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Reviews For: ACOM 1000

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

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Review Summary For : ACOM 1000
Reviews: 198MSRP: 3250 USD
Description:
HF+6M Linear Amplifier

The ACOM 1000 HF Linear Amplifier is the world's best value in an amateur HF amplifier. The ACOM 1000 gives you a comfortable 1000 watts output on all amateur bands from 160 through 6 meters.
Power Output: 1000W PEP or continuous carrier, no mode limit. Uses single 4CX800A (GU74B)
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.acom-bg.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151984.9
ON5HB Rating: 2020-01-20
Acom is the best, no doubt at all!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I already did have an Acom 1010, and it outputs near 1KW without much problems.
It simply wouldn't break, not even running without antenna.

So after a couple of years I saw a good deal on the 1000, couldn't let that slip.
It's the same quality but better display and more power.

It's running 1200W without an hick-up all day long.

There is no better amp then Acom, sorry there isn't.

But you do want to combine it with a Palstar AT2K as you need a bad-ass tuner if you run this on a antenna like the G5RV.

Don't go cheap when doing QRO as you blow stuff to pieces!!
SO5BCT Rating: 2019-04-20
Amplifier ACOM 1000 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Fantastic amplifier. I have been using it for several years and have never had problems with it. He worked both stationary and portable on trips to the area and worked very well. The only problem is his too big weight.
W9DZ Rating: 2019-02-17
No Issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am the second owner of this amplifier and have owned it for four years. I have never had any problems and can attest to the fact that the built-in protections work. I know because I have tested them. I use it almost exclusively on SSB and CW and have done a little AM work on 6M running 250W of carrier. SSB and CW usually 800-900W. Tube is still putting out full power with 40 to 50W of drive. Spare tubes are available on eBay from highly rated vendors in Europe. I bought one from Ukraine for $175 including shipping. It sits on a shelf should I ever need it.
N2SLO Rating: 2019-01-23
Excellent as expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I waited almost 1 1/2 years to finally pull the trigger on this amp. I passed my General last year, so I wanted something for HF in addition to boosting 6M power. After reading all the reviews, I bought one. The amp performs great. The protection worked a few times. I was on 17M, only with my internal antenna tuner and my Imax 2000 (not efficient), and with about 450 watts and 30 minutes of FT8 contacts the amp told me to power down, SWR issue. Great, passed the test. During the recent VHF contest, I was putting through about 600 watts with SWR all weekend of 1.3 but with the ice storm, the antenna finally froze. The amp told me to power down. I have never run this above 600 watts, barley breaks a sweat and runs cool. Easy to tune, easy to use and plenty of monitoring functions ( forward/reflected power), SWR, RF drive, DB gain, and many more. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for- a true and tested design and quality. The amp was brutal to pull out of the double boxed package, a mini work out at like 50 pounds. Very happy with my first HF amp purchase, I have several big amps for VHF/UHF and this one is a keeper for HF.
K0COM Rating: 2019-01-16
Did not dissapoint Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought it new and only let it go when an opportunity to upgrade to a 2000a came along. While the 2000a does auto tune and that's a nice feature, having to tune the 1000 was not a big enough reason to change. But when considering both auto tune AND twice the output, well.....

When the bands improve and 6 meters becomes more viable, I'll look to get another Acom to cover that band as well.

Great products, great support. Great performance!
N9AOP Rating: 2018-12-17
Excellent and Reliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
3 year review.
I use this amp 2 hours a day 5 days a week. It works as well today as it did when I first got it.
Art

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N9AOP on 2016-11-11

I have had this amp for exactly one year and bought it from DX Engineering. I use this amp for one hour in the AM and one hour in the PM 7 days a week and have had no trouble because it works just as it is supposed to. It replaced a 10 year old TT Centurion. I was considering the Acom 1500 but the additional few watts were not worth $1000 to me. If your antennas are under a 3.0 SWR you won't need a tuner.
Art
M0HDX Rating: 2018-12-09
Best Kilowatt on the market. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Used for 7 years most days,Same tube full output.my spare GU-74B valves continue to gather dust.

The best reliable kilowatt amplifier out there.

Jim M0HDX

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Earlier 5-star review posted by M0HDX on 2015-04-06

Acom 1000 2 year update.

Used daily without a single problem and very very reliable,superb clean signal.

The rolls royce of amplifiers and the guys at Acom deserve all the credit for building such a well engineered product.

A definite keeper.

W2OSR Rating: 2018-12-05
Very Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Heard a pop a few days ago with the amplifier in standby. Tried tuning up using CW on 20 meters. No power out. Will try again. Up to now it has been fool proof and very reliable. It is about 5 years old.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W2OSR on 2013-07-15

I've had the amplifier for a month now. It is extremely easy to tune. I had problems on six meters. After troubleshooting the problem was traced to a MFJ lightning arrestor that was breaking down at anything much over 100 watts. I hope six opens up so I try it out. With 60 watts of drive the power out is in the high 900's.
W9GDH Rating: 2018-08-18
NEW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Not much more to say than has been said all ready.
The only thing that could be improved on the ACOM 1000 is minor. The hash marks on the power led display, 200w,300w 400w, 500w ECT could be twice as high. Hard to read. Sent this to CEO at ACOM. He was passing it on the Engineering Department.
Bottom line: THE ONLY WAY TO HURT THIS AMP, IS WITH A HAMMER.
DH4AAD Rating: 2018-08-06
Vy effective PA Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I do like ACOM 1000 today as well as some years ago. I prefer ACOM 1000 to any others. I do like PAs on single tubes very much. ++
Me gusta mucho ACOM 1000.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by DH4AAD on 2014-03-29

This PA shows the high quality of military equipment. And I do like military equipment qualities very much! ++

Aerials in action, first: one rugged 20 meters mono band wire dipole, horizontally built. ++ Second: Solarcon Imax2000, high power vertical antenna and omnidirectional beaming, five kilowatts rf power ICAS, on top of the roof – 25 meters above ground. ++

Today, more than three years action with ACOM 1000, I can confirm: „Acom 1000 is really easy to operate. And there is no problem in any way, yet." ++

This single tube of 4cx800a (GU-74B) - transmitting power tube - is doing a very good job. 4cx800a, Svetlana high performance ceramic-metal tetrode with plate dissipation of 800 watts is employed (forced air cooling, grid-driven). +++

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Earlier 5-star review posted by DH4AAD on 2010-08-19

Recently I bought the Acom 1000, rf linear power amplifier for Hams. Meanwhile I collected my first experiences in use on Hams‘ frequency ranges of 20 meters and of ten meters.

Aerials in action, first: one rugged 20 meters mono band wire dipole, horizontally built.Second: Solarcon Imax 2000, high power vertical antenna and omnidirectional beaming, five kilowatts rf power ICAS, on top of the roof – 25 meters above ground.

After having switched on amp – first on backside and than on the front side – the warm up countdown – 180 seconds – started. And after having pressed button „operate“ and after tuning Ham Rainer‘s fun began. I confirm: „Acom 1000 is really easy to operate. The plate-load True Resistance Indicator (TRI) is a powerful tuning aid which, together with the automatically controlled input attenuator, helps the operator to quickly and precisely match antennas (five to ten seconds typically). The auto-operate function (when enabled) maintains the amplifier in „Operate“ mode for you, thus saving manual operations and time.“

This rf power amplifier for Hams is user-friendly and it looks after itself. Acom says: „It is designed to safely withstand up to 500 watts reflected power, up to 100 milliseconds duration of drive spikes, drive rf „tails“ after a ptt or key release, operators‘ inadvertent tuning errors etc. It would also not cease to function with a soft ac power line and would deliver more than half power at only 75 percent of nominal mains voltage. Withstands up to ten milliseconds (down to zero) voltage drops, and up to plus 15 line voltage spikes – important particularly when used at field days, DXpeditions, etc.“
The single 4cx800a (GU-74B) transmitting power tube is doing a very good job.

4cx800a, this Svetlana high performance ceramic-metal tetrode with plate dissipation of 800 watts is employed (forced air cooling, grid-driven).

+++