The important thing is that the shirt is changed; periodically anyway.
 

Tom, well you already know it's not at the Function key level because that power setting will apply to all bands. Concur with others to run it through a meter w/dummy load.

*IF* that doesn't isolate it, was the unit purchased used? If so, I'm curious from the 817 gurus if this would be exhibited if someone was playing in the hidden menus and when going past any of items 22, 40, or 52 they didn't accidentally bump the main dial (which is how settings are changed in there). Those relate to, respectively, VHF over-current protection, the high-power setting on VHF, and the TX gain on VHF.

Brings back memories of an "accident." Back after getting my civ license all I had as an 817, Elecraft T-1 tuner, and some wire w/counterpoise thrown up into a tree. Then I got a THP 45w amp but was tuning up at 1/2 power one day not to hurt the T1 and forgot to kick in the THP. The result was a short but pleasant QSO with a straight-key to the Seychelles on 2.5w. I don't chase DX, I don't live & breathe QRP, but you can be darned sure that QSO is still remembered & at the top of the list.

Continuing to balance the radio life with QRP (CW) has fostered alot of enrichment in researching antennas & propagation, which has enriched everything else. As Allison intimated, I'd rather put a small gel-cell & QRP radio in the ruck and haul more food & water, or just save my back.
Grand-kids have an expression, something like "s'all good" 

If you tell me you're still waiting, I'm not buyin' it.  How did it go? 

There was a similar thread quite a way back (among the bazillions contributed by WB2WIK Steve and many others) on this very amp. It took the modern version of the seemingly counter-intuitive current AL-80B manual & made it easy in 1 page. (The original manual with my '95 actually seems a bit more straightforward than the current one, maybe just me.) You got the benefit of that here. Dummy load? Heck, the first time I was so nervous I just ran along Steve's list with nothing on, keying down, twirling a knob, and reading to understand what I should be expecting. Then live into the dummy load with mental fingers x'd - much angst for nothing looking back.

I personally don't run ALC, to each their own.  And not ashamed to say I keep a little single page sheet on the desk for my (manual) tuner's settings on various bands and the plate & grid & output expected at a given drive.  The amp was tuned to extract max (within Ig limits, less concerned with plate) and then drive reduced; taking that last bit of edge off the grid really helps counter splatter & yields smooth audio reports.  Some bands require a bit of tweaking of the plate at reduced power, but easily done. The cheat-sheet is a reminder of where the "no damage zone" is.

I hope you enjoy your AL-80B as much as I enjoy my '95 that is still truckin' along. You're gonna have some fun.
 

I'd snagged the plastic tool from a fine old gent in town retiring from his TV repair biz. Un-needed; after mods had a fine input match anyway so what W7HBP said applies - check first. While you're popping for a more robust tuner, you will enjoy a dummy load that will handle 1.5kW or better if you don't have one already. Honest.

Regarding WB2WIK Steve's fine advice, be sure & follow the guidance to tune it (hopefully using your dummy load) & eventually establish your plate & load settings at the highest drive setting you'll use on your transceiver. Don't be bashful about using a cheat sheet to jot stuff down when you're done. Then you can back your drive down & adjust overall output, vs. adjusting with 30w of drive and then deciding to crank the radio up to 60w. Amps don't like that.

I've found my AL-80B to be very linear and (now 3rd owner) the old Eimac and that circuit are doing their typical Clydesdale-like job. Hope you're as happy with your -80B as I've been. Congratulations!
 

A fully original, full o' brass, never bunged up, J-37. Prefer them over J-38's. Might be just me and the leaf spring on this particular J-37 is like stuff for mama bear, "just right."
 

Bless you.

The steps WB2WIK describes are for the same reason as the recommendation you found at W8JI's website. After tuning, and adding a little more LOAD, you may find you'll sacrifice a small number of watts no one will notice. But your grid current peaks will go down; amp is happy & operators too because signal is clean.

You can tune for the antenna (with the amp offline) at whatever power from the exciter gives you a true enough reading. Go to the dummy load to tune the amp. Then get on the air & enjoy.

FWIW, I did the same thing using a dummy load & keeping a simple spreadsheet (along with tuner settings for the Palstar). Very repeatable and takes one of the legs out from under Murphy.
Have fun.

Shucks, I'll have to check it out at home. The work firewall blocks access to that domain based on its phishing-scam history... maybe the identical post over at the 'other' forum will have some pictures up.
 

FT-450D, AL-80B (with a 17-yo Eimac  ) and AT2K tuner here. No buffer, no issues, no unnecessary interconnections.

- Amp tuned the way taught by W8JI and WB2WIK, settings for amp & tuner on a cheat sheet on the desk. (Thank you gentlemen for the grain from alot of old thread-chaff.)

- Have the 450D Pnl/C.S. front-panel push-button programmed for SWR function which allows a quick 10w carrier to check whatever the AT2K's  been set to w/amp in standby; takes less than a second.

- AT2K switched to a direct output to which is connected a 1.5K dummy load. Amp on, verify output to dummy load so as not to bother the folks on a band.

- Flip AT2K back to antenna selector; play radio. Takes longer to type than do.

You have a great combo, it will serve you well.

They aren't 24x7. There are several nets going on that frequency, depending upon time of day and geographic area that needs to be covered; MMSN is just one of them. And, can't recall the post, yes, all 3 IARU regions recognize that freq (apparently in theory vs. practice), along with others on other bands, as GCOA and request contesters give 2.5kHz either side. The agreements say 5kHz, plus/minus. All 3 band plans have that designated.  None of this has any teeth of course. You can look at http://mmsn.org/iaru.html

if it matters, or not.

Any number of reasons you might not hear them, could be time of day, could be an NCS has his/her beam turned toward a vessel they hear & you don't, shucks, it's HF radio.
Contesting & net operations & CW & digital & everything else are achievable with civility.
Even these. 

Such behavior by DR1D and many others this weekend around a frequency recognized by all 3 IARU regions will not change until the people with the rhetoric walk their own talk and disallow the contacts. Many were ON 14300 not just within a few hundred Hz (and less). It won't change. I see GILGSN's frustration to a certain point but he may not understand, for example, such things as routine Canadian SSB contacts in the US 40m CW area. This is nothing new; it's their band plan. Coming into the "house" of the contesters with a rant probably isn't going to accomplish much.

Many such participating in the contest were completely dismissive of requests to QSY even when acknowledging the net control operator directly and MANY net relays attempted to engage politely with their callsign - some stations responded, many suddenly had auditory exclusion. Has nothing to do with a particular freq or not in this case. People were already in QSO (in this case a net) and the closer it gets to 2359Z the behavior amplifies (no pun). Thankfully, it will go away, the blood will be mopped up and the bodies will be counted.

Now if one needs OJT in net operations in an intentionally hostile operating environment, working WWDX SSB on 14300 is just the ticket.
 

Happy trails. Try all to be considerate of each other. Nothing will change until certain bodies aren't counted. When that happens, people will stop collecting them.

That was nice they mentioned that. Now if they (along with ARRL and other region organizers, et al) would only back up their rhetoric regarding GCOA frequencies acknowledged since 2005 by all 3 IARU regions...
 

Thanks for the insight Rob. Investigating this very situation & have been following. FT450D and 817ND when portable. After reading the manuals of the SL-USB & both radios, ordering the Signalink version with the 6-pin mini-DIN is almost like pressing the easy button.

One more. If you test a new antenna over a sufficient period of time and want to get a real feel for how it "plays" in the real world (real obstructions, real earth, etc.) get good signal reports, info about what the distant-end has for an antenna, and you can keep the bearing/distance. If you do a diligent review this can tell you much some things your 'model' may not.

Didn't say an OCFD was inherently quiet, just that I'm happy with mine.  As to the end-fed, well, it's fooled me then, or I'm lucky, or  something. It is what it is. It hears really well, goes where I need, and critical sig/audio reports are glowing. [/hijack]