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Reviews For: ACOM 2000a

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

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Review Summary For : ACOM 2000a
Reviews: 105MSRP: 6850 USD
Description:
ON4UN demonstrates the ACOM 2000A Automatic HF Linear Amplifier
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.acom-bg.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
251054.9
G4BIM Rating: 2007-10-30
Outstanding Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A fabulous Amplifier as many others have reviewed already. Even with the optional external fan running the noise level in my Shack at 1.75 metres away is only 39dBA.... Normal speech on air is around 70dBA+

Auto Tuning seems almost instantaneous.

It would be useful to have more than 1 antenna out socket

Also have the Acom 1000 for 6m.
IV3RJT Rating: 2007-09-03
Great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the 2000A since january 2006,i use this fantastic amplifier with remote antenna switch Acom 2000S and automatic antenna selector Acom 2000SW.
You change a band on transceiver and go!!
Great Acom !

Luca,IV3RJT



DJ5TH Rating: 2007-07-07
excellent amplifier & service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
licensed since 1959 I owned and modified several seperate tube amplifiers. I am using a modified extremely reliable FL-7000 for convenience since 15 years and used a Titan 425 for RTTY and when occasionally large output was needed. Instead of replacing my car I replaced the Titan 425 by an ACOM2000A. After 2 days of operation a wrong value of the air temperature of the rear tube was displayed. After moving the amplifier from the bottom of the basement on a table this error disappeared by itself. Possibly high humidity on the basements floor was the reason. The DC power consumption on low drive (output lower 500 Watt)is significantly higher than on the Titan 425 because of the different tubes. The efficiency increases on larger output. The 3CX800A and GU74B are similar tubes but not äquivalent. The GU74B is much cheaper. The noise of the initial movement of the band stepper motor during power on procedure is about 86 dB, which seems to me to high.

The service by Stan, LZ1IU, before and after purchasing the unit was great. His English is excellent and he is patient with much technical knowledge. He fullfilled, what he promised. I received a CD with the Technical Supplement and since I am retired IBM systems engineer, after reading it, I know, what I got for my money. Every owner of the ACOM 2000A should request for that CD. For connecting a PC You do not need a special cable but only a 3-wire null-modem cable with ground (pin 5) and crossed RXD and TXD on pin 2 and pin 3. PIN 1 & 9 MUST BE UNCONNECTED !!! The remote program should be improved for some details, but is helpful for monitoring two selectable measured values and displayed information of the remote control unit during operation/standby. The remote control unit instead of analog meters and a window on my PC-screen is all I see from that amplifier while sitting in front of my station.
The amplifier needs an initial customizing of the antenna environment by an automated autotune procedure to use its potential. There is no tube amplifier for ham bands with such extended robustness and measuring worldwide on the market. Its fan noise for cooling is very low (beyond 45 dB direct measured at the front edge). An additional fan, mounted on the top of a box, placed above the 2 tubes is helpful for RTTY, because more than 80 degrees Celsius air temperature reduces the tubes life. An additional temperature-regulated built-in fan is optional. The ACOM 2000A supports a KEY-OUT (transmission-inhibit signal) and has such a short switching time, that it works with my IC-7800 together with no problems. I do not understand, why ICOM-transceivers do not use an important "transmission-inhibit"-signal to avoid hot switching and protect the transceiver and seperate amplifier. The ACOM 2000A uses high quality components and works fine under each aspect. It is produced in a professional way, because to my information ACOM produced Alpha-linears for ETO some years ago in Bulgaria. The automatic tuning of the ACOM 2000A is efficient and very fast. I recommend the ACOM 2000A without any restriction if You want to get a robust automatic tuned tube amplifier and accept its price and that operation on 50 Mhz is not supported.

Michael
NZ5N Rating: 2007-03-24
Can it get any better than this? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is by far the most expensive ham radio item I have ever purchased, but so far it is well worth every penny. Looks great, works flawlessly (knock on wood). Just to be able to change bands without retuning is a joy. Love the remote control and leaving the amp on the floor. Love the ability to read everything from the temperature of the tubes to filament voltage to the number of hours of use. Love the quietness of the fan. And really love all the automatic fault protection that puts the amp into standby if something is not right - would be tough to damage this little gem even if you tried.

The prior poster has a valid point about the possible difficulty of repair if something goes wrong in this complicated device, but this is well built, a keeper for life as long as it keeps working, which I believe will be for many, many years.
W9AC Rating: 2007-03-24
Well engineered product . Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned the first U.S.-bound ACOM 2000A back in late 1998. Two amps were purchased through a Finnish distributor. Like the Alpha series, the ACOM amp is certainly an engineering marvel.

However, as these amps age, be cognizant of the availability of specialized parts that may not have commonly available OEM replacements if the original OEM no longer supports the components. One example is the servo motor used for the band switch, loading and tuning controls. At first glance, the original motors looked like they were manufactured back in the 19th century -- nowhere near the quality of the Alpha servo motor. Still, I don't believe there's been a rash of problems with this part.

My point is that unless a good supply of parts remain available, these amps will likely be more at risk in terms of component availability as time marches on. This is not unique to Acom but with other complex, commercially manufactured amps, you generally have working substitutes immediately available that can be directly retrofitted.

For long-term ownership of the amp, it may be prudent to review the parts list and stock up on some of the "critical mission" parts.

That said, I enjoyed owning the two amps I had. The only failure I recall related to a bias switching transistor that was quickly diagnosed with the assistance of Vasko at Acom.



VA3GVS Rating: 2007-03-21
FANTASTIC AMP simple to use, even for dummies Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
As with every piece of equipment I buy I first read as many reviews as I can find. No exception for my Amp. I'm new to the HF Bands and like most newbies I wanted to DX and reach the world but being restricted in shack space and operating knowledge of tuners and Amps I wanted to employ the KISS approach. As you'll see by reading other reviews of this great ACOM 2000A Amp it's not only the best Amp out there but also the easiest and most forgiving. Amps for dummies (serious dummies). Plug & Play, tunes automatically. Great for Seek & Pounce off of DX Cluster programs. I went from a wait in line and maybe eventually getting through a pileup to now breaking pileups on first attempt. Ran it for hours on end at last ARRL DX contest with no overheating problems. This Amp can put out 2300 watts no problem but loafs along at 1200 at 60% input power. No and I mean NO noise generated compared to other amps I've heard and it can be operated out of the way at a fair distance with it's remote control unit. Real neat stuff accessable through this remote unit. I had been looking for an Aplha 87 but was told by two different Hams that had owned both the Alpha and ACOM to be patient and try to locate an ACOM. I can only speek for myself but I'm very happy, this Amp is GREAT. First and last Amp I'll ever need. Cheaper tubes Too.
PY5EG Rating: 2006-11-21
Most reliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi Folks:
I'm using the ACOM2000A for more than 10 years, and I can say that is the most reliable linear on the market.
I have four of those linears running at my two contest stations ZW5B and PS2T and during the last 5 years I only replace some control connectors of one of those equipments.
As you know our contest station is very active and many different operators are using the equipment on a very hard operation way. No problem at all.
As a SO2R operator I think ACOM2000A is a must.
If some of you want to have two operators on a single band on MM effort try to use the ACOM 2S1 XCVR with two radios.
This combination allows you to never break the rules and never have the risk to insert RF on the second radio.
I tried that with K1LZ during our test operation in Jamaica 6Y1V. It is really fantastic!!!
The technical support of ACOM is another superb service they offer to the users of this FB equipment.
Thanks
Oms PY5EG
Harris Leck Rating: 2006-10-23
A Rolls Royce Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's very quiet - you can barely hear the fan and the relay on QSK (my computer fan is louder). It autotunes and you can monitor just about everything. I got rid of the Emtron DX-2SP last year after one too many failures and the constant loud fan noise. Running just 14.4 watts input (measured on LP-100) I get 400 out. 50 watts gives 1500 watts (into my dummy load). I would like to see a front panel where you can monitor all the key parameters at the same time but it is very convenient to also have the small remote control. This is a professional piece of equipment.
UA0FO Rating: 2006-08-16
The best. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hello to all!
To use the amplifier ACOM-2000A not long time, but I want to speak, that it is one of the good and best model.
The quality installation is very good. Automatics works quickly and reliably. Lamps to have small cost.
Very to recommend to all Hams.
Sergey de UA0FO.
W4ZW Rating: 2006-06-21
Superb Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have one of the first 2000A's and it still works great. Had the filament failure/mod and my display unit became unreadable last year (still woked fine) and ACOM did their usual excellent job of taking care of it. I also have the ALPHA 87A, and they are both great amps, but I normally use the ACOM because I love putting it away in the amp cabinet and just using the remote unit!