| W4PF |
Rating:      |
2021-02-07 | |
| Best Bang for the Buck! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
By no means my first hf amplifier..... I received this amp new from HRO about a month ago and am extremely pleased with its performance. The amp is very easy to tune, has a good front panel display, and puts out a kw with about 60-65 watts drive; according to a LP-100A. I did open it up, just for curiosity sake to check out what was under the hood, and it is well made. The blower is NOT noisy, and the hook-up to my TS-890S/K3S was as simple as it can get.
Like many others, I went down the solid state kw path and it just didn't work out that great for me. So back to the tube amp! |
|
| EB5GGB |
Rating:      |
2021-02-05 | |
| Great value: reliability for years & years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had one of them for over 12 years. NEVER had 1 issue. It has been working flawless with all kind antennas: Long Wire, G5RV, OCF Dipols, Multi-Band Beam, etc. It is an incredible piece of engineering. For sure, it has manual tuning on each band, and NO automatic band change. Also, NO automatic antenna-tuning. Can you live without that? Me, YES! Accordingly, to all these ("it has not . . . "), there are NO expensive repairs on it. You only need 10 seconds to change the band and tune. I regret the day I sold mine. Now thinking of buying again a new one for contesting.
You will never be disappointed with the Svetlana-Tube. NO MosFet burn-out surprises. Very quiet in the shack. NO multi fans noise because of forced air cooling (as usual and needed in MosFet amplifiers). No relay-clicking in CW QSK (very quiet). And definitively SOLID as a TANK!!!
Will buy a new one again soon without doubt.
Great amplifier! Highly recommended! The best of the best in RF Power!
73's
Vicent |
|
| W5WE |
Rating:      |
2020-11-10 | |
| Great Amp with Great Service |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased this amp secondhand about two months ago (manufacture date was 2010). It was packed well by the seller, but during shipping the tube came loose and caused the plate capacitive divider to break. Surprisingly, this only impacted the TRI tuning feature. I tried running it for a while without the feature, but decided to try contacting ACOM support to see what it would take to get a replacement. I was able to obtain a replacement part at a reasonable price from the factory in Bulgaria that arrived within just a few days via DHL (thanks Val!) After installing the replacement, this amp is working 100%, so I've easily got a KW of power with quick tuning and quiet operation. Having opened it up a few times in the process, the design of this amp is amazing. The blower fan is placed in the perfect spot to reduce noise while cooling where needed. I was able to get a spare NOS tube for about $150, so I should be good to go for several years. ACOM is highly recommended in my book. |
|
| AB5VJ |
Rating:      |
2020-09-02 | |
| As 99.9% of the rest of the reviews, "Excellent amp!" |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased this amp a few months ago. I have to say when I opened the box, what I expected from reading the reviews and everything else I could find on it was true. Quality is what you see upon lifting this "heavy" piece of equipment out of the box! One word sums it up “quality.” If you are contemplating an amp, like I was pouring over reviews of everything solid state and tube and I have owned solid state amplifiers, this is the one to seriously look at. If I had another grand I would have bought the 2k model but I needed that other grand for some other items I am buying. I am getting an antenna and an auto tuner. It’s super easy to tune, puts out effortless, clean power. Save your pennies, a whole lot of them by the way, but know that when you power this one up you will have a big smile on your face. They are pretty expensive and it is a major investment but it only hurts once, lol. At least you can feel confident that you put that money to good use for an outstanding piece of equipment. I have it connected to an ICOM-7300, key line and coax in/out that is it! Just about all the protection circuitry you need, even monitors the temperature with a varistor in the exhaust chute out the rear left top. It is dummy proof, just look at the specifications. At some point in the future I will probably get the big brother, but I am in no hurry.
73, Dan AB5VJ
|
|
| K7CTR |
Rating:      |
2020-07-24 | |
| Best amplifier I have ever owned |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently purchased the amplifier from DX Engineering. The amplifier arrived in perfect condition. Packing was more than adequate even when dealing with less than careful package handlers.
The amplifier is very easy to tune. Takes no time at all (really only a couple of seconds after setting the pots to the tune & load recommended by the manufacturer). With only 40 watts drive I am getting 850 watts of output power.
The amplifier does not get hot even after several hours of rag chew on 80 meters.
After owning several other brands, I can unhesitatingly recommend ACOM.
K7CTR |
|
| WN4BXW |
Rating:      |
2020-06-06 | |
| Top Shelf Amp |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned the amp for about 5 years. Used it on SSB and FT8. Easy straight forward tuning. Its built like a Tank !
AC4R |
|
| PB1HF |
Rating:      |
2020-05-11 | |
| Perfect amp.... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Picked one up (used) to replace my TL922. Wasn't sure if it would be an upgrade but boy I AM PLEASED.....very easy to setup and tune. Very satisfied !! |
|
| N9CHM |
Rating:      |
2020-05-02 | |
| Probably the best 160M-6M amp on the Market, IMHO |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently built a 4 element MOXON for 6M, and my Alpha band-pass tune amp doesn't work there. I reluctantly sold the 374A Alpha in search of a 160-6M amp (the best amp I've owned in over 40yrs on the air, until now!). It came down to a solid state no-tune amp listed as 1200W (major brand name), or the ACOM 1000. Three things led me to the ACOM.
1) I checked reviews here on eHAM, and apparently they are still having technical issues with the 1200W solid state amp which now covers 160M-6M and has been out for 4 years. 5 of 31 reports indicate this SS amp had to been sent back for repairs, including 2 reports just last month (July '18), so reliability isn't there yet (4.3/5). The earlier model of this SS amp (160M-10M) has been out 9 years with numerous issues over the years (3.9/5 overall). In comparison, the ACOM has no recurring issues after 16 yrs and 187 reports (4.9/5), although 2 had bad diodes in the PS when they were first made, over 15 yrs ago. The ACOM factory in Bulgaria, also made the Alpha 91B, the amp is very well made by skilled techs and it shows.
2) The ACOM has a broadband input circuit so the rig always sees a perfect SWR match, regardless of the antenna SWR (this prevents RF power fold back which is common with modern radios seeing less than a perfect SWR match). Solid state amps are very finicky when it comes to anything above a perfect match. The ACOM also has a broadband output so the amp can delivery 1KW into a 3:1 SWR (or higher if the reflected power stays below 300W), so I no longer need an external tuner, as my antennas are band specific, and any ice build up can be handled by the amp. As many have found out, the 1200W amp I compared with, needs to work into very low SWR antennas, certainly under 1.5:1 to maybe 2:1 before RF power fold back occurs (as well as the automatic protection circuity kicking the amp off line). So unless you have perfect antennas for your operating frequency, expect to need an external antenna tuner with most solid states amps (several do have tuners built in, at a higher cost).
3) And finally I found a list of 32 amplifier QST technical specs which showed that the ACOM 1000 was #1 when looking at 3 specs; spurious harmonic suppression (3rd harmonic worst case) as well as the 3rd and 5th order IMDs, and just ranking by transmit 3rd order IMD the ACOM 1000 is #4 out of 32 overall (Alpha 8100 = #1, Ameritron AL800H = #2, Alpha 91B = #3). The ACOM's transmit 3rd order IMD was 7 db better than the 1200W solid state amp (-44 for the ACOM and -37 for the other) and ACOM's 5th order IMD was 15 db better (-55 for the ACOM and -40 db for the other). The 1200W solid state amp finished in the lower half of the 32 amps tested (18th place out of 32). https://www.remeeus.eu/hamradio/pa1hr/productreview.pdf In other words, the transmit signal for the ACOM 1000 is extremely clean and only takes 45-60W drive (SSB) from my FLEX to get 1KW+ output (1200W out with 60W in, but there is really no need for the extra 200W, IMHO), which also helps to keep the signal clean. This probably explains some of the rough SSB signals I've heard (and seen on the FLEX Panadapter/waterfall, it's amazing what you can see on transmitted signals) with people using solid state amps and driving it too hard to get 1200W (or more) output!
At least for me, the ACOM is the winner, and the 4CX800A tubes are still plentiful (after all they are still selling the amp) and at a reasonable cost (NOS tubes can be purchased from Array Solutions, they are thoroughly tested). Array Solutions also does excellent service on the ACOM amps, should you ever need it. Tuning the ACOM is a snap, takes less than 10 seconds, and once you have the presets, even less time than that! The ACOM 1000 is a very quiet Kilowatt amp which is very solidly built and has been designed for an exceptionally clean output signal.
UPDATE: I liked the ACOM 1000 so much, I upgraded to the ACOM 1500, and then to the ACOM 2100 as the opportunities arose. All 3 amps are easy to tune, built like a tank (in the old plant where they made the Alpha 91B), quiet, and will tolerate up to 3:1 SWR (not like solid state amps which need an almost perfect match). So depending on what power level you want to run, take your pick between these 3 state-of-the-art tube amps! |
|
| AA3R |
Rating:      |
2020-04-30 | |
| Fantastic! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| What more can I say about this amp that hasn't been said already! Love how easy it is to tune up and go....unlike other amps at this power level, it does not vary it's power level on different bands. Excellent build quality and user-friendly! |
|
| K4FX |
Rating:      |
2020-01-29 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have only had the amp a short while but it doesn't take long to see how nice this amp is. i have owned a lot of amps in 42 years of hamming. The A-1000 is one of the nicer ones I have owned. Reasonably priced tube, super well protected and the absolute easiest to tune amp of the bunch. The True Resistance Indicator makes setting the load fast and accurate. The output bar-graph is very accurate and easy-to-read. Monitors 12 parameters such as drive power, exhaust temp, DC input power, there's not much it doesn't monitor. As one ham put it, "the only way you could hurt this amp is with a hammer".
I have the newer designed amp, which was changed in 2016. The OLED display is a lot easier to read and the LCD and the front panel is very nice.
For 2810 shipped from DX Engineering you can't beat it! |
|