Ameritron RCS-8V
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| Frequency | usable DC-250 MHz: 4 kW PEP (manual) / >5 kW (current copy) below 30 MHz, 1 kW at 150 MHz, SWR under 1.2 across the span |
| TX power | 5000 W (the original manual says 4 kW PEP below 30 MHz; the current storefront copy says over 5 kW - version-dependent, both official; 1 kW at 150 MHz either way) |
| Modes | n/a |
| relay box | 5x SO-239 antenna ports + 1x SO-239 feedline to control console |
| control console | 1x SO-239 to radio/amplifier + 1x SO-239 to relay box |
| control cable | 6-conductor control line (telephone-type wire, not supplied) |
| note | RCS-8VN variant has N-type connectors instead of SO-239 |
| power req | 120 VAC wall adapter (included, supplies 13.8V at 500mA to control console). RCS-8VX variant for 220/240 VAC. |
The serious station's remote switch: five positions, legal-limit-plus headroom, VHF coverage to 250 MHz, and zero compatibility homework because the control runs on its own wire like God and Ohm intended. The 6-conductor requirement is generic cable from anywhere, and the console's wall-wart draw is negligible.
The control cable is the price of the freedom - a second run to trench, snake, or staple - and five positions still runs out at six antennas. The wall-adapter console is one more thing on the power strip, and post-2024 the brand's support is community-and-parts-bin.
The default big-station remote switch of its era and the safer of the two Ameritron architectures: pull the extra cable once and never think about antenna DC behavior again. The over-coax sibling is for installs where that cable is impossible; everywhere else, this is the adult answer.
The RCS-8V is the conductor-fed counterpoint to its over-coax sibling: where the RCS-4 sends control voltages up the feedline and accepts the resulting compatibility rules, the 8V asks for one ordinary six-conductor cable and in exchange drops every restriction - any antenna type, any matching scheme, any in-line accessory, because the coax carries nothing but RF. Five positions instead of four, selected from a desk console whose five LEDs - one per port - confirm the choice fifty milliseconds later, powered by a wall adapter drawing a sleepy hundred milliamps.
The ratings justify the architecture: four kilowatts PEP below 30 MHz per the original manual, over five per the storefront's later copy - legal limit with contest margin on either reading - and a kilowatt at 150 MHz, with SWR under 1.2 and loss under a tenth of a decibel across a DC-to-250 MHz span that makes the same box serve the HF stack and the VHF array. The relay box weathers at the mast like its sibling's - unselected ports isolated as shipped, auto-grounding via a documented jumper for those who prefer their lightning etiquette explicit - and the engineering is the unglamorous kind that contest stations standardized on for decades: heavy contacts, honest specs, generic control cable from any spool.
The decision between the two Ameritrons was always installation-shaped: the 8V's control cable is trivial on a new tower run and miserable under an existing lawn, which is precisely the niche the over-coax RCS-4 keeps. Production ended with MFJ's May 2024 shutdown - Ameritron was not part of the ITU revival - and the 8V's installed base at serious stations keeps used examples moving at prices that respect their service life. Pull the cable once; think about it never.