| W8MIS |
Rating:      |
2003-03-09 | |
| Great! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I am not knocking the Amp in any way or pushing you towards Mr Kessler I am just saying that I know it can be better. (Vox and QSK whisper quite is nice).
I have been using many brand of Amps. Quite a while back I had a Kenwood TL922A and found it the best made amp on the market. Shortly after using for a while it was apparent that some of the development of the circuit left a lot to be desired. I replaced a tube and a zener and a few other parts after a loud bang one day. I soon after that kind of gave up on it, but always missed the amp.
I then found another one latter in my career that was in flawless stock condition and decried to try again. I was not real happy with the slow and loud relays and was afraid of another break down. I had been aware of the Mods that were discussed and in my search to find someone with the knowledge and patience to reconstruct my newly found gem I ran into Don Kessler in Beaver creek, Ohio (KI6SZ).
I decided to take the amp to him for the work to be done. He is a real busy individual and has other things in life, but said he would fix her up. I just recently picked it back up and the amp works like it never did before. There is a vacuum relay for change over and a elec bias board all the parasitic mods have been done and the tuned input is reworked to allow perfect input on the warc bands and 75 meters has been broadened to allow a good input swr on the entire band and the workmanship was top notch!
It now sits here and during keying (Vox - QSK) all that is heard is the low sound of the cooling fan. If you find that you want to update your Kenwood Amp this is one person to communicate with.
As I told him "this is the best money I have spent on the hobby". |
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| N3JI |
Rating:     |
2003-02-27 | |
| Great Bang for the Buck |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I bought my stock (except for 10m mod) TL-922 used for much less than "average". After installing 240V in the shack, the amp tuned up to full power on 75m, but had the "normal" arcing & spitting sound on tune up. I then let it run for a few minutes -- the amp made a HORRIBLE buzzing noise, blew one of the mains fuses, and let out a puff of smoke. Pulled the covers off and found two Eimac 3-500Z's with bad welds holding the plates (one of the plates shorted the HV to the grid causing the problem). The smoke came from the Grid Choke. Replaced the tubes with RF Parts 3-500ZG's, installed the extra capacitance, and grid fuse resistors. Upon testing, the amp was much more stable, but unfortunately, the bandswitch had already been pretty well abused, so it needed replaced. The amp still arced occasionally, so the rest of Richard Measures' mods were installed (including the mod to lower the fils V). The amp is now rock solid and puts out more power than advertised!!!
Since I bought the amp kind of last minute for the ARRL 10m Contest, I was anxious to see how it would perform. I was more than happy with the results -- 35 states, 70 countries, working only a few hours on Sat & Sun. BTW, the antenna is a Gap Titan Vertical.
I now run this amp almost daily on 75m AM into a resonant Alpha-Delta dipole, and occasionally on the other bands in SSB. I run the amp conservativley on AM at 200 to 250W carrier/1000 to 1100W PEP. Over all, I spent on this amp about what they go for on the upper end, but now it's got brand new tubes, new bandswitch, and is very stable. Worth every penny. BTW, mine didn't need any input tweaking -- my 706 very happily drives it with full output/low SWR, even on 17m.
I can't see giving the amp a 5 because of the mods mine needed, but now that those are done, I wouldn't give it up (okay, maybe for a big Henry!!). I haven't done the step-start or QSK mod yet, but they're almost ready to go in.
I think it's a fantastic amp, and recommend it. Just be ready to get out the soldering iron if it's a little "Arcy-Sparcy". The mods work, so don't be afraid to get your hands dirty -- just be plenty careful around the HV (you know the drill!!).
73!!
Joe -- N3JI |
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| W8OB |
Rating:      |
2003-02-18 | |
| excellant amp |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I purchased one of these used from burgharts. This amp is built like the brick outhouse. Fan noise was not a issue but then again I am used to the homebrew days with large squirrel cage blowers going. Very stable amp and easy to tune. I was never able to get any arcs or sparks from mine even on 160m or using wire antennas with vswrs of around 2.5-1. power output averages around 7-800 watts on cw and 1300 on ssb. I am kind of surprised to read about vhf oscillations in this amp. They sure don't build them like this anymore. The side carry handles are a great touch as well. |
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| KG5FTK |
Rating:  |
2003-02-17 | |
| Unstable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
In my opinion, this is one poorly designed amp. The amp has poor cooling from poor air flow. Result is every thing gets hot inside. But the biggest problem is that this amp is unstable. Alot of users have complained about parasitics but I found this amp wants to oscillate. After spending a week adding some suppression, I finally ended up neutralizing it using the method that 572 amp makers have used. Now, the grid and plate current meters don't move when they should not show any change. I sold this amp after modifying it.
Buy this amp if you like spending alot of time working in a HV compartment for a week or two, if it doesn't take off and do a melt down before you get started. If anyone gets a tendency to want this amp, go buy a L4B or an L7. |
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| AA4XR |
Rating:     |
2003-01-04 | |
| Showing the years..... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Built like a battleship, solid performer! I'm a Kenwood man but this machine is a bit long in the tooth and I'm amazed that Kenwood hasn't come up with something to replace it. This was introduced in the days before the "1.5kw output" ruling and it shows. The 2 3-500z's are an excellent choice for low cost, reliable, tubes, but the engineers didn't provide a power supply to do them justice. Granted, the 922 will run full legal power, but it comes at a price and it is not capable of full output for an extended period of time.
If you're looking in the USED market try finding the "922" NOT 922A. The 922 comes from the factory with 10m built in and displayed on the band switch/front panel.
At the present $750-1000 price range (used) you'd be better off with the Ameritron AL-82. It runs the same tubes but a much better power supply and will give a true 1500w output all day.
TL-922 WAS a great amp but its days have passed. |
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| KY6R |
Rating:      |
2002-12-08 | |
| Very High Quality |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After competing with QRO stations in pileups for many of my 227 DXCC countries, I decided to give in and get an amp. I needed something especially for Africa - which is sometimes tricky from the West Coast.
The last Kenwood tube based piece of gear that I owned with such a high build quality was a Kenwood TS-511S in 1975.
I love my new TS-2000, but it doesn't have that "commercial build quality" found in the 70's and 80's gear - they were built like tanks, and its sooooo nice to have tubes warming up the shack again.
The TL-922A is a very solid and very good looking piece of gear. Its plug and play with the TS-2000. I got a good deal from a very nice fellow here on eHam - much nicer than buying on eBay . . mine is in "like new" condition - very cool.
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| VE7AZC |
Rating:     |
2002-12-02 | |
| High quality build, but aging |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I really like the TL922. It has the old quality not seen in modern amps, even though it's not too old of an amp yet. Sure it won't really do legal output, but it is 'near legal' and trouble free.
I do object to the loud RF relay clacking and I am finally fixing that with a mod from Rich Measures.
I also think that any modern amp should have real WARC band settings. ( I can tune WARC on the other band settings, though)
Other than that, it's a really solid performer with a good track record. They should really be selling used for about $850USD, which is a fair price for a good amp.
Cheers,
Herb |
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| K9BTU |
Rating:     |
2002-11-25 | |
| Noisy and not powerful |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The 922 is a nice amp but several single tube 3-500Z amps will put out just as much power as the 922 because the 922 has a small power supply. The antenna change-over relay is loud! I sent mine to Kessler Engineering in Ohio for modification. He changes out the relay amoung other things. Now its as quiet as my TS-940 exciter! He also put in a step-start circuit and low current relay switching ! Now its a real amp. 3-500s are great tubes and last and last. |
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| KA3POY |
Rating:      |
2002-09-25 | |
| Nice Build Quality |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Bought my TL 922A used from Burghardt, it arrived looking almost new - a couple very light scuffs that you could easily put on moving a brand new one into your shack.
I'm running mine on 110 VAC (I know, I know, 220 is much better, yaddah yaddah), so I can only get 800 - 900 watts out before I blow my circuit breaker in the house. Now - since I'm on thin ice anyway with the antenna police, and if I start getting into neighbors' tv's and home entertainment centers that'll be it, I'm only running 6-750 watts out, and the rig does this without really breaking a sweat. Sometime in the future I'll be at a different qth and then I'll wire it for 220 and run it wide open.
The fan is noticeable but not 1/3 as bad as my personal computer. The tx/rx relay is not quiet, but on ssb I really don't notice it. On cw it is annoying, but since the rig is really for ssb dx pileups, that's not a fatal flaw.
It does have a bypass switch allowing you to tune your exciter with the amp on but in standby mode. Importantly for me, the Kenwood build quality is very nice and very solid. It looks like this rig will run forever, or be fixable.
This rig doesn't have any of the "excuse me, have you seen the keys to my Mercedes" panache you get with Alphas, and it doesn't have qsk. However, I personally like the combination of quality, power and reliability at a reasonable cost.
73,
Tim
N5IIT was KA3POY
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| KC2HHY |
Rating:      |
2002-07-24 | |
| Great AMP / Great Value expecially for MARS |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I purchased a used TL-922A from a local HAM about a year ago. He treated the AMP with respect and performed all available mods. It operates with the original Eimac 3-500Z's. I don't use the amp in the "traditional HF sense", rather I use it for MARS (as I am a licensed MARS Member) in conjunction with a Drake MN-2700 on a ICOM 756pro (make sure that you turn off the auto tune on the pro) into a center fed dipole. It works FLAWLESSLY and I get GREAT signal reports. Keep in mind that when used with non-Kenwood equipment, wiring up the tx relay and the alc to your accessory din jacks are a must. I also always pretune the antenna using my MFJ-259B, getting a 1.2 or better match at 50ohms and load up on the DL (by the book). It meets power output expectations and punches through the noise when you need it. Enough said, it's a Great AMP/Great Value and plan to never part with it. |
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