Even back when I liked 2 meters, and used an HT a lot, I never had that 
problem and really can't think of one person I know who has.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "KK4AHX Darren Duff" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 9:03 PM
Subject: Ht burning out?


> Hi.
> After reading the below paragraph in an online article I am worried about
> burning out my ht. It's the only rig I have now. I want to get a mobile to
> use as a base station but it's not in the budget right now. I would like 
> to
> know what other's think. here is the snip from the article.
>
> HAND HELD DUTY CYCLE LIMITS
>
> If you subject today's HTs to frequent full power, 5w transmissions of
> several minutes duration they overheat and the final power transistors may
> fail prematurely. Kenwood and Yaesu state in their service manuals that
> their HTs are rated for 20% duty cycle at their maximum RF output, or 30
> seconds of transmit to 2 minutes of standby. After I first got my license,
> I burned up three sets of "finals" in less than a year with long winded
> QSOs using a Radio Shack HTX-202 which produced 8w when powered at 13.8V
> from my auto cigarette lighter plug! When the warranty ran out, I replaced
> it with a Kenwood TH-22 and repeated the same result. Kenwood's Virginia
> Beach service center politely admonished me that I was "exceeding the
> recommended duty cycle" and should buy a mobile. I followed their advice
> and am satisfied with my two Kenwood mobiles, but I sought out other HTs
> and pass that advice along.
>
> Thanks, 73's.
>
> Darren Duff.
>
> amateur radio station KK4AHX.
>
>