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Reviews For: Collins 30L-1

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

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Review Summary For : Collins 30L-1
Reviews: 39MSRP: 520.00
Description:
80-10 meter 1KW PEP linear amplifier
Product is not in production
More Info: http://collinsradio.org/html/30l-1.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15395
W4CAS Rating: 2008-06-26
Still the best! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Couldn't resist adding my 5/5 rating to the fray! Have had this fine piece of gear for over 20 years and it hasn't failed me yet! Easy to tune, easy to operate, good looking, cheap to re-tube, built to MIL-SPECs! You CANNOT find another amp that even comes close in this category! If you are looking for a workhorse, quality amp that will last a lifetime, don't waste your money on the other crop of 811 amps out there! There are plenty of these gems still available for around $600 to $700 - the best money you'll ever spend on an amp!
N7WR Rating: 2008-01-23
Great to have Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After many years I decided to re-create a station I once had that I enjoyed more than any other over the 50 years I've been a ham. Part of that included a 30L1. I was fortunate to find one in excellent shape (private party via a dealer, not e-bay). Switched it back to 110vac since I don't have an easy way to get 220 into the shack. Put a drop of oil on the fan motor and off we went. Works just like I remember my previous one working. Excellent, quiet, nice size. You can see a picture on qrz under my call
K4SPS Rating: 2007-07-01
Still the best table top amp there is! Time Owned: N.A.
Have had my 'new' Collins 30-L for one month. Bought it off of E-bay. It is a truly superior design and it works as well as the day it left the factory, 46 years ago. I put 4 new Chinese 572B tubes in it, that load up and work perfectly. The original 811A's had multiple holes burned through the plates; they still had adequate output, in all fairness. The new 572B tubes have allowed lower loading and produce +500 watts on all bands. I love this amp. I am very glad I didn't buy a new 'equivalent(?)' Ameritron. I have $515 dollars invested in this amp: a depreciation of $5.00 dollars over its original price of $520.00! I did add additional through the bottom air cooling with a fan from the thrift store. Buy one, new licensee; you'll be glad you did! K4SPS
W2RS Rating: 2007-04-11
Still a real workhorse Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have only a few footnotes to what other reviewers have already said.

The 30L-1 is my main amp for 80-10, including the WARC bands with no problems. I drive it with a KWM-2 and an Orion II, using the Ameritron ARB-704 interface with the latter because of the 30L-1's high relay-control voltage. No, I haven't tried to make it do QSK, but it does everything else. Power output is 600-700 W CW, depending on band and drive level (always under 100 W).

It did run hot, so I put an external exhaust fan over the tubes to help out the interal blower. No more fried eggs. When I first fired it up, I did fry a helf-watt resistor in the relay-control circuit. I replaced it with a one-watt resistor, and the amp has been a real workhorse ever since.

If you want a medium-power amp, and don't need 160-meter or 6-meter coverage, get one! They sure don't make amps like they used to.
W7NWH Rating: 2007-03-15
Great medium power amp Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I enjoy using my 30-L1 Amp! My first linear and was really easy to hook up and use. I used an ampkeyer to toggle the amp from my Icom Pro III. I have spare tubes at the ready but the thing is still able to push 500 watts which for me is plenty.

I purchased off of Ebay which at times can be dicey. This was a clean unit which really surpasses the modern stuff being built in it's power range.

Make sure you get tubes that can be used in a horizontal mounting arrangment and that are in a matched set. A good source is RF Central which is where I ordered my spares.

I did put a drop of machine oil on the fan. One thing I'm not used to is how hot the thing runs. I had it somewhat enclosed, now I keep it out in the open with lots of air circulation.

Anyway, great amp, highly recommended when you don't need legal limit.
K4KIO Rating: 2006-06-30
Works per specs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been using a 30L-1 for about three months. It is my first amplifier so admittedly, I don't have a lot of reference to which to compare the Collins amp. Nevertheless, here is my take on it so far.

Very easy to tune with the special comparator circuit. Just zero the meter and it takes all the guess work (and some of the fun) out of tuning and loading.

Works on all the WARC bands without a bit of difficulty, especially if the transceiver has an auto antenna tuner to maximize power transfer to the amp. I like the instant warm up feature and see no problem using it as the factory designed it to be used.

Use of the factory recommended 20.5 foot RG58 interconnecting cable turned out to improve performance noticably. I use a homebrew soft key circuit to key the Collins relay from the ICOM 746 transceiver. The ALC feedback to the transceiver works fine; voltage levels are correct for the ICOM 746.

The meter scale is not the best in the world; takes a bit of staring to see just what is the voltage and current. Keydown input power is close to the spec level as well as I can calculate from the meter. Power output is probably 5-600 watts as well as I can determine from the antenna tuner meter. I really don't know the condition of the tubes that came with this unit; maybe a new set would produce a bit more.

On the whole, I am quite pleased with this amp and doubt if I would see the need go to a higher power level. Great feeling using a classic like this.
PY2LOW Rating: 2006-02-11
THE BEST Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
MY OPINION " THE BEST AMPLIFIER"
WA7SCH Rating: 2005-06-05
Love mine Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just purchased mine on "gasp" ebay. I love this amp. So far it is the quietest and easiest to tune up amp I've had.

I ditto the comments about purchasing one if you are looking for high power. You don't get that much signal strength out of the 1000-1500 watt class amps.

Make sure you either softkey the amp or your rig uses switching relays.
K3ICH Rating: 2005-01-11
"Sleeper" bargain amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I'll never understand why anyone would buy ANY of the current crop of quad (or triple) 811-A amps when the 30L-1's are going for much less. I use mine mainly for field demos, running from a 115 VAC generator. (QRP CW set-ups at your local mall are not going to impress anyone!) It's easy to operate and very compact for it's power rating. If you need a medium power amp, there's really only one choice, a Collins 30L-1. Buy one today and watch the value go UP over the years, rather than depreciating.
K6RB Rating: 2004-06-25
The best medium power desktop amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second 30L-1. I sold my first one along with my 75S-3 and 32S-3. Both have been excellent. I use this one as the amp for radio 2 in an SO2R contest set up. The driver transceiver is an FT-1000. I use it in full QSK mode, too. With the Ameritron QSK-5 switch and the little Ameritron relay buffer adaptor, it works like a charm in QSK. My first real work out was the recent WPX CW contest. Radio 2 was the "search & pounce" rig, running 600 watts out into a multiband vertical mounted on the chimney. I was able to work every station I heard. The "tuning" procedure is excellent. I can change bands and retune in seconds. I get nothing but good reports on the signal quality, too.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6RB on 2003-07-12

Bought a 30L-1 to complete my S-Line (75S-3 and 32S-3)and it has given me no trouble at all. Now that I'm putting in an SO2R contest position, I matched the 2nd rig with - you guessed it - another 30L-1. When I compared what they were getting for used Ameritron AL-811 and 811 H's, I opted for a used 30L-1. My only gripe is they should have had a standby/operate switch in parallel with T/R line. The manual tells you to turn the amp off to put it off line, but I don't like the idea of shocking the 811A filaments that way. So, the solution is to make a little switch box in the relay line, so when you want to put it in standby, just interrupt the relay input. It works fine.