I hope someone out there has a suggestion.  I’m a ham who works a lot and has small kids.  Therefore, I can only get on the radio in the late evenings (9-11 PM).  I enjoy some of the rag chew nets, especially “The Midwest Country Cousins” who are on 3972.5.  I live in a suburb outside of Chicago, somewhat low (by a river) and I have a small suburban lot w/o big trees.  It seems like the 80/75 m band starts out fair/poor around 7:30 PM or so but it quickly deteriorates as the evening goes on.  In fact I can barely hear a fellow cousin in a town less than 15 miles away (and they can’t hear me). I have no problem hitting a 2 m repeater in the same town. So far I have tried a Gap Titan (worked ok on the upper bands, seemed terrible on 80 m), which eventually crashed during a storm, and I have also tried an Alpha Delta Outbacker.  More recently I have been using a G5RV (only about 35 feet at the high end and 15 feet at the low end).  I have tried different radios and even tried an amp (about 700 watts), but I continue to get “sorry, I can barely hear you” from all parties when I try to talk to the cousins.. If I’m lucky enough to get on the air during the day, I get OK to good reports on the upper bands with the same antenna setup. Any suggestions would be helpful.  Also, any info on friendly nets would be appreciated.

Thanks for the great info... I looked on the ARRL web site but somehow missed the review.  When I searched for Nov 84 it came up.  What a scam, but I wish it was true!  I guess Maxxcom is in the same group as pills that grow hair on bald heads and potions that make you lose weight while you sleep.

Hello
I recently did an internet search for “high powered automatic antenna tuner.”  The Maxx-com site came up.  This product claims instant matching with all sorts of antennas.  The only comments that I have been able to find are those listed in a forum on this web site,  although they are negative it seems like the negative comments are from people that have never used the tuner.  Apparently, the components are encased in epoxy so you can really tell what makes it tick.  The maxx-com people say that it isn’t just a big 50 ohm resistor, but they don’t really say what the product is.  They provide testimonials but no hard data on their web site.  If this thing worked it would be great.  Has anyone actually used this product or conducted any tests on it?

A few thoughts…
You get more value with a tube amp.  There are many inexpensive ones that you can buy new or used.  811 tubes are cheap as are 3-500s.  They will both be around for a long time.  Since the tubes are RELATIVELY cheap, you can always buy a set or two if you are concerned.  Some folks have the same tubes for decades by just treating them right.  Ameritron makes the cheap and respectable 811 series.  The Ameritron AL-80B amp uses a 3-500 for about a kilowatt on SSB.  Many people swear by these amps. They offer great value.  Also consider annoyances such as fan noise.  It drives some folks batty.  I have heard that some Henry amps and the Ameritron AL 1200 and 1500 amps have very loud fans.  I guess this isn’t much of a problem if you use headphones.  Do you have money to burn?  You can’t lose with a Commander, Acom, Icom/Yaesu or Alpha amp, but at a higher price.

What did I get?
First off I wanted one of those super-duper amps like the Icom/Yaesu SS ones or an Alpha.  I realized that a cheaper amp would still give ME about 95% of the functionality at about 80% of the convenience.
After a lot of obsessive thinking I bought a TenTec Centurion.  Why?
10 + year production of this model, the bugs have been worked out.
Hams and reviewers love it
Uses common 3-500 tubes
1.3 kilowatt on SSB
Easy to tune
Built very well, the innards are actually “pretty” very well laid out.
Solid, but light enough for me to move
Light enough (a bit over 50 lbs) to ship UPS if needed
TenTec has a reputation for excellent repair service
TenTec folks are generally very friendly and will answer your questions (even if they are sometimes dumb…like some of mine).
Reasonable price, not super cheap but not a stratospheric nose bleed price.  
Often in-stock and ready to ship
Attractive to look at, big but not huge.
Am I happy with my purchase?  Yep

BTW… I also got a great deal on an Ameritron ALS-600 so I got one of those too.  Nice little amp.  

First off, thanks for all of the excellent and helpful comments!

It would seem that I can't go wrong with any of the three.  I'm leaning towards the Centurion at this point.  It has gotten excellent reviews and this is a plus.  I read the 1992 ARRL review and they liked the amp but noted that it would arc on the lower bands.  Does anyone know if this has corrected?

Here is my rational (still subject to change).

The HF 2000 appears to be the best constructed amp and it has been given good reviews.  However, it weighs in at over 80 lbs making it difficult for me to move around.

The Ameritron Amp seems to be the best value, but perhaps not quite the quality of the other two.

The TenTec Centurian seems to be middle of the road.  Is isn't too heavy (50 lbs) and the size isn't huge.  It has gotten great reviews by operators but the components are probably not quite as good as the HF 2000.  With that said, it has been out for over 10 years and reviewers arn't complaining about failures.  My only concern is the arcing...how big of a deal is that?

I'm finally at the point where I really would like to have an amp.  I want to buy something that I could potentially keep for a LONG time and so I'm looking for an amp that is built well.  So far I'm looking at the three listed above.  I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on which is the best for the buck.  The TenTec Centurion uses "classic" 3-500Z tubes (in their copy).  When I check around it seems that most tubes that are for sale are the 3-500ZG, can these tubes be directly substituted for each other?  Also, what is the longevity of these tubes if treated properly.  I would really appreciate any opinions, but please no spam.

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has an idea on stringing an antenna that will tune on 80-10 m.  My situation is as follows;  I have a small yard with no trees.  I can string a wire accross the top of the house and then (like a "L") into the back yard.  I would have to construct some sort of a cheap mast in the yard as there are no other tall supports.  Total flat-top lenght available is 40'+50'=90'.  To complicate matters, my house has aluminum siding.  I was thinking about a G5RV, but that is 120' and the G5RV Jr is reportedly only good on 40 m and above.  I already have a vert. antenna and I'm not real happy with it.

1)Any antenna ideas?
2) Any ideas on a cheap mast?

Thanks for any help!

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has an idea on stringing an antenna that will tune on 80-10 m.  My situation is as follows;  I have a small yard with no trees.  I can string a wire accross the top of the house and then (like a "L") into the back yard.  I would have to construct some sort of a cheap mast in the yard as there are no other tall supports.  Total flat-top lenght available is 40'+50'=90'.  To complicate matters, my house has aluminum siding.  I was thinking about a G5RV, but that is 120' and the G5RV Jr is reportedly only good on 40 m and above.  I already have a vert. antenna and I'm not real happy with it.

1)Any antenna ideas?
2) Any ideas on a cheap mast?

Thanks for any help!

Hi, After about 35 years of saying that I would do it, I finally became a Ham.  Strangly, I have found that I'm a bit mike shy.  I have been tuning around HF looking for forums (nets), but I always seem to hit them in the middle.  Does anyone know of a list of nets or does anyone know of friendly nets for new hams?  I'm also looking for a similar outlet for 2M nets in the Chicago area.