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| Reviews Summary for Alpha 76PA |
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write your own review of the Alpha 76PA.
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N9LAP
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 7, 2007 14:47
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BEST
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My Dad, now SK bought it new,never a down day.I run this amp, 3 tube version every night, legal limit easily without warming it up! Works on 75 the same as 10.I used to have a Alpha 70 vapor cooled, also great but no more output and harder to tune quickly.Original 30 year old tubes and my 781 works well with this still new looking and working powerhouse. Alpha's are worth the hype they get and the 76PA is one of the best looking amps they ever made. 8874's more available than people say, though as I said mine still will fly past 1500 on my bird and Palstar. Make sure you have a beefy tuner and not an MFJ 3K or the like. TNKS &73 N9LAP
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WD0CT
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 24, 2005 01:22
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good amp
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I owned the 76 - not A ,or PA, or CA. Mine was the two tone beige color with a single meter. Made in the mid 70s.
It ran two 8874 tubes. It didn't have the greatest input match on all bands and it did reuire quite a lot of drive compared to a Tempo 2001 amp I had with the same tubes and a real tuned input.
It was beautifully constructed, had a clean signal, and tuning was repeatable and stable.
The fan rattled and probably needed replacement.
One tube went south and replacements Svetlanas were at that time about $335 a piece. Eimacs are even higher.
If you are on a budget or worry about tube prices I think you may want to consider an amp with cheaper tubes.
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N7UQA
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 26, 2005 10:33
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Exelent work horse
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Even though I have only owned the Alpha 76a (PA) for about a month, all I have to say is WOW. I picked this unit up second hand, but it was well cared for. It came with a new Peter Dahl Hypersil plate transformer, tubes, newly painted and silk screened faceplate, new blower and freshly painted cabinet. It looks and works as if it were new. After setting the jumpers for 240v operation and turning it on, I was amazed at how quiet the blower was. I had used a Henry 2KD Classic previously, blower noise certainly was NOT a design consideration.
Tune-up is quick and easy with the logging scales, vernier dials make this easy especially on 10 meters. Does legal limit on all bands with 50-60 watts of drive. Multimeter functionality is a nice feature to monitor FWD, REF, Ig and Ep, with a dedicated meter for Ip. The amp also runs very cool, even at legal limit, other amps I have used would heat the shack even at idle. Even though this amp has been out of production for may years, it's till a very fine amp. It's the amp that gave Alpha “brick on the key” durability. If you are looking for a good used entry level amp, it's hard to go wrong with this old work horse. I personally would like to see Alpha bring this amp back into production, the simplicity of analog metering with basic controls is the way to go. The “over use” of LED metering electronics just adds to the cost.
Craig - N7UQA
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K3MD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 9, 2005 09:12
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Great amp
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Ran a 76P from 1985 to 2001, then foolishly sold it. Now I have two 76PA's, one modified from a 2-tube I picked up on EBay for $700 by N4UQ. Amps put out 1500-1700W on all bands (I don't op WARC bands). Tubes don't even get warm at 1500W out, compared to my Ameritron AL-82. See my article in NCJ. You can get certified 8874 pulls for $200 each, but personally I have never had one blow out or show low output. They are rated 10,000 hours CCS.
73,
John K3MD
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K0XD
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2004 15:47
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POWERFUL
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Owned for over 20 years. Refurbished about 5 years ago and still going. Original tubes, operates on all modes=a TANK OF STRENGTH.
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NC0B
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 17, 2002 13:48
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Error correction
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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In my review of the 76PA I incorrectly said I loaded the grid to 200 mA. This was incorrect. I load the grid to 100 mA, and the plate to 800 mA. It is possible to load the plate to 1000 mA (1 Amp) which is full scale on the plate meter, but at the price of 8874s today, pushing the tubes that hard is not likely worth the extra 200 watts output.
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NC0B
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 12, 2002 03:33
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Good amp, one weakness
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a solid, reliable amp with only one weakness, no tuned input circuits. If your transceiver has an automatic antenna tuner, this is almost a non-issue. Classic amp keying circuit that grounds 24 volt open frame relay, so no QSK as it is not fast enough. This is the thee tube model of the 76 series with 8874s. Easily puts out 1200 watts. Covers WARC bands except 12 meters. Nice reduction gear tune and load controls, with good 0 - 100 calibration scales for easy resettability. Plate meter reads 0 - 1 amp, and multi function second meter reads HV, grid current, forward power (0 - 2kW) and reflected power (0 - 200 watts). Has high and low B+ for CW and SSB operation. On SSB tune it for 800 mA on the plate and about 200 mA grid current for clean operation. Two models existed with 10 dB and 13 dB power gain. Only difference was the amount of resistive swamping on input which could be modified.
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