units. A standard S-Unit is 6 dB (Most radios are not exactly that, but your spec documents may explain).
So, doubling your power will have the effect of increasing your signal at any receiver out there in the world by ONLY half an S-Unit. This is hardly a discernable change.
Someone else notes that increasing power is usually accomplished by using an amplifier. And that typical denominations are between 500 and a kilowatt. The increase of 100 watts to a kilowatt is 10 dB. This is more like an S-Unit and a half at any receiver. More significant by far, but still not incredibly impressive.
So, at the top I recommended looking at antennas and gain. A 3 element yagi, for instance, gives about 7 dB gain vs an isotropic antenna or 7 dBi in its favored direction. An isotrophic antenna is a hypothetical antenna that radiates in all 3D directions equally. A dipole gives about 2dBi on its broad side.
So if you change your dipole out for a 3 element yagi, your signal goes up at any receiver by 5 dB in the yagi’s favored direction. That is almost an S-Unit, and close to what you would get from a 500 watt amplifier for your 100 watt radio.
However, that is not the whole story.
Gain antennas typically exhibit gain on both transmit and receive. So, you not only sound almost an S-Unit louder, stations in your favored direction (front) also sound almost an S-Unit louder back to you vs the dipole. Also useful, the least favored direction provides a null that may suppress signals as much as 20 dB. More than 3 S-Units. So you can suppress a QRM station on your frequency by pointing away from it.
A gain antenna is both better, and usually less expensive than an amplifier, and easily better than “doubling” your power output.
Further, you may think that since gain antennas are directional, you have to be able to turn it raising the expense and complexity of a rotor, but if you study azimuthal equidistant maps centered on your QTH, you will find that certain azimuth bearings contain a very large amount of ham radio DX.
For example, from Huntsville, all of Europe will be enhansed by a fixed yagi pointed at roughly 60 degrees azimuth. Alaska, Japan, polar Russia, China and Malaysia are a bit west of North. The populated part of Australia and New Zealand share a bearing approximately west.
Consider a better antenna instead of more watts.
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