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write your own review of the Advanced Receiver Research (Ar2) P144VDG.
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KX8XX
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 10, 2008 16:41
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Homebrew is about the only way to beat these.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Used 144 and 432 mHz versions of these for about 8 years now, no problem. Rated a 4 because good hb ones will beat 'em.
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N1JMS
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 30, 2007 19:24
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A work horse
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've used these pre-amps since they were introduced yers ago. They have always been simple, effective & reliable. As with any pre-amp you must instally them wisely, especially in high RF enviorments where external filtering is required. High quality coax cables are a must too.
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K8TV
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2007 08:32
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Good Product!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have used the ARR pre amps on repeaters for over 20 years. Have several on two meters and UHF and one on six meters. With proper regulated voltage input and a cavity or helical resonator infront of them they will last a long time. I have never lost one and had antennas hit by lightning several times. They are a nice company to deal with - very nice to amateurs! Ken K8TV
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W6IZT
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 26, 2006 04:34
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No problems here!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have a P432 in use on my 440 repeater now for almost 4 years without any problems. I share a site with 4-5 other commercial UHF repeaters and have not experienced any noticable problems with intermod. 12 dB SINAD is approximately .11-12 uV as others have stated.
A great value!
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K4III
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 9, 2006 22:38
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Great Solution - when possible !!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've put one of these on both my 2m and 440 repeaters. The 440 one works great and really pulls in the weak stations without any attenuation droping 12dB Sinad readings from .28 to .11uV! Also, it helps that there is only 1 other uhf system 300-750 Mhz within a 35+ mile radius of my repeater, a pager on 463 Mhz. It is also 8 miles away so intermod is Non-Existant on the UHF band!!!
The vhf ARR I use is the switchable type that will pass 25 watts. I chose this because there are 5 other VHF commercial and another 2m ham repeater on the same tower up about 40 feet. I figure that there will be a lot of RF entering my system on vhf and that using this type will be less prone to being damaged by strong RF signals. I am not attenuating any of the preamp and it brings down the .35uV to .12uV!!! (Yes, that's .12uV using all of the 24dB without attenuation). I tried swapping antennas one time recently with one closer to the top and the intermod was so high, the preamp was completely unusable for regular operation whenever another system keyed. Even with a 10dB attenuator inline, the preamp caused so many problems, I decided to go back to the lower antenna. (I was able to get further coverage at a lower height with a more sensitive receiver than a 50ft higher antenna with no preamp)
At sites with a lot of intermod or high-powered transmitters, don't expect to use one of these. Or at least you may need to remove some of the preamp's pull by adding attenuation inline. Ever wonder why Motorola/commercial base stations and repeaters only have preamps that offer 3-4dB gain???
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WA7ABU
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Rating: 0/5
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Aug 22, 2005 23:06
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update on
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The ARR preamp arrived in the mail after reasonable turnaround and slow mail service. You guessed it!! The amp is not working.
There must be some kind of quality control problem on this transistor or the staff dealing with them. Maybe they perform poor installation of the part.
Either way, I won't allow the amp to affect my system further. There are lots of other products available that work. We chose this one as it used to have a good reputation.
Ham radio is an experiment, but bad parts should not be part of it.
Please keep in mind that this product was not altered or abused in any way. They claim a circuit that is static tolerating, with a coil to ground on the input isolated by a tuned cap with another coil to ground. The circuit is DC regulated internally. The repeater is not a source of static by design.
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KB9MWR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 22, 2005 11:53
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Great product
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I too have used both 2 meter and 440MHZ versions.
And yes the non-GASFET (bipolar) work better in in high RF lightening prone areas such as repeater sites. However I've found that if you add a pair of back to back silicon diodes (1N914) to the GASFET preamp's input this will protect it from overloading. Thats almost an essential mod on these GASFET preamps.
As a follow up about the diode mod. see: http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/files/tech/preamp_mod.jpg
For a repeater site where stong field strengths are present, this is almost essential. However, at repeater sites, ideally your preamp should have a preselector.
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N0XE
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 6, 2004 11:45
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works great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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These pre-amps have been around for years, it is a shame that one post had such poor luck, I used the 2 meter model for over 12 years and never had one problem. As long as they are being built the same way as years past, I would think they are still a good solid pre-amp but you never know these days as owners and products do change and QC may suffer at times. I hope I am wrong as they have always been good solid pre-amps and hope they stay that way for many years to come.
73 N0XE
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N8EKT
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 6, 2004 00:59
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GREAT PRODUCT
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I HAVE USED BOTH 2 METER AND 440MHZ VERSIONS ON REPEATERS WITH GREAT RESULTS.
THE ONLY THING I WOULD SAY IS THAT THE CHEAPER VERSION( NON-GASFET) SEEMED TO WORK BETTER IN REPEATER AND LIGHTNING PRONE LOCATIONS.
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VE2XLT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 23, 2004 17:28
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OK but 25w Power Limit
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought One 10 yrs ago and tested in my mobile ant-
AsGal FET very low noise and sensitive ! Never mangad to put it on the Tower for the intended
2Mtr SSB hunt- becuase it handles only 25-40w RF
bypass....Any reasonable offer takes it
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