if is a contest, it always a 59 or 599 ( 5nn) and some other tidbit like zone or serial number or one even uses year licensed or age..

so it might be 59 27 or some have longer, like 59 tom east bay section  number 305..the next would be 306 etc.

they are always 59 because you set up the software for that then its call, tab tab serial number and enter, ready for next call..

if you can't afford the best, then spend $679 for an ameritron 811 or 811 h. it will give you enough power to get out of the noise and with a decent antenna ( beam  on 20-10 and a good 160 -40 vert like the gap voyager) it will really help with being heard in pileups, it gets you out of the noise.

if you can afford it, go for the alpha 87a, right off the bat. it is a wonderful piece of gear. hook it up and let it take care of it self.  its a no brainer. it gives you 1500 watts on 160 to 10 with no thinking..

what is your pleasure.  I have had 15 or more amps in the last 5 years and the alpha 87 a is the keeper.

the alpha 87a is a true autotune, auto band switch, works flawlessly.

kind of like a ic2 kl and an at 500 all in 1 box ( PW!??) but works with any radio..automatically.

I have an alpha 87a and it is a beautiful thing.  virtually transparent in operation. turn it on, wait 3 minutes, go to operate, talk on radio, 160 to 10 m, no tune, no click, no noise, quiet fan, 1500 watts  and you don't do a thing.  I use it with vox on the orion and its like qsk on ssb.

I always tune for max power out on a dual needle swr /power meter. you find that max power out is also where the plate dips and the load maxes.

I usually start tuning with about 1/2 power from the rig ( say 30 watts) and get the linear close then bring up the transciever power to the normal operating output (around 55 or 60 watts,) I set it by the reccommended  grid current,( rule of thumb is 70 % of the grid scale, ie the scale is 0 to 100 I max at 70 mils)  Maximum.

then with power raised I touch up the tune and load,  verifying the dip etc, and check the grid current, then operate..

this is done in 3 or 4 second pulses, as a tube out of resonance gets hot fast, give it time to cool down. also don't try for every single possible watt from the amp. an amp run at 90 % max may live for years, but one used at 110% will smoke quickly.  

just my bad habits , YMMV

another thought on amps is that the tubes cost different ammounts. so to replace 1 811 its about $20, a 572 is about $60, a 3-500z around $125 to $200, and an 8874 at about $500 each.  The old sweep tubes  go up and down  but are getting scarse.  so if you pop a tube, you could end up spending the price of an amp to replace them.


I currently have a alpha 87a, which is a beautiful piece of gear, invisible in use. I just sold one of my IC 2-kl and at-500 sets and also took the alpha 76 pa off line. In the past I have has sbe's, la1000nt, a couple of clipperton L's , and more, and have some spare tubes even still.  But if you ever get the chance try out an alpha 87a.  you turn it on and it moans  hello to you. 3 minutes warm up and its ready to go. Mine is on the orion. put the orion on VOX. I talk and the amp instantly tune to the band I'm  on.  no clicks, no clunks, I talk over the air on the boom mike and never hear a relay switch. it is fully self protected, and a dream to use.



and another thought is the fact of bringing up tubes so the getter has an oppertunity to work.  I try to run my "not used" amps for a hour in stand by once a month to keep the tubes clean. on some its ok to do just standby, some need operate but no signal, and some need operate and some signal.  do a search on "getters" for your favorite tubes.  this is the NOS sitting on the shelf for ever problem, but can sometimes be delt with. YMMV

N3FJP.com

Scott and Kims AC LOG is great and so is their other contest logs. easy to install and easy to use and very reasonable. the most you can pay for all plus the the cd is under $50.

they are very responnsive, have a Yahoo group set up, and respond directly if needed.

try it , you will like it..

at the point where you left the keys in the car, you just lost your car insurance .  first thing they are going to ask is where is the car keys....

If I go into a resturant, and order breakfast, with the eggs over easy, and it comes and I sent it back because the eggs were too runny, and they bring me a second plate , and I send it back because the eggs are too hard,  and the eggs now come fine on the third try, but the toast is cold, now if they refuse to make me a 4th breakfast and request I eat elseware, are they wrong, or are they just cutting their losses, and making a wise business decission??

Its kind of like that.  A couple of myths here also, any company does have the right to not sell you anything, at their discretion. The  company is not required to stock repair parts for 10 years, or even for the whole warrenty period, they only have to fix it, replace it with a equal or better  item, or refund you original purchase price. The only exception is that they can not refuse to sell to you because of race color or creed, as in being prejudiced, but other than that they can refuse to sell you a product.

Your options are to either have a friend order one for you, or buy one used off of here, qrz or ebay, or get one at a ham fest.

I bought mine used, on ebay, and it works fine, and then I bought a demo mike and cable from ten tec.
so if you want one , buy one, but they do have the right to not sell you one, because of their return policy.

good DX , 73  

one dollar for canada and mexico, $2 bucks everywhere else, don't put a call on the outside of the envelope yours or his.. and on some of the dxpeditions I send a couple extra $ to help with expences.  most folks have a way to deal with green backs, and I am disabled so I have a problem waiting in line for IRC's etc.

I have had good results with $

HHH net, 7.235 o700 utc, every nite a was and dx net.. www.hhhnet.net

I had a couple of these.. they can hit about 1200 peak on ssb output, but I usually ran mine a bit less.  the difference between 850 to 900 watts and  turn the tubes cherry read max of 1200 or so can not be heard on the other end, infact you will find that most of the time if you leave it in cw mode ( it just drops the plat voltage a bit, )  and run 350 to 400 watts  it will be enough 95 % of the time. its enough to get you out of the noise, and thats enough.

I hope you know how to tune a tube rig, peak the load and dip the plate, but you will find if you use a dual cross needle meter you can just tune for max power.  be sure the antenna is tuned first. good luck

The difference is that M2 uses a CNC machine to "carve" the connector out of a solid block of metal as an integral part of the antenna, not a connector added after the antenna is built. So the feed point ( be it for a beam or a halo etc) is actually the feedpoint, the mount, the connector, and sometimes complete driven element of the antenna.

M2 has an open house in April every year and a small ham fest also where you can watch stuff being mad and talk to Mike and Myrna  (M2) and Wyatt, have a couple of HAM-burgers, and a drawing for antennas, and a second drawing for those non ham guests and wives  for fruit baskets, bottles of wine and such.
Nice folks , nice party.

hope this helps... tom N6AJR

the one it stops on is the the one with the correct tone, it will stop there, use alpha letters for identifying which one..

check out Ham Radio Deluxe, free ( but do registrar) and the super browser (SB) lets you watch up to 20 at once, and click on one and it goes to the psk31 program and dumps all the previous type into your box, and it has built in spotting and rig control.. way cool