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Reviews For: Acom 600S

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

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Review Summary For : Acom 600S
Reviews: 25MSRP: 2995
Description:
Acom's first solid state amplifier 600 watts pep all mode. 1,8 to 54 Mhz. 12Kg
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.acom-bg.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00254.6
MM0DVZ Rating: 2020-12-21
Excellent amplifier Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I've had this amplifier for just over 4 months. This is my first transistor amplifier and I was a little uncertain to begin with. As all my antennas are resonant and VSWR is below 1.2:1 I thought I would give it a try. It works very well and has some great protection circuits built in. Size is also good and not as big as my other valve amplifiers or radio for that matter. Operation is quiet and smooth which is ideal for those late nights chasing DX. As I mainly work CW these days it has proven to be very good in this mode and operation is quiet and slick. Display and menu system is really easy to use. It really is a great amplifier. Looks good, simple to use, quiet and well protected. What more can you ask for. Well done Acom.
F5TFW Rating: 2020-11-29
Very good amplifier Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use this amplifier since 2 years without any problems
it delivers 600 watts on all hf band with only 10 - 15 watts drive power , fan is quiet and protections are
effective (high swr , to much drive power etc.)
Cat command from my TS890S operates fast and well
The ACOM 600s has no tuner inside , no problem for
me , a use only tuned antennas.
AB4D Rating: 2019-12-29
Excellence in Solid State Design Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I recently added an Acom 600S to my station. I've sold most of my tube gear, and the 600S took the place of a great Drake L-4B I owned.

Fit and finish is excellent on the Acom 600S. So far, I've used the amplifier as a stand alone unit, using only the PTT and the RF lines. The amp works very well. The built in frequency counter automatically takes care of any band changes, and the attractive 4.5 x 2.75 display keeps the operator updated regarding the amplifier's status.

Notably, it's an extremely quiet amplifier. Quieter than the Drake L-4B, if that's possible :) Output is 600-650 watts when driven with 20-25 watts. Although, I know one person, that indicated 700+ watts is not a problem on SSB. The amp is very well protected. Make an error, the amplifier goes off-line, and the issue is noted on the display.

The RF devices used in this amplifier are a pair of the Freescale/NXP MRFE6VP6300H. State of the art LDMOS devices are much more rugged, than the popular MRF-150 devices that are commonly used in other solid state amplifiers. NXP indicates these devices are capable of handling a load mismatch of 65:1 VSWR. The amplifier is very rugged due to the devices selected by Acom, and it would be nearly impossible to damage the RF output devices due to a failure in the antenna system.

Since it's arrival, I've really grown fond of the 600S. I find myself using this amplifier more than the two other amplifiers I own (OM Power 4000A and Yaesu Quadra). Mathematically, there is very little difference between 600 watts and 1.5KW at the receiver. The signal reports I've received support that conclusion.

I am completely satisfied with the Acom 600S HF amplifier. In comparison, I've owned several high quality amplifiers from Alpha and OM Power. The Acom 600S is on par with other available top of the line amplifiers.

Update: 12/28/2019. I've relocated, and the Acom 600S I own still continues to work flawlessly at my new station. I would not change anything in my original review. A newer model, 700S is soon to be released, and I expect it to be good as well.


UNCLEIKE Rating: 2019-03-24
Three years, three finals. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After three blown finals, Acom traded me for the Acom 1000. They did upgrades and mods to my old 600s as they are doing on all the new ones being produced. I however had had enough and requested the trade. Acom is a good company and I will buy again from them. The 600s produces full out put power with very little drive. You must be exceptionally careful not to overdrive it. Also pay close attention to the ALC settings on your rig. I will post a review of the A 1000 after using it for a while but first impressions are great.

----------------------
Earlier 3-star review posted by UNCLEIKE on 2018-10-21

After two years and two sets of finals, I stand by my initial review. When it works, it works well enough. Obviously the protections circuits don't work well enough to protect the output transistors.
ON4VP Rating: 2019-02-13
2nd purchase in 5 years Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've owned this Acom 600S before, got one when it just came out back in 2014 (first review page 1). As I understand (also looking at the firmware versions) the Acom 600S now is 2nd revision. New production started late 2018 (firmware version now 7.xx) and it seems some things are redesigned or engineered.

For a while now the amp comes in a black finish. Still looking great but I kinda liked the first color what was the same appearance as the Acom 2000a. Nevertheless it's all about the performance. Still great as ever. I like the new display and still love the way I can monitor all data from the lcd screen.

For those who are interested in controlling the amplifier from your computer take a look at "Acom Director Plus". Connection made with standard RS232 9-pin cable between amp and computer gives you a nice screen (kinda duplicates the lcd screen) and you can monitor all on the computer screen. The little program lets you also use the buttons remotely like opr/stb or band switching, tuning and switching the amp off remotely. It makes operating the amplifier form another location possible. As my IC-7610 has internal web server I can use my radio and amplifier from a laptop anywhere I have internet access.

It took me a few moments to set RF Power + drive level on the Icom 7610. Drive level is kinda critical but once adjusted I can change RF Power and on most bands RF Power % setting is between 10 and 20 according bands. Drive is set to 42%.

After 5 years owning the first revision and now the 2nd revision I still am convinced this amp is worth its price. 5 star rating !
EA5BZ Rating: 2018-05-08
NEVER AGAIN Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I owned the amplifier 1 year and it was 6 months repairing at Acom factory.
My amplifier broke finals 2 times and Acom couldn't give a solution.
Finally they changed (under warranty) for an Acom 1000.
I won't buy again a transistor Acom Amplifier.
G4OER Rating: 2018-05-03
Superb Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Acom have years of experience in producing high quality amplifiers and the 600S is probably the best currently in production. Mine needed updating to use with the auto Atu. Val at Acom brought it up to date and free of charge. The shipping was efficiently handled by Steve at Martin Lynch and sons and I was kept up to date on its progress. First class service. Highly recommended.
K0CWO Rating: 2017-12-27
Absolutely wonderful amplifier Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can’t ad to what others have already said. This thing does everything as advertised. Light weight, small, quiet and superb build quality. I was going to buy the 1200S but when I found out that the SPE Expert 1.3K-FA without an antenna tuner is price competitive I chose that one instead.
N4DCD Rating: 2017-12-25
Great amp! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Most of the reviews here are 5 with the exception of one which to me sound like RF. Not the fault of the amp and 100 hours in 6 days? Anyway, great amp, does what it should with out a hiccup. 600w with 20 watts of drive, can't ask for more and whisper quiet, fast band changes and let's face it, it a ACOM!! IN my opinion, Acom makes the best amp's on the market. I also have a Acom 1500..
KD4POK Rating: 2017-10-27
Problems in week 1 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Amp was delivered a week ago today. Set it up and used it for 6 days total power on time is about 100 hours. Using an Icom 7300 to drive it with and have the control cable between the two. Amp tracks the 7300 band (set to TTL command set 3) nicely. Have continuous issues with the amp tripping its like its too sensitive to the mic drive. Spent hours adjusting it. Finally got it happy with about 10w output from the 7300 but occasionally it still tripped and output was only about 400 something from the display reading. Just didn't feel I was getting to use the 600w I should have gained with this purchase, but everyone said it sounded good and I kinda got over the power output level. In one QSO tonight I keyed up and the amp beeped an error and turned off. When i turned it back on and started using it two things I noticed. First, the output was about half what it was before it shut down. Second, it was not as sensitive from the mic input which I actually liked, because if it had worked like this from the beginning it would not be so picky about the 7300 input levels and I would have been able to use the rated output of the amp. I investigated further and looked into all the diagnostic menus and found that idle current readings were bad for the right side, the left was good (2.7v vs 0.69v). I assume one of the super reliable final stage freescale MOSFETs lived a short life. I'll have to follow up with distributor DXEngineering Monday where I purchased it to see what happens next. Bummed out. Looking forward to fixing this and hopefully there was a problem from the beginning which is why it always seemed temperamental.

Went to website to look at firmware. Kinda weird. Youtube videos show different looking screens and firmware on one of them 2.5. My firmware says 2.0. Manf. website says last firmware available is 1.5 from years ago. Maybe they stopped letting people update firmware but something doesn't seem right with the different versions I have seen on the screens. This one is still a mystery for now I'll have to inquire about it.

It has lots of potential, I hope this issue is resolved and things just work the way they should. It seems like a nice amp, even though its not too happy right now. 73