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Reviews For: Ameritron AL-82

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - HF & HF+6M

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Review Summary For : Ameritron AL-82
Reviews: 49MSRP: 3500. USD MSRP
Description:
1.5 KW Output Linear Amplifier w/ 2 3-500 Tubes on 240V for US
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=AL-82
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00494.8
W6NFL Rating: 2011-09-13
Couldnt be Happier Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I love this amp. I like the idea of a pair of 3-500z over the single tube versions. 1500 watts and the 3-500z's are loafing..Plus tubes are relatively cheap. Amp has great cooling with its pressurized floor which forces air up through the tube's chimneys.
K2OWR Rating: 2011-09-07
KISS Time Owned: N.A.
Keep It Simple Stupid....I have used LOTS of amplifiers thru the years, working them as hard as you can in serious contest duty. I can tell you from experience, the real expensive ones (name begins and ends with an A) will consistently let you down in a contest because some stupid $3 diode in the "protection" circuitry will fail. Who cares if if it's cheap to fix if you're in the middle of a contest and it quits....and they all do it!
The AL82 just keeps on pumping out the watts, contest after contest. I know how to tune and monitor an amplifier. Save your money and buy this one, and simply read the manual carefully!
N5VU Rating: 2011-08-11
Very Good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Okie dokie, if you look past my condition of an ampaholic, I hope you can see the real me. (That didn't make any sense at all. Too much RF I suppose.) My wife calls me an amplifier slut. Always trying a different amplifier. Well, I have found my soul mate in amplifiers.

What more could a person want. A reasonably price amplifier with reasonably priced tubes. Real tubes for real RF. Yep, the Ameritron AL-82. Over the years I have had Heathikit, Henry, Dentron, Yaesu, Ten Tec, more Heathkkit, various Ameritrons and others I'm sure I'm forgetting about.

Oh yeah, about the AL-82. It makes everything the book states that it will. Using 240 VAC, the power supply will deliver 3600 volts unloaded and the advertised 3300 volts under load. With 100 watts of drive, the Ip is 800 ma. Right where it should be for the 3-500Z. Ig behaves very well at about 240 ma. Above all, please keep in mide the limitations on a 3-500Z. Stay within those parameters and you will have an amplifier that lasts a long time.

The 3-500Z max Ep is 4000VDC, max. Ip of 400ma and and max Ig of 130 ma. For two tubes, with 4Kv and .8A you would get 3200 watts input. or about 2KW output. At 3300 VDC & 800 ma Ip, you get 2640 input and about 1700 watts output. So, with the AL82 this equates at about 85% of maximum on a pair of 3-500Z. Easy as she goes!

I did not find any loose nuts, bolts or screws. All was well with it when it arrived in three boxes. The RF deck in one box, the transformer in another and then the tubes in the third. Straight from HRO Deleware. Thanks guys!

The design is pretty straight forward, the bulk of the amplifier is built in direct support of the tubes. (Imagine that.) the left half is home to the power transformer, rectifiers (Full wave bridge) and filter caps. and the front right half home to the tank circuit and the back right quarter is the home of the two tubes (with chimmineys) and the blower.
The blower comes from the factory at medium speed. Fairly quite and ample air flow.

Front panel arrangement is easy to follow. The PLATE tuning is printed with the old familar Heathkit hash marks for bands. The load is numbered.

The left meter is a multimeter. HV, Ip, PO & ALC. The right meter is a dedicated Ig meter. As always, mind your grid currents for a clean signal.

Of course it has a very tight band switch. Good positive contact with each clunk.
It has 32 screws. After so much excitement of putting it together, 32 screws and all, I realize that I forgot to make the 10 meter modification. Crap! That will just have to wait for another day. At least before the ARRL 10 meter contest.

I went and visited both MFJ and Ameritron this summer. Even met Martin. And of course, Richard. The people are extremly nice there. Yes, sometimes they make mistakes. Consider this, they have a whole lot more going out the door than they did being returned. They make a LOT of stuff. AND! They ship overseas as well. Something you don't hear much about anymore. MADE IN THE USA.

I have been a ham since I was 16. I'm now 52 today. Ameritron has very good products. This is my 5th Ameritron. I have just been constantly upgrading to where I wanted to be. If you want to email me, send it to n5vu at yahoo dot com.
WB4OQX Rating: 2011-06-14
Nice Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm always nervous ordering anything built by MFJ,but this amp arrived in great shape, and I found it was complete and well built. Installed the tubes and it has worked fine on all bands. Looks and works like an old Heathkit SB-220 on steroids.
WB9AZA Rating: 2011-05-15
Good Value But Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The AL82 is a good value for the money.
It does however have issues with quality workmanship.
You must check every nut and bolt, solder joints and for correct wiring. I found several cold solder joints, lose components, incorrect fan wiring according to the manual. The loading cap shaft was not connected and the knob pointer was bent to fit it to the shaft.
The power transformer failed in the first week of use. It became noisy due to the banding becoming slack.
Ameritron did a good job of resolving this issue with amazing speed; I had a new transformer sent to me in 4 days.
One change I highly recommend is the a change to the poor power transformer mounting. The transformer is supported by 4 ¼ inch studs. This make installing a 32 pound piece of iron easy but does not provide the proper support. I believe this caused the failure mentioned earlier of the transformer banding.
Install the transformer directly to the chassis base and you won’t regret it. It also seems the quite the entire amp from the light weight sheet metal vibrations.
If it were not for the lack of workmanship I would rate this classic design higher.

Jim WB9AZA
W5DGM Rating: 2011-02-25
Rugged and Powerful Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my AL-82 through Cedar City Sales,(thanks guys) and after a short wait for the unit to be manufactured, it arrived perfectly packaged. Assembly was straight foward, and I soon found out how powerful this amplifier is. Easily makes legal limit, with room to spare. Did I forget to mention this unit is built like a tank? I am looking foward to much DX ahead. Good work Ameritron.
K5BJM Rating: 2010-11-17
BEST AMP MADE!!!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
OK, I have put 2 of these Amps through the ringer and they have not failed me in any way. I have 2 of these 1 for my home and 1 for my ranch in central TX. I use these for long winded ragchewing and DX at 1200 to 1500 watts on SSB all the time. Both of these will do 1800+++ with 100 watts in. I get great audio reports all the time at both locations, useing a 756 pro 3 at home, and a icom 7000 at the ranch . I truly believe that the 500z tubes give the best audio available in any amp design today. There is no reason I see to own any other type of Amp! I have used these for almost 2 years and they were used when I bought them.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K5BJM on 2009-08-01

OK, in my last review I said I was going to watch for a second Amp and I found a good used one. I still think for the money there is not a better Amp out there. I now own 2 of these, ( I have 2 stations set up), and I love both amplifiers. They both put out over legal limit with 100 watt drive on Bird meters. I run these at about 1400 watts, wich takes about 8o watts drive. I like the glow of the 3-500 tubes. You will not be dissapointed going with one of these Amps.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K5BJM on 2008-11-02

The best Amp and most user freindly unit I have ever used! I get 2100 Watts with 110 Watts in. Runs full gallon with 75 watts in no problem.I set my fan to med low and still keep plenty kool tubes. I will be looking for another one of these amps in the near future. I highly recomend this amp!
N4JA Rating: 2010-03-28
great amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got rid of my 2 Al-80B's because I didn't like running a 3-500 at it's limit. This is my 2nd AL-82 in the past 5 years. At today's prices it is up there in price for a "you-tune-it-up- yourself linear. Look at what you get: a pair of 3-500ZG tubes loafing at about 60% of their full rating, glass chimneys over the tubes,a blower which is actually quiet (You have to have complete silence in your room to hear it), and 3800 idling plate voltage. With 100 watts drive the amp puts out over 1800 watts (illegal) on 80 meters and it will actually put out over 1500 watts on 10 meters. I drive mine with about 65 watts and get out over 1200 watts on all bands. It operates flawlessly at that power rating and you are not going to hear the plate tuning capacitor arc over because you have the plate loading control set too low on tune up. The input SWR is 1.5:1 on 17 meters and my rig does not fold back. I get full output on 17 meters. The best improvement I've seen on the newest production run is the meter lamps have been replaced with LED's. The only change I would suggest to Ameritron is the incorporation of a real wattmeter instead of the R.F. Voltmeter which is labeled PO.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N4JA on 2006-08-06

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.
KE4EX Rating: 2009-11-30
Grrreat !!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Earlier this yera I decided to get an 82.
Got a new one. Love it dearly.
The new ones are very quiet, no relay clacks or blower noise. No complaints what so ever.
I would buy another. My snot slinger will do 1500 +++++
W8YG Rating: 2009-07-22
Its back Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I got my Al82 back from Ameritron and shes putting out legal limit everywhere. Now we are talking.
Yes I did moan and wail and now shes back and thats the end of this tail.
Oh and here is a little tip dont ask for advice on an amp that needs repair or you will be in trouble. Pack it up and send it in and save yourself so pain. I have learned this lesson well.
Oh and if your amp pops its not a dust bunny hop. Somethings wrong so send it in you will not regret it my friend.

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Earlier 0-star review posted by W8YG on 2009-06-21

Un repairable that what you are,un repairable and
Its undenialable you unrelaible 82. Back from ameritron and you still wont run. Whats a ham operator to do.
Back in the Box you go onto the UPS truck you roll, back down to Amertitron and I hope that you will come back redone so that I can use you.
I am so glad that my Sb221 is working or I would have to wait for you.
This amp has spent more time at UPS and Ameritron than in my shack.
There is a solution. All they have to do is give me another RF deck and be done with it. But nooo that would be to easy. Thats not the American way. Its better to just jerk your customers around.
Well ham radio is different isnt it? 2 grand is peanuts right?
My apologies to Nat King Cole