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Reviews For: Ameritron AL-811

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

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Review Summary For : Ameritron AL-811
Reviews: 151MSRP: 650
Description:
Uses three tough 811A transmitting tubes
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/products.php?prodid=AL-811
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001514.5
W1JTP Rating: 2022-05-19
Great Amp! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ok, Just got this AMP for 10m as I use my 37 year old ICOM 2KL for all other bands. Came well packed with extra tube protection. One quick clip of a green coil wire and bang 500 watts out after following tune up . Ive been on the air 63 years and this is a good, well made amp for the price. Jim W1JTP
N8FVJ Rating: 2022-04-10
Excellent for price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This not a high-end amp by any means. But, it is well built. It has a large 19lb power transformer that is of conservative design for a 600 watt PEP output amp. The high voltage 3KV bridge rectifier does operate a little more efficient vs full-wave doubler (see Hammond transformer tech data). The Ameritron design 2 to 1 rectifier peak to operating voltage does seem to be reliable, but I would prefer at least a 4KV bridge.

The Chinese 811A tubes are a crap shoot per other posts. I bought my AL-811 used with newer RCA 811A old stock tubes. These tubes have the plate fins and are much more forgiving during tuning.

You can install Chinese 572Bs, but some have also experienced internal tube flashovers anyways despite the much higher 572B operating voltage. If you can find Cetron 572Bs, the amp will never experience a flashover and tubes will likely last 30 years or more. With the 572Bs you will never melt the tube plates with overdriving or using high duty modes such as CW, RTTY or AM. I would limit the amp with 811A tubes to 450 watts PEP output unless using 572B tubes. 572B tubes produce 800 watts PEP output with about 80 watts drive. I would limit to 700 watts CW and 500 watts RTTY with 572B tubes.

The amp does use the same power transformer as the 800 watt PEP output rated AL-811H. So, 800 watts PEP is available from this amp with three 572B tubes.

All in all the AL-811 is a good amplifier for the money. The Chinese 811A tubes are somewhat of a 'crap shoot', but Russian G811 are available on ebay and much better tubes vs the Chinese.
KJ4FGI Rating: 2021-04-26
811 Purchased used, better off with the AL811 H Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I picked this AL–811 amplifier up used, the plate current meter went bad and I found a bleeder resistor that looked like it was soldered in but I could move it up and down.

I mainly use the amp on 20,40 and 80 m, I get close to 600 W out. I changed the 270 uF capacitors to 470 uF, now the plate voltage when transmitting CW doesn't drop down to 1400 V, it only drops down to 1600.

I change the 811 tubes to 572 B. this amplifier was made in 2008 and the 811 tubes it had an and were excellent and they say on the side of the tube made in Holland so I kept them as spares. If you can afford a few more dollars get the AL-811H.

This amp is still worth it and very easy to work on and I do recommend it, you may find a cold solder joint on it but that's par for the course because it's a great price.

I bought this for a great price used but if I was going to buy new I would've spent the extra money on the 811 H.
W5ZYX Rating: 2020-08-17
Good solid amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my AL-811 for several years and, with the exception of one 811A that went bad, it has been a solid performer. The only problem has been difficulty in getting it to tune on 160. I have a full size 160 meter loop with a MFJ remote tuner that produces a 1.5:1 SWR on all bands, 160-10, so I don't think the 160 tuning issue is caused by a mismatch. Other than that, the AL-811 perks along at 500 watts PEP output with about 50 watts of drive.

Update as of August 2020:

I converted the power input to 240 VAC, and decided to replace the 811A finals with three Matchlett 572B's and what a difference they make. Running on 240, the plate voltage increased to 2.0 KV. Being careful not to exceed 200 MA of grid current, which is allowable with the 572B finals, the amp now produces 600 watts of key down CW output with 72 watts of drive, and is indicating 725-750 watts of SSB PEP on a very accurate Palstar PM2000A watt meter, again with 72 watts drive.

I still haven't tried operating it on 160 with the new 572B finals but will probably wait until winter when the static crashes on 160 die down.
W3VT Rating: 2019-06-30
No regrets Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my AL-811 from a local ham that never really used it. It truly was "like new in box". I have had ran this amplifier for 2 years now, working 120 countries, all 50 US states, and all during one of the worst solar minimums in our history. If I push it hard it'll do a solid 600w on most bands. I usually run it at about 450-500w and it never gets very hot and the meters look happy. I have broken through many pile ups with the combination of my modest equipment and well placed and well built resonant wire antennas. Sure, I could do better, but this amplifier, when properly tuned and not abused, will get you a nice signal increase and put you in position to make contacts. I use mine daily. Often switching bands and antennas requiring many re-tunes. It keeps on chugging along. I see no viable reason to upgrade.
VK3KTT Rating: 2019-02-09
if your on a budget this is a good amp Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
HI i got this amp a few months ago i upgraded my license so can now use an amp.in vk a 400w limit i had an ldg at600 proII tuner so didnt want a bigger amp. this was second had sold buy a tech who sorted it out int he first weekend i blew one of the 811 tube trying to tune on 30m with out the manual bought some 572b's for longer life and more Durability.
Simply with your tune settings it works very well and is quick to change band the instant on is great as well i use the arb704 with my ftdx 5000 and if i mistakenly put 200w in the rig winds back the drive . now i have a signal that is loud and at the bottom of the cycle you need that. if you can get one at the right price grab it all parts are still avaliable and its not hard to fix if you know what your doing. good job ameriton thanks.
K4CWQ Rating: 2018-01-17
Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought my AL-811 used, with 3 new 572B tubes in it, about a month ago. I'm not an expert on amps or their components, but I see this amp as a great value. I'm retired with a very limited budget for ham gear, and I felt a newer amp a better alternative to an older used amp of the same power levels, such as SB-200.
My signal reports have gone from, "I can hear you just above the noise" to "solid copy, 20-over here." I hear a lot of these amps on the air and they sound good. I don't have $1,000s to spend on an amp and I don't think going from 500 watts to legal limit adds much extra signal. I run the amp conservatively at 450-500 watts and believe it will last many years.
The assets as I see them:

1. Price, price, price. More power for a low price.
2. Tubes readily available, at a low cost, less than $100 for 3 811A's. I'll replace with 811's rather than 572B's which cost much more and add no extra watts.
3. Replacement parts are common and readily available..
4. With so many of these amps in use, there's lots of info and tips on them.

If I had unlimited money to spend, I'd likely buy a solid state amp. However, the price of the AL-811 makes it the Best Buy for the money.
KN6Q Rating: 2017-02-17
Good value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What can I say about an amp that has been in production for 25 years that hasn't been said?

MFJ/Ameritron (despite selling legal limit amps) markets that the first 600 Watts is what really counts. So, never having owned an amp before, I wanted to dip my toe in the water, and this amp is is the least expensive currently made.

Probably more people opt to pay $100 more for AL-811H to get 200 watts more (which is a good deal), but figured I would save $100 for other gear and upgrade later if I wanted to.

I haven't used it in a "real" contest yet, but I've been able to bust through a couple of pileups on my first try. Being in the middle of a solar minimum, for the money, it's the best upgrade to my shack I've made in some time.

It's well made and seems to be forgiving to my learning curve on tuning it.

K1VCT Rating: 2016-10-07
Zero issues Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this "used" for less than half the price of a new one. It was about 3 years old, according to the included original invoice. Not a spec of dust inside. The 10m "green wire" was still in place. The tubes were devoid of any signs of abuse.

Hooked it up, tuned it, made a contact. Zero issues.

So far so good, its my first amp. According to meters, I'm driving it with about 60w and getting about 500w peak on SSB. Really can't complain thus far - except - the 20m input tuning is a little off about 2:1. The rest of the bands are about 1.2:1 on my transceiver. I don't have a slug tuning tool handy, but looking at things from the back, it does not appear to have been "readjusted" from the factory setting. No problems are anticipated with re-tuning.
N0HAN Rating: 2016-08-04
basic amp ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Got one of these broken poor solder joints on plates by the choke used silver solder on it and replaced tubes fired it up 600++ wts not bad for broken junk got fot $100 and new tubes!