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Reviews For: Kenwood TL-922A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TL-922A
Reviews: 66MSRP: 1200
Description:
160-10M 2K PEP- cct resembles SB220, with 2 x 3-500Z tubes
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.rigpix.com/linears/tl922.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14664.5
PY1KZ Rating: 2018-03-03
A Great Linear Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I love this linear. It has excellent ergonomics and the beauty of its panel. I recently purchased a TL-922A model, with 28mhz included, that faced a deep retrofit, including new valves. Wonderful !!! It's sure to work for another 20 years.
NY2F Rating: 2018-02-28
Honesty Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Love this AMP. Needs mods, not so great out of the box. Added Mods, LOVE IT. Needs drive to get full legal. Kenwood, Looks good in shack...Works.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by NY2F on 2018-01-23

Talking about my original 922. Had problems. Made these Mods. Will never sell. Electrolytic caps, ECBS MOD, Tube glitch, Step start, T/R relay and BAND SWITCH. Will keep up to any legal AMP. AND IT'S PRETTY....ONE Other thing need 110 drive to 1500 OUT...
W0BKR Rating: 2017-12-12
Great Amp Even Today! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I love my 922 amp, easy to tune up and a beast to move around (only nit). Wish Kenwood had made the transformers removable. Touched up the top and bottom covers and side panels and looks like new. Very good amp and very similar to the old SB-220. I am sure I will be making some upgrades down the road but for now, enjoying it as is.
W4IV Rating: 2017-12-11
Great amp. Need's updates to be dependable. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I picked up my TL-922 from a local ham's yard sale. He told me that he had mistuned the amp into a reactive antenna, and that it had smoked and blew the fuses. It's a good thing I got it for a reasonable price. It needed a lot of work to get it back on the air. I replaced the smoked band switch, installed the Kesseler Engineering Revival kit, directly grounded the grid's on the Eimac 3-500's,installed hairpin style parasitic suppressors, installed a glitch resistor on the B+ line, and fuses on the filament xformer primary. I also enabled the 10 meter band. The Kessler kit includes soft start, soft key, T/R vacuum relay, and adjustable bias(among other thing's). I now have an amp that is stable, and work's great. It is built like a tank, and easily put's out 1KW pep with only 40 watt's drive, AND it look's great next to my vintage Icom 781 rig.
No more stuff from Starkville MS for me !!

P/S The tuning instructions in the manual say's to start tuning with the load control set to "0", I start with the load control set to "5".

Links for Kessler kit, and band switch.
http://kesslerengineeringllc.com/tl922.html
http://www.multi-tech-industries.com
KA1LA Rating: 2017-06-02
Kessler Engineeering Kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am the second owner of this TL-922. I purchased it two years ago at a ham fest. I did not need another amplifier but the esthetics and build quality of this amplifier along with an excellent purchase fee was something I couldn't pass even though I own an Acom amplifier. I have been preferring to use the Kenwood but some of the technology is thirty years old and I had some concern of the inrush current, loud, hot switching T/R relay, slow relay-controlled tube bias and high voltage/high current PTT switching especially with the newer solid state radios. In searching the internet for modifications, I found exactly what I was seeking with Kessler Engineering. They have a package that upgrades all the thirty year old technology of the Kenwood. Installing this kit was a very enjoyable experience. The quality of the parts is excellent, they fit perfectly and the assembly instructions were also perfect. With the installation of the Kessler Upgrade Kit, I now have a Kenwood TL-922 that is compatible to any new three thousand dollar amplifier and in some instances, better! Yes, I use it all the time. If you have a TL-922 or considering getting one, I would strongly recommend you also purchase Kessler Engineering's upgrade kit. The Kit turns a very good amplifier into a great one.
G7NKS Rating: 2016-02-28
Excellent piece of kit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my TL922 since 2005. Bought 2nd hand from a UK dealer. While the relay is most definitely stentorian in its report, this is still a great performing and lovely bit of kit. Mine had the parasitic suppressors done and I bought an outboard in rush protector. The 3-500's died after 4 years and I bought some new ZG ones and they've been fine. I tend to run it on "CW" mode which keeps the HV @ 2KV and this provides 600/700 watts out which is adequate for most Dx. I've recently added an idiot proof SPE1K to my kit, mainly for 6m and also to protect against operator error but I still use and enjoy the TL922. Both a driven by JRC JST 245s. Tunes the WARC bands well too. If you're in the market for a great performing and nice looking amp then the TL922 is a good option, just check it hasn't been abused and don't run it flat out at 1200W plus in high duty cycle data modes. Jim G7NKS IO92ub
VA6DWH Rating: 2015-12-02
eye candy Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
These amps are real classics.....and some of the best looking ham gear available....Small footprint....excellent output.....
However....to realize their potential and not have an unpleasant experience...its a must to do the minimum mods to these rigs so things are protected from damage....Please check on line for these mods....easy to accomplish....and what you will end up with is a "Tame" reliable amplifier that is a pleasure to use...I only gave it a 4 because of the mods needed....but with some basic modifications its truly a "5"....Thanks all....Regards....VA6DWH
ZL1BHD Rating: 2015-08-11
What a whoppa!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The coolest damn piece of ham gear I've had so far!

Only problem I've had, is the filament pins melting the solder out - easy fix, resolder pins, and then just unscrew the bottom panel, flip it around and screw it back on, end of problem! A year later and no more hassles.

If you haven't run a 2KW PEP amp before, then you are missing out! It's completely bananas! The DX calls YOU back!

G0FVT Rating: 2014-08-06
TL922 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Pretty happy with this amplifier, mine is not the "A" version so includes 10m. TX/RX relay developed an o/c coil but after heating the solder tag up it works again. Mine has the original parasitic stoppers but I have recently grounded the grids. The relays are pretty noisy but the fan seems a good compromise between noise and airflow. Amplifier works without drama but beware of the highish voltage on the "PTT" line, if in doubt use an interface.
EA1XF Rating: 2014-01-12
Great fun driving it !. Time Owned: more than 12 months.

Four years have passed since my TL-922 went through a complete servicing. I must say that it has been working better than ever with not a simple failure. I think the only secret to keep it running flawlessly is just to follow the manufacturer recommendations regarding not to overdrive it. It is been obviously made under the technology of the 80´s, with no protection circuits at all like current amps, which means you have to know what you have in your hands and how to play with it, otherwise you can ruin it easily. More or less it is like driving a vintage car which you have to be very careful with, as there is no ESP, DSC, ABS, I mean none of those security controls are present and an inappropriate or extreme use may end in an accident or just blowing up the engine if you try to drive it out of its limits. I find the same joy using it as driving a vintage car because 100% of the control is in your hands and not in a “central unit” that controls your errors. If you don´t like playing its rules, you better stay away from it.

I feel fortunate owing one of these vintage amps and for running it trouble free, even in the Warc bands.

73, Carlos


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Earlier 5-star review posted by EA1XF on 2009-11-21

I bought mine in 1999 and it has been running flawlessly until a couple of months ago when a choke burnt out, so I thought it was time to send it for a complete overhauling. Every little part, board and values were checked in order to have it as the very first day when came out from factory. Input swr was re-adjusted and some components were replaced for new ones, like the zener bias diode, capacitors and even the final tubes, although there was no need to replace them yet, now has a new pair of matched Amperex 3-500 ZG and I am keeping the old ones as spare.

It loads and tunes very smooth and I always tune mine by the “Plate – Load – Plate procedure” to maximum power output, with the meter switch on the RF position. When the amp is perfectly aligned, this method will make the Ip automatically dip to the minimum. With the transformer set in the 240 volts position, these are the readings I get on 14.200 MHz, on the SSB position and on my PowerMaster meter:

Input 86 w ---- 1.185 w (output) 130 mA (IG), 0.55 mA (IP)
Input 108 w --- 1.429 w (output) 175 mA (IG), 0.62 mA (IP)

(Note that the IG and IP readings do not exceed the ones given by the manufacturer)

With 120 watts from my TS-830S, I saw 1500 watts coming out from the TL-922. Not bad, isn´t it?. I wonder how much power will put out if connected to 220 volts, but I will not make the experiment, hi,hi.

The only thing I dislike is the loud relay. It was not worth to change it for a quiet one because it works perfect and is quite solid.

I enjoy very much working with it and I am sure that if we keep the
recommendations suggested by the manufacturer, this amp will last for ever. It is built like a tank and makes a nice looking piece of gear on the shack.

73, Carlos
EA1XF