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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
KB3Z Rating: 2007-01-15
Good Amp! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Seeing that this is my first amplifier, I'm not sure I can give it a great rating. Mistuned it the other day on 15 Meters and of course the Amp lost power. I consulted the manual, but Ameritron's manual is not very informative and doesn't have enough pictures to back up what limited information they have in their manual. I consult HRO and the man on the phone told me what to do. It was either a fuse or a tube blew. I replaced the fuse with a 15 amp, 250 Volt Ceramic Fuse and the amplifier came back to life. The safety features of the amp are fine, but the documentation needs some real tweaking.
W6NFL Rating: 2007-01-09
Best bang for the Buck Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
An very good amp that is a proven design. I eventually swapped out the 811a tubes for the more robust 572b tubes by Taylor. You wont get anymore output but you will get a ton of life out of them and can drive them harder so, in a way you can get a little more output from the amp i guess. I get 600+ watts out of this amp on most bands. Great amp in this price range.
EB3EPR Rating: 2007-01-09
No quality control pass Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received the amplifier new last week and install during weekend. First found high swr on the radio, check all and found the fail in the amplifier the wire between pl-259 and pcb was not soldering, then the wire between pi network in the output was also not solder in pcb. I am sure that this linear did not pass the quality control.
After this reparations the amplifier is working 500w with 50W input I am crossing my fingers, because I found 2 wire without soldering and can not check all the solderings, hope now all is ok.

Esteve EB3EPR
N4FZ Rating: 2006-12-07
Good Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Affordably priced, and a good amp. I recently had problems though, with the amp not tuning up on several bands. The problem was the tuned input wafer switch contacts weren't making. After several adjustments and some extra soldering, the amp works fine now. I did buy the amp used, (2 other known owners). It is about 10 years old, so it has held up pretty good.
M0HDX Rating: 2006-11-17
nice little amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The ameritron al811 3 tube version is a great medium powered amplifier,tuning is so simple and quick the al811 will run the 400watt uk legal limit all day long and stay cool.The 811 tubes are very cheap and i just brought 3 brand new ones at £12.00 each (chinese brand) for spares.Before i owned a amp supply lk450 running a 3-500z and that was a nice desktop amplifier but i am equally as pleased with my ameritron amp paired up with my 5 band lightning bolt quad its a great combo.

jim M0HDX
W5RKL Rating: 2006-10-13
Excellent medium power amplifier Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After doing alot of research, including eHam.net, I settled on the Ameritron AL-811 three bottle amplifier. The AL-811 operates exactly as advertised.

The AL-811 is light weight, runs on regular 120VAC outlet power therefore eliminating the need to run a seperate 220VAC power source to the shack. Couple the AL-811 with a good, properly resonated and tuned antenna system and you will be heard.

I have not nor do I intend on swapping the 811s for 572B. That's a waste of money just for a few extra watts. If that's your plan, I strongly recommend you put the cost of the 572Bs toward the AL-811H or one of the more higher power Ameritron amplifiers instead.

73's

Mike
W5RKL

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by W5RKL on 2006-06-29

I recently purchased a brand new AL-811 amplifier. For years I only operated barefoot but with band conditions the way they are I simply had to have a bit more power to be heard. I have, however, used amps before but not on a regular basis.

I took a long time to decide which amp to buy. One thing I did not want was a seperate 220 volt line in the ham shack since the shack's in a bedroom. Second, I wanted an amp that I could run on normal 120 volt house wiring. After researching as many amplifiers as I could find I settled on the Ameritron AL-811 and I'm glad I did.

My station is mostly vintage Heathkit SB series twins and the amplifier had to fit in with the station. The AL-811 slid right in next to the SB-400. Although it's slightly higher, about 3 inches on the rear, it's size is a perfect fit.

I had heard a lot about amplifiers being shipped via UPS. Tube were broken, chassis's were bent and the amplifier arrived completely distroyed. This did not happen with the Ameritron AL-811. The box appeared as though it was just taken off the Ameritron shelf, not even a slight dent. The amp was double boxed with plenty of support inside the inner box to protect the amp in transit. The tube were in their sockets, not broken and properly wrapped with several pieces of padding. After unpacking, inserting the fuses and removing the tube packaging material, setup was a matter of minutes.

Tuning was straight forward and easy. Since I run mostly CW, I have not tried the amplifier on sideband. However, the amplifier has performed flawlessly on CW.

For performance and price, you can't beat the AL-811. It's not a big guns amp but if all you want is to increase your output power between 400 to 500 watts, I highly recommend the Ameritron AL-811.


73's,

Mike
W5RKL
VE3JOH Rating: 2006-06-30
Can't beat the value! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I looked around before buying. I wanted something used, simple to work with and without $500 tubes! After reading the various reviews I purchasd a used AL-811. It's in super shape and after an hour or so of looking around inside and tightening any suspect connections it has served me well. Simple to load. And forgiving too! I have a set of 6 811A's sitting on the shelf so if a tube goes soft it will be a cheap repair! All said and done you can't beat the value if you can get one used and not abused. Thanks Ameritron.
KE5GFJ Rating: 2006-06-27
Great amp that won't break the bank. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought an 811A from the estate of a silent key. It is used mainly in 20 and 15 meters SSB.
Using the amp makes a huge difference when trying to break through pile-ups and getting through to distant stations. From Texas to Australia they couldn't tell the difference between our 500 watts and a friend's 1500+ watts. My advice is that you first spend your time, effort, and money on a good antenna and getting it tuned for minimum SWR, etc, BEFORE you spend your money for an amp. Then, the amp will really make a difference. The 811 is a great little amp that won't break the bank. Who needs more? Only your ego knows for sure.
W3DBB Rating: 2006-05-06
The Ameritron AL-811 and Amplitude Modulation Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My AL-811 is the version with three 811-A tubes, biased AB2 according to Ameritron. I purchased the amplifier new in 2002. I actually use this thing on 75-40-20-15 meter a.m. I seldom use the AL-811 on s.s.b. and not having the QSK add-on, run the transceiver alone on CW.

I drive the AL-811 with a Yaesu FT-920 in the a.m. mode. The driving power on a.m. is very small, depending on the band anywhere from 3 to 10 Watts average. I never exceed 75 Watts average power output on a.m. Theoretically this amp could make 100 Watts average on a.m. but 811-A tubes aren't as good as they were when they were American made. That said, I haven't had any difficulty with the original tubes shipped with my AL-811. At 75 Watts output, which depending on the band is anywhere from 400 to 560 average Watts of input power, those tubes are so warm you'll think they are about to jump out of the sockets. The parasitic suppressors for the 811-A's are mounted on a p.c. board which is screwed to the end of the vertically mounted (filament?) choke. This places the parasitic suppressor board physically above the tubes and subject to radiant heating. Make sure the board hasn't rotated slightly as to come too close to one of the 811-A tubes, as this will tend to cook one of the corners of the parasitic suppressor board. Ameritron didn't design this amplifier for a.m., which is O.K., limited market there.

On a.m. and depending on the band in use, my AL-811 draws anywhere from 250 to 350 mA plate current. The grid current runs around 40 mA. The high voltage supply sags to about 1.6 kV under load, but I could improve that by re-arranging the taps on the amp's transformer primary to run the amplifier on 240 V.a.c.

As an afficionado of a.m. I've been doing some thinking lately and am considering doing the full course of Rich Measures (AG6K) updates to my Heathkit SB-220 and driving it with the Yaesu FT-920.

There really is no comparison possible between these amplifiers. The SB-220 is a well-designed amplifier from another era but can be updated to interface seamlessly with the newer transceivers.

The AL-811 has survived surprisingly well on a.m. but wasn't designed for that; feels as if I am really cracking the whip over the poor thing. A larger amp like the SB-220 will make 200 Watts average power without a lot of fuss.

73

Doug Burlew
KA3TGV
OE2 Rating: 2006-05-06
Great and not expensive Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I am very happy with my Amplifier AL-811XCE.
Solid output power and enough for making contact
in the pile up.I have modifikation my Amplifier with 3x572B tubes.Tubes are also not expensive. It's working fantastic with my ICOM IC-7400 and studio-equipment.The ouput power is always 700W-750W with only 60W driving
power. Plate Current is between 500-570mA and Grid Current is between 120-150mA with this output power. Also easy to tune.And the different between a 1KW Amplifier and 700W-750W ist very small. So all in all I love my small AL-811XCE , go to the dealer and buy one !!
73's Andy