|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
|
You can
write your own review of the Ameritron ALS-600.
|
AD4GB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jan 28, 2012 21:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great Amp!
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I love this amplifier! I have owned it for 4yrs. I bought it used from a friend that bought it new and only had it for a few months when I bought it. It puts out a full 600 watts on voice peaks ssb and 450 watts on cw. It is so easy to operate, no tune no fuss! I have owned several tube amps and hated to have to re-tune every time I change bands. With the ALS-600 all you have to do is change the band selecter switch, and if you forget the built in protection circit will break the key circit so the amp won't be damaged. The only problem I have had with it is the fan on the power supply went out and I had to replace it, and the keying relay will get dusty and stick over time and I have to blow it out but other than that it is great!
|
|
G8ZGK
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jan 24, 2012 07:40
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great now, terrible manufacturing
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I wanted one of these in UK so it would provide the UK max 400 watts with ease.
Bought mine with 10m board + switching PSU in USA about 2 years ago for $400 inc. shipping to Connecticut.
Apparently, it had blown all of the power transistors in the amp within a few hours from new.
Ameritron had repaired it FOC in 2007, and it never worked OK after that so it was sold for 'spares' and described as 'not working'.
I had the hardware at a bargain price and now just had to repair it.
I had read the reviews of MFJ/Ameritron products so had the lids off as soon as I got it back in UK.
The only problem was the blue -14 volt wire in the PSU had never been stripped or soldered to the switcher PCB.
This meant that there was no -14 volts to the PSU fan so it had never run, and no -14v to the amp.
This confirms that there is no 'final test' of these products when assembled.
No -12v in the amp means that the ALC comparators and circuit can not operate.
This was probably responsible for the PA transistors dying.
Resoldered the blue wire and immediately got full output on all freqs, 1.8 to 30 MHz.
Have since fitted a 12v 1.1 amp DC fan + temp controller with the sensor on the PA heatsink.
Absolutely quiet now and blows a gale when key down 600 watts for 10 mins.
Fitted the excellent AD5X relay mod. Achieved QSK and almost silent Tx/Rx changeover.
Changed the meter bulbs that burn out occasionally to white LEDs that do not.
Also, changed the hi-power input resistor arrangement to a 2db 50 ohm pi-attenuator and...
re-wound the input RF transformer with 3 turns primary rather than the oiginal 1 turn.
This now provides 600 watts output for 6-10 watts in, (depends on the band) and is ideal for my barefoot K2.
It has operated faultlessly since the blue wire fix and has also has protected itself against the aerial falling out once while transmitting,
the band switch being set wrong on many occasions and being over-driven on several other occasions.
This is now a solid amp to be proud of. Not so when it was new.
|
|
N6GRY
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jan 5, 2012 20:16
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good amp, although
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
Purchased the ALS-600S new and attempted to set ALC with negative results. Contacted Ameritron and discovered the ALC Set on front panel was not working, Ameritron said I really didn't need it anyway, but if I wanted to send it back, they would repair it, or I could fix it myself. After some debate over fixing myself or leave it and run without ALC set, I returned it to Ameritron for repair. My thought is, if you really don't need it, why would they put it there? and when I buy a new item I expect it to function as it was designed. Let me add, that while the ALC would not set, I could and did use the AMP for about 30 minutes, during that time it did work perfectly with a 600 watt tx and without the ALC. I will do a complete update once I receive the amp back from Ameritron.
|
|
KD8PHX
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Dec 6, 2011 14:57
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good Value
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
Purchase a brand new ALS-600 in May 2011. I had some “problems” with it. It seemed to load down on occasion. The PA unit lights would dim but the linear power supply (PS) lights were fine. Max output was 200watts some times. Any drive over 50watts would cause it to put out less. Weird. So for grins I tried it on a different 120V outlet thru a long extension cable. Problems were gone but the output was down from what was advertised. As soon as I would plug it back into the original outlet, the intermittent issue return. I ended up putting in a 240VAC 20A outlet & the amp seems happy. No more problems (I hope). One of the reasons I went to 240V is because the power cord to the PS is a nice HD 14 gauge construction, but only 16ga wires are found inside the PS & PA. These wires have to carry 13A at 120VAC to 25 amps at 55VDC. I know the wires are short, but still, I felt the wires should be at least 14ga. The 120/240 supply voltage comes into the PS then is routed to the amp ( for the on/off sw) via a 4-5' long multi-wire cable which then goes back to the PS. The PS then supplies up to 25A DC to the PA thru that same 16ga multiwire cable. Anyway, I recommend running the ALS-600 from 220-240VAC if possible. If not, make sure you have a dedicated 120V 20A service to the PS. I get good clean signal reports at max output on SSB. The output meter on the ALS-600 correlates very well with my Palstar AT2KD meter. The output from my ALS-600 ranges from 450W to 550W depending on the band on a CW key down into an MFJ-264 DL. The construction is on the cheap side, but it works & is a good value.
73-Bob V
|
|
K4YYY
|
Rating: 2/5
|
Nov 10, 2011 04:27
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Very Poor Quality Control
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
First of all this is not a NO TUNE AMP. Unless your antennas are all set up with very low SWR's This amp will shut down forcing you to run lower power or purchase a tuner.After less that 30 days and only 2 contacts my AMP dropped out as soon as it was powered up. The power switch felt spongy upon further investigation I found the switch had been melted by very poor and sloppy soldering.While the cover was off I found a lot more cold solder joints. THE RIG IS GOING BACK FOR A REFUND. GLAD I PUT IT ON AMER EXPRESS!
|
|
WB7BV
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 29, 2011 22:14
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Nice little amp.
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
Sold my old als 600 s to buy the ALS 1300. The 1300 did not last 30 hours and three contacts. Purchased another ALS 600 S and returned the ALS 1300.
(Reviewed the ALS 1300 previously)
The Good:
1 Higher bias gives more output the previous unit.
2 Reliable and not over sensitive to SWR, Power output etc.
3 Cool and quiet.
4 Small and light.
5 Inside looks clean and professional.
6 10 /12 meter installs OK and works correctly.
7 Power and SWR metering indicates about the same as a new Array Solutions Power Master meter.
8 Ameritron engineering was responsive to my questions on the design and operation.
The Bad: (No major issues here)
1 Lower output than expected on 80 meters. About 525 watts. 700+ watts on other bands. This due to the output transformer core material. Per Ameritron engineering.
2 Active components (power transistors) are mounted on top of the heat-sink. Heat-sink on the bottom?
3 Cooling fan is too small. OK for SSB but marginal for CW and much too small for RTTY FM etc.
4 Manual schematic is poorly done and has some omissions.
5 Manual operation section is disjointed and not logical. But mostly it is all there if you do some "reading between the lines".
6 Rear panel is poorly designed. Connectors too close and other connectors not spaced from the edges, etc.
The Ugly: (Not much here)
1 The meter is the cross needle type. Hard to read for me and I have 20/15 vision.
2 Remote control USB connectors are on the front. (In the way)
Overall it meets advertised operation specifications and has not had any issues. Just needs more cooling.
Suggestion:
Put the heat-sink no the top of the transistors and a more powerful cooling fan.
So it gets a weak 5, works fine but there are things I would change. (Personal opinion)
73 de wb7bv
|
|
KJ6LOZ
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 5, 2011 23:09
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Easy to use, hard to destroy
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
No Tune, No tubes, No problems. Just turn it on, set the band and key the mike. If you forget to change the band selector it goes into smart "protection" mode. Just reset the button and your good again.
Very Forgiving and useable. A 1.3 Solid State amp would be nice, but this really does perform well.
|
|
KI6KJS
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jul 25, 2011 21:07
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent Amplifier
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I have been using My ALS-600 for two years now and it has performed very well. I'm driving it with a FT-840 60 watts in gives 400 plus watts out on 75/80 and 500 out on 40 where I operiate the most. I am using the ARI-500 for auto band select which is and excellent combination. I operiate into a full wave loop tuned to the middle of 75 meters and driven with 450 ohm ladder line. I can easily tune all of 75/80 and 40 meters with the loop. I use a gap verticle for 20 through 10, no tuner required for this antenna. You can see My modest setup on QRZ.
|
|
WB3JGP
|
Rating: 1/5
|
Jul 9, 2011 10:53
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Save your money
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I must've gotten a lemon. This amp lasted about 2 minutes on the air before the power supply went POP! End of story. Was driving it with 20w max. It drew so much current at 120v, it blew the circuit breaker in my house. I moved it to another outlet and re-keyed it. As I brought it up from 10w to 20 of driver power, the power supply sparked, popped and that was the end. Not so good. Save your money, shop around, and get something sturdier. This thing isn't worth the aggravation of setting it up.
|
|
K5TGS
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 25, 2011 19:00
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
This is the One!
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
This is likely the best investment I have made for the shack. It works as stated ( maybe even better) and it really helps break through the noise. I run mine in a 220v line and it runs quite and cool. I also found the protection circuit to work as expected and it has saved me ( and the finals) several times. If you are looking for value and SS design, this is the amp for your shack. I would suggest the remote head as I keep the amp and power supply quite a distance from the desk.
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
