This is an preliminary review of the SPE Expert 1.3K-FA linear amplifier. I have owned this amplifier for about two weeks. Thanks to its built-in tuner, this amplifier replaces both a Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5KFX 1kW solid state amplifier, as well as a Palstar HF-AUTO high power antenna tuner.
Before diving into the 1.3K-FA, here is a brief overview of my operating conditions:
- Radio: Kenwood TS990S with a QSR1 SDR acting as a panadapter
- Antennas: Traffie HXi 5 Band Hex-Beam rotated with a Yaesu G450A used on 10m - 20m and a Steppir BigIR vertical used primarily on 6m and 40m.
- Primarily operate SSB Phone and digital modes including RTTY, PSK31, JT65, and OLIVIA. I am not a CW operator.
You can find out more about my station at http://w9tvx.com
Why The Expert 1.3K-FA?
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There were several factors that motivated me to considering parting with my Tokyo Hy-Power/Palstar combination and opting for the SPE amplifier:
Due to its (optionally) integrated antenna tuner, the Expert amp would replace two pieces of equipment with one resulting in a reduced footprint.
The SPE amplifier is much smaller and lighter than the THP amp alone, and provides 500W more output.
It is less sensitive to SWR than the THP amplifier
It includes USB connectivity and a software package that allows for computer control of the amplifier
Firmware upgradeable via the USB port
Provides a port that allows for control of a tunable antenna such as a Steppir
Can operate on 6m
Quiet operation when compared to the THP
While I was reasonably happy with the THP Palstar combination, there were a couple of issues:
The THP amplifier is very sensitive to SWR. If it even thinks it’s going to sniff an SWR higher than 1.5 it will trip it’s safety circuits. Not a bad thing for protecting one’s investment, but it certainly would have been nice if it were a little more forgiving of higher SWR
THP is unfortunately no longer in business.
Despite being a fine piece of hardware, the Palstar HF-AUTO tuner can have a tendency to have to hunt for a match. I was never convinced that it stored an effective lookup table - Perhaps it was just operator error, but that was my experience .
The net effect of the above is that when changing frequency (not band as the THP followed the transceiver’s band via a CAT connection), I would have to switch the amp out of operating mode, tune to the frequency to an SWR of under 1.5. If I failed to do this and the SWR even thought about going above 1.5, the THP safety circuits would trip. I would invariably forget one of the aforementioned steps in the heat of battle.
Ordering and Shipping
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I pre-ordered my 1.3K-FA from Expert Amps USA, and from day one I was provided with fantastic customer service. The good folks at Expert USA kept me in the loop every step of the way from letting me know when the amplifier was approved by the FCC, to when it arrived from Italy, and finally to when they completed in-house testing and shipping out to my residence. Well done and kudos indeed!
The amplifier arrived at my front door step in a non-descript brown box. Opening the box I discovered a brown soft sided transport carry bag with SPE logo and the amplifier name stamped on the side firmly ensconced in padding material. Inside the carry case was the amplifier along with:
- Two cables with RCA (phono) connectors for ALC, RELAY links.
- One USB standard cable.
- Three connectors DB-15, 1 connector DB-9 for build one’s own cables
- CD-ROM containing the user manual and the software for remoting.
- One 20 A spare fuse.
- Spare air filter.
- Certificate of compliance and warranty form.
Connecting The Amplifier
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Connecting the amplifier to my setup was a trivial task. The first thing I had to do was cut off the supplied “euro power connector” and wire up a 220/240v plug. I should note that the amplifier will run off of 110v, but I recall reading that it can operate at a reduced output; however don’t quote me on that.
Next I hooked up the ALC and Relay links. Fortunately I already had a cable for pain in the rear kenwood accessory port DIN connector. I should note that SPE strongly recommends connecting the ALC lead from the transceiver to the amplifier. Next step was hooking up a cable that I had purchased from Array y Solution between the TS990S’ DB9 port and one of the CAT ports on the amplifier. Finally I connected my two antennas to two of the antenna ports.
A quick word about the Array Solutions Cable: It didn’t work. I had been shipped a Kenwood CAT 1 cable that had been modified to be a CAT 2 cable; however further inspection showed that the folks at Array Solutions hadn’t bothered connecting the CTS and RTS pins as required. Shoddy and disappointing.
Now would be a good time to talk the connectivity options supported by the 1.3K-FA. The amplifier can handle up to four antennas. It can automatically switch antennas based on operating frequency. Furthermore, it can directly control a “tunable antenna” such as SteppIR antenna via a port on the back of the amplifier
The 1.3K-FX will support SO2R operations by supplying a second CAT port, ALC/RELAY connectors, and an input for a second radio. There is also an antenna port available for connecting to a multiband antenna for receive operations. I have not had a need for operating in this mode, so I will leave further description to other who have had experience
Next I tried to connect my Steppir SDA100 antennal controller to the amplifier’s PORT connector. I checked and double checked the cabling, but I could never could get it work. I’m almost certain that this was “operator error”, and I simply connected the the SDA100 to the tranceiver’s DB9 port by using a Y splitter cable. In hindsight, this was actually a better solution since it seems that when you designate an antenna as a “tunable antenna” in the 1.3K-FA configuration, it won’t engage the antenna tuner - at least I couldn’t get it to do so. I think this is because, the amplifier software assumes that a tunable antenna can be tuned to an SWR of less than 1.5. I don’t think this is a good assumption, and due to its location is certainly not the case with my Steppir BigIR across all bands.
Initial Setup
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Initial setup of the amplifier is quite straightforward.
Pressing the “set” button on the front panel puts the amplifier in “configuration mode”. From here you can setup the Antenna, CAT, Tunable Antenna and various other configurations, as well as view the alarm log, and enter a manual tuning mode.
The Antenna configuration allows for two “banks” (or configurations). Each configuration allows the user to pick up to two antenna’s for each band: 160m - 4m. For each antenna, you pick antenna 1-4 or NO if there is antenna for the band. Pressing the tune button with bypass the tuner for that antenna on that band. Note that if you have specified an antenna to be a tunable antenna, the letter “t” appears after the antenna number and the tuner is bypassed by default and cannot be engaged (again, I couldn’t find a way around it).
The CAT configuration option allows you to pick the vendor protocol for each of the two CAT inputs. Included are: Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, Ten-Tec, FLEX, and Elecraft. You can also select None.
The tunable antenna option allows you to set any of the four antennas as tunable antennas as well as configure the PORT for controlling the antenna(s)
Finally, and quite importantly, if you have the antenna tuner installed, it is necessary to match the antennas to the amplifier. This is done consulting a table that contains sub-band frequencies for each of the bands. For each antenna for a particular band, you look up each of the sub-band frequencies for each band and tune the radio to that frequencies. You then press the tune button on the front of the amplifier and transmit a continuous tone (e.g. CW). This will cause the tuner to match on the frequency and store it in a lookup table. In this way you amplifier can lookup the correct match based on the frequency to the which the radio is tuned (via the CAT connector) and “guarantee” a low SWR for that frequency. I found this to work quite well, though I still check the SWR before going from standby to operate mode.
In my experience, all the programming steps above took about 20-30 minutes to achieve.
Operation
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Operating this amplifier is a breeze. Assuming, you have successfully completed the programming steps, all you have to do is select the output level (low, medium, or high), press the operate button to go from standby to operating mode, and begin transmitting. It really is that easy!
SPE does provide instructions on setting drive levels for various operating modes in their manual, and for the most part it is straightforward. Basically for SSB you want to adjust mic gain so that signal peaks are below rated maximum power. With CW, keydown gives maximum power for the setting (low, medium, high) automatically. RTTY and other Digital modes are recommended to be used with the low or medium power output settings. For AM SPE also recommends using the low or medium output settings
So far, I have had a very good experience with this amplifier. I have had no trouble contacting DX stations in trying conditions, and my signal and audio reports have all been very satisfactory.
Protection
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The amplifier has a number of protection systems, should things go awry, and you can access all alarms in the alarm log option of the settings screen. The protections systems are implemented both in hardware and software. There are three levels of alarm:
- Simple which basically just provides an audible alert and self corrects without operator intervention
- Serious which causes the amplifier to switch back to standby mode. For example due to exceeding safe operating temperature parameters
- Fatal which can be caused by a CPU failing or a fault in the power supply module. This causes the amplifier to shut down.
Computer Software
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SPE provides a software package called KTerm, that provides remoting capability from a PC. There are two versions provided: One that works with a USB port, and the other that works with an RS232 port. I installed the USB version as I had connected 1.3K-FA to my PC via a USB cable.
The software basically provides a mirror image of the front panel keys and display on the PC. The software is very functional, but in my opinion falls far short of what could be possible. At the very least, it would be nice if there were an option to keep the software’s window(s) on top of other windows on the desktop
Conclusion
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While at over $5,000 US, this is not a cheap amplifier, the feature set, weight, and size make it a fantastic addition to either a home station or a DX expedition. In my short time with this product, I have exceedingly happy with it’s functionality and performance
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