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| Reviews Summary for Ameritron AL-82 |
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You can
write your own review of the Ameritron AL-82.
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KW4CQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 29, 2007 18:39
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A real work horse
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Hard to beat for the resonable price tag. It provides the most watts per $$$ of any amp on the market I believe. The tubes will deliver 2200 watts key down into a dummy load thanks to the husky Peter Dahl tape wound power transformer and the Taylor 3-500ZG tubes. I run the tubes at less than legal limit on the air of course and I believe the tubes will last for many many years. I found the blower, which comes factory set at medium speed, to be quite a bit quieter than the one in the QRO and Commander ceramic tube amplifiers I previously owned. Not having to wait up to 3 minutes for the amp to warm up now is a treat. I would like to have seen Ameritron use a calibrated vernier dial on the PLATE tune capacitor like the one they used for the LOAD capacitor. As it is however pre-setting the Plate and Load caps when changing bands makes tuning the amp a real breeze. That's about it!
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HB9TMW
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2007 09:43
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Best 3-500Z amp I've seen
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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After owing this piece of gear for 3 years+, the only thing I can say is: WOW!
This amp is definitely built to last, and works like a breeze. In HB9 land the legal limit is 1kW so I always operate it with driving power in the 50-55 watt range. The amp runs very cool even during CW contest runs at 1kW out.
Another point which is important to me is the cooling system. Ameritron has followed the recommendations of the tube manufacturers when designing the amp, namely:
- Air flow comes from under the tube
- Forced air cooling with chimneys
- Heat dissipater for the anode of the tube
These are important points as they ensure maximum tube life, which can last longer than the operator's life...
And yes, in comparison with an ACOM 2000A the fan is noisy, but my computer also and I always operate using headphones, so that's not an issue for me.
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WK9L
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 10, 2007 15:39
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1 year later :}
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well after a year, I think it has been the best money I ever spent on a amplifier. I would do it again in a heart beat. My hats off to Mike and the group at Ameritron !
WK9L
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N4JA
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 6, 2006 13:32
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Best 3-500 amp made
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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If there is anything wrong with an amp, believe me, I will find it. I can't find anything to complain about here. This amp will run the legal limit and over the legal limit on 80, 40, and 20 meters. Legal limit is easily attained on 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters with 100 watts drive. For all of you who have a personality that makes you drive 40 mph in a 25 mph school zone, the amp will do 1800 to 1900 watts on 80 and 40 meters and 1700 watts on 20 meters with 100 watts drive. I had my transceiver turned up to 125 watts and it put out 2200 watts into a dummy load (of course). The transceiver now is turned down to 100 watts.
I like the forced air cooling which blows the air from the bottom of the tubes through a pair of chimneys (unlike other amps of this class). Also, the power supply is rated at 2500 watts.
I thought about the AL-1200 and the AL-1500, but the tubes for those amps are very expensive. Whereas, you can re-tube the AL-82 for $350 from RF Parts (as this review is being written). However, running this amp at the full legal limit, the tubes should last in excess of 10,000 hours. I have seen Heathkit SB-220 amps ( using a pair of 3-500's) running 1300 watts out for in excess of 25 years without the tubes losing emission. If you have read my reviews on the AL-80B and the ALS-600, you will notice I am not enamored with Ameritron's quality control. But despite the fact Ametitron did not include the package that contains the fuse holder caps, fuses, and extra cabinet screws in the box, they did send them to me a week later. In spite of this I am pleased with the amp's performance.
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N1FCJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 20, 2006 19:22
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Great amp!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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It's no mystery why this amp has gotten all perfect 5 scores here.
-It's built like a tank.
-It loafs at legal limit.
-With Amperex tubes it will give you legal limit with less than 100W drive.
-Output is very clean.
-Easy to tune.
-3 second warm up.
-Simple circuitry that most hams could fix on their own if anything goes wrong.
So what's not to love? I struggled with the decision between the AL-1200, AL-1500 and AL-82. I chose the 82 because the tube replacement cost is low. The 3-500ZGs are a rugged tube. No warm up time. No worry about accidentely overdriving the tube - the worse that can happen is you drive the amp beyond legal limit if you put 100W in, which it will easily do. That's not a great idea but it's better than accidentely putting 100W into an expensive 8877. Also, the tuning procedure for a 3-500Z amp is simpler than for a ceramic tube. I have friends with AL-1200s and AL-1500s and they are great amps too but this amp won my heart. I got mine used but in mint condition. I had an AL-80A before this and that is a great amp for the money. They can be had for in the $500 range used. No regrets with either amp but the AL-82 is here to stay. Some have complained of the fan noise but i find it pretty quiet at the factory setting. It runs very cool on SSB. I don't use RTTY so I can't speak for that. BTW, Ameritron increased the area of the vent holes on top so ignore what ARRL says about that.
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WK9L
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Rating: 5/5
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May 20, 2006 19:26
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Great-Big-Powerhouse
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Wow This amp is great, 1500 watts dead key with 92 watts input! And alot of head room. The fan is loud but not terrible, If you create heat it must be cooled. It is built well and looks good.
Very simple to tune and operate. I bought it used for a good price, No it is not a Alpha but I bought a couple of nice radio's with the money I saved! It is here to stay.
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KB7HK
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 20, 2005 11:56
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LOVE THIS AMP
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had this amp for 2 years now. I installed the EBS-1 board and the QSK-5PC board myself. My only problem was a bad receive PIN diode on the QSK board and Ameritron sent me a few which solved the problem. Other than that I have no issues. The amp feeds an ATR-30 tuner. Full output with 100w or less from my TS-2000. I paid $500 less than MSRP from AES. This is the same chassis and PS as the AL-1500/1200 and just loafs along all day. I recommend the AL-82 over the 1200/1500 simply because of the lower tube replacement cost.
Check out QST's review and you'll also notice that the 3rd Order IMD is cleaner than many competitors products.
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W4DZO
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 20, 2005 08:35
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Very Solid Amp!!!!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have always liked most of the ameritron amps and have run several different ameritron amps,I think ameritron products are priced fairly and you still get quit a bit of quailty with the ameritron product,I also run a al-1200 ameriton and the al-82 was just as impressive as the al-1200.I read a couple of reviews that the amp needed 130 watts of drive to acheive legal limit,that is not so with my al-82,at 130 watts drive my al-82 with the 3-500z amprex tubes will be 2kw out on bird 43.The al-82 is very easy to tune,heavy built transformer,3700 volt peterdahl.If you are picking between the al-1200 and the al-82,I belive I would go with the al-82,only because the 3-500z are reasonable to replace,you can get the rf parts 3-500z for about $139.00 each,which the 3cx1200a7 runs $800.00.
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K3MD
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Rating: 5/5
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May 3, 2004 21:23
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Instant on, Full-power
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had my AL-82 for 3 years. It runs a little better on RF Parts 3-500ZG's than on the original Eimac's. Will put out 1800W no problem, nicely with a little cooler tubes in the CW setting (higher bias voltage). Requires only 100W drive, as advertised. I like it better than the Commander HF-2500, Alpha 87A, and Ten-Tec Titain, all of which failed in contest service. The 87A was always shutting itself off. The plates of the 3-500ZG's run a little red, but not orange like the original 3-500Z's in my old SB-220.
Instant on, that is the best for a type-A individual! You are not going to miss that DX waiting for your filaments to warm up!
Yes, the blower is noisy, but speed is adjustable if you read the manual.
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W4PIG
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 19, 2004 00:41
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GREAT AMP!!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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THIS AMP WILL DO LEGAL LIMIT ALL DAY LONG WITH NO PROBLEM. I HAD A ALPHA 99 THAT AMP GAVE ME SO MUCH TVI PROBLEMS IT WAS UNREAL!!!!! FOR THE PRICE THE AMERTRION IS AS GOOD AS THE ALPHA NO PROBLEMS WITH TVI WITH THIS AMP. THIS IS MY OPINION THE ALPHA 99 IS A OVER PRICED AMP AND HAS NOTHING ON THE AL-82.
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