How is THIS for an AMP?

[WA9SVD]

Aww, Gee! ONLY 3600 Watts out with my measly 100 Watts in? What would I have use as a driver to get full power output?

[WA4OTD]

Like I say rarer than you think. Just my guess, I think maybe 1 in 500 hams are running illegal power.

I'm sure there are hams running illegal power, we have one admitting to that here. Going from S7 to 40 over is big increase, but certainly possible.

I'm afraid I have to disagree. there are stations that keep calling , even after the DX station has acknowledged a specific station. Not JUST the "high power" stations of course, but they think their mega-power will "conquer all;" that power wins over all. Some DX stations actually ID some of the stations that reply to other than the specific station to which they are in contact, that the rude "intruder" will never be acknowledged. While I understand "conditions" may vary, when I hear stations from a general area that are at S-7, and claim they are already running legal limit, and a station from the same area blasts in at a (indicated by the S-Meter, whatever that means) at 40 dB over, I have to think the new station is running a tiny bit more power than the others.
I'd LIKE to think that all Amateurs follow the rules, but that's not always the fact.

[N2EY]

Like I say rarer than you think. Just my guess, I think maybe 1 in 500 hams are running illegal power.

If that many.

I'm sure there are hams running illegal power, we have one admitting to that here. Going from S7 to 40 over is big increase, but certainly possible.

Yes and no.

If we allow 5 dB for each S-unit, going from S7 to 40 over is an increase of 50 dB. That's 100,000 times the power - the difference between 100 watts and 10 megawatts. Such differences aren't solely or even mostly the result of running illegal high power.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[WA9SVD]

That amplifier looks nice but, who would use four 4X1s in the first place, when one is enough.

How else do some operators seem to bust the pile-ups with such a strong signal? "Legal Limit" is like a highway speed limit. You can go as fast as you want, if (or when) you don't get caught.
I'm sure there are plenty of foreign DX stations that run more than their legal limit (often less than our 1500 Watt limit) with little chance for reprisals.