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Reviews For: Ameritron ALS-500M

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

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Review Summary For : Ameritron ALS-500M
Reviews: 54MSRP: 799.00
Description:
500W Output Mobile Solid State Amplifier on 12VDC for US
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=ALS-500MR
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00543.9
K5JPE Rating: 2004-06-06
Tuff little Amp Ameritron ALS 500 M Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Real tuff little Amp lot's of pertection features not quiet up to spec's on out put but close enough maby my watt meter about 100 WATTS LOW HAVE had Amp quiet a few years power switch went out so I sent to Ameritron to have power checked and new switch put in and a general check up turn around about 3 weeks and new switch and checked to spec's and about $50.00 bill if you want small amp this is a good one to think about. k5jpe.
KF4ZZY Rating: 2004-01-08
kf4zzy Time Owned: N.A.
I Run Mobile In 18Wheeler--Ihave used The 500M Als For 3t Years With Screwdriver Antennas..I Own 4..The Best Is The Hi Q 5" Coil..The 1st 500 Gave All Kinds Of Problems..But Amaratron Stood Behind It 100%..Finally Gave Me A Brand New One & No Problems Since!! I Get Full 500 Plus Out of Mine,About 50w Drive..Plan To Install In Dodge Ram After Retirement!!
KB0GU Rating: 2003-11-17
Good Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Only owned this used amp one week and am impressed, installed in Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4 with the help of a local audio shop who really know how to run high amp service in a vehicle.
Using Radio Shack HTX 100 10 meter rig as exciter, after picking up an 8 volt on transmit inside the radio to switch a transistor to key the amp, works fine this way. HTX 100 puts out 25 to 30 watts, the amp is drawing 60 amps on carrier, can only guestimate output power as I have no mobile watt meter at this time. Audio reports received are excellent. First contact was Venezuala, second a station only 15 miles away both reported 599 signal. Now if I can eliminate the ignition noise from this truck's engine all will be well. Purchased the amp used and it is over 3 years old but works fine. Ameritron offered to put an extended warranty on it if I sent it in for a service check up paid for, then put the extended warranty on it. Can't wait to get a multi band rig and antenna that will handle the power. So far so good. If anything changes I will post.
WB4YCH Rating: 2003-09-05
Super Mobile Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased the ALS-500 about 18 months ago. I installed it in my Ford Excursion with four #4 cables (two each pos & neg). It drives a High Sierra 1800DX screwdriver with about 500 watts PEP on all bands. In 33 years I have never had a mobile rig which performs like this. I am frequently mistaken for a fixed station. I have had no problems with this amp. It replaced a Heathkit HA-14. Same power out with almost no heat and no tune-up. If it dies tomorrow, I'll be on the phone ordering another one.
EA5ON Rating: 2002-03-21
Does the job Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought second-hand but in pristine condition with the 10/12m mod and extra power cables. I found the instructions to be clear and concise with regard to installation, performance, and power supply requirements.

I first installed it directly to the car battery, together with my TS-140S, and used with the engine on to provide as much voltage as possible, but the alternator complained a lot, so after some thought I decided on a dedicated 100Ah battery in the back of the car. I do not have it connected to the alternator to avoid possible fume problems, and charge the battery overnight on a charger at home. Having the battery and the amp in the back means short cables for minimum voltage drop, and I have no problems getting 400W out at any given time with 50/60W input. I run this to my nova-eco monoband whips, only the 40 and 80m whips get hot. The battery lasts on average 15 hours between charges.

The proof of the pudding? In the eating: most stations give a solid 2 "s" points on average between the barefoot and amplified signal, so perfectly acceptable. The amp has never overheated on me, although after a while the fan does come on semi-permanently. The construction is solid.

Improvable? Small things: a light on the ammeter so I can see it's working at night. Auto band switching (I know, I could have paid the money and bought an SGC-500). Otherwise, a perfectly acceptable amp that makes pileup breaking just that little bit easier from the mobile.
KG8DP Rating: 2002-03-02
Great Mobile Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Orginial owner. 7 plus years 2 wiring harnesses and 4 mobile hf set ups later and still working flawlessley. Its the only piece of gear I still have from all the previous mobile set ups. Mark

kg8dp@arrl.net
KJ6EO Rating: 2001-10-04
Nothing but a headache! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Ameritron ALS-500M now for about 4 years or so. I have had nothing but trouble
with it. I purchased the amp new and installed it in my pickup truck. Two weeks later for no
reason it blew two of the four finals (2SC2879's). Since it was under warranty I sent it back to
Ameritron to have it repaired. I had a long talk with Ameritron on the phone and they could not
explain why the amp had self destructed. After about a months wait I received the amp and re-
installed it in my vehicle. It lasted about 4 days and blew up again. I discovered that Ameritron
only replaced two of the four finals. Again two of the four finals were blown...the two that blew
were the two that were not replaced by Ameritron. I had another long talk with Ameritron and I
asked them why they did'nt replace all four finals with a matched quad set. They said that since the PA unit is actually two seperate power amplifiers on one board (using splitter and combiner) that replacing all the 2SC2879's was not necessary. I argued that point and requested that they replace the entire unit. After a long discussion Ameritron agreed to replace the entire unit...I thought that my problems were over...what a dream that was.

The new ALS-500M worked for about a month and blew up just like the first one. All the protection circuits were working on the amp...high SWR...load fault...and thermal. This time I
repaired the amplifier myself and installed a matched quad set of finals. After resetting the final
bias on the bias board I tried it out...worked ok. Several months later it was still running after
heavy use...then it blew up again for no reason. To make a long story short I have been feeding
this amp new finals every several months for years. Sometimes it blows only one transistor
...sometimes two...but never all four. After years of wasting money on this amp I decided to
replace the entire PA board to see if that would help. I paid $200.00 for a new PA board less the quad set of finals that cost me about $100.00 including shipping. So $300.00 down the drain and what did it get me? After about 30 days the amp self destructed again....so the saga
continues.

I am currently looking around for an amplifier to replace the Ameritron curse. When I install the
new amp I am simply going to throw the Ameritron in the trash because that is where it belongs. I am glad that the amp has worked for the rest of you but I would not recommend it to anyone ever! So you say that there must be something wrong with my setup? Well consider this then, I have a mobile CB amplifier that has no tuned input, absolutely no protection (load, temp, swr, or otherwise), no filtering, and no cooling fan. The CB amplifier ran reliably in place of the ALS-500M on 20 and 40 meters for 6 months until I removed it. If there was a problem with my setup it would have fried this CB amplifier in an instant.

Regards,

Bill KJ6EO
K3SUI Rating: 2001-06-25
Excellent Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one of these used off the internet jfor about $450 after experiencing mobile operations with my Texas Bug Catcher and 100 Watts for about 9 mos. I found this amp very easy to use. I ran the heaviest wire I could find directly to the battery, both on the plus AND the minus side. I removed my 100 W tranceiver and replaced it with a Ten-Tec Scout (50W). This makes a GREAT mobile setup. Easly break pileups on SSB as well as CW. I am working more DX mobile than I do at home. The amp sits in the back and I don't think about it until it's time to change bands. Electronic band chaning would be nice, but for the bux you cannot beat this amp. Besides, I need to get out to change the bands on the Bug Catcher, anyways.
K5AF Rating: 2001-01-10
Aggressive SWR Protection! Time Owned: N.A.
We used the ALS-500M along with the 45 Amp MFJ switching power supply at J75KG for the mult station. In order to have all band coverage with the mult radio, we used two wire antennas with tuners. The amp was excellent, at about 40 amps, it was putting out 300-400W. The problem was that the high winds often caused swings in our SWR that were enough to trip the protection circuitry.

Actually, we were doubly protected. When the current exceeded 50 Amps, the power supply would trip also. Because the power supply takes about 30 seconds to reset, we were often without the amp and left it off. Nonetheless, when we couldn't get through in a pileup barefoot, we'd switch it on, and BINGO, we'd get through.

I think this is a great amp when used in a stable SWR environment. I tested it at K5RC's QTH and it put out 400W consistently with the power supply drawing at or less than 45 amps. If you have a good SWR situation, this is an ideal DXpedition ampp -- the amp plus power supply together weigh less than 15 lbs. I put them both in a carry-on bag!

I understand that the amp will put out more than 600W with a robust power supply, I can certainly believe that, as the amp was cold to the touch at 300-400W output.

Paul, K5AF
KA3VVV Rating: 2000-07-25
ALS-500M Very good Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had the ALS-500 for 2Years now it put out about 600 to 800 watts on a bird wattmeter. I used it in a 18 wheeler with a swerdriver ant. Most of all The team at Ameritron are #1 when it come to service. I was in my truck comeing from texa. I need a pice for my amp to get to work on 28mhz in for it to work with the Icom 706. Give me a phone# told me to call when get there in town in they will help me out. I was there by 9pm shop close they open up shop for me to sale me the 2 idem i need. THAT what you call looking out for the customer. I will always by from Ameritron because they stand by there product.