Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: Ameritron AL-80B

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Ameritron AL-80B
Reviews: 148MSRP: 1300
Description:
Kilowatt output HF desktop linear
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/products.php?prodid=AL-80b
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
141484.6
K5JPE Rating: 2004-03-17
Great little quiet Amp Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have owned about 6+ months put on 240 volts cause of low line voltage hear at my location . To many things on same line on 120. Get 1000 peak watts on 160 meters . with about 90 watts drive. little more out on 75 and 40 meters.. So far Real Happy . Real quiet also.
NI0C Rating: 2004-01-23
Affordable power gain Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first AL-80B went to my son for Christmas, so I decided to purchase a replacement amplifier. I looked at catalogs, prices, and reviews and decided the AL-80B was still the right amplifier for my budget. You get 9 dB gain (over a 100 watt rig) for about half the price you would pay for 12 dB gain. Reliability and tube availability are good.

Now my second AL-80B is already on the air. It left Ameritron on Jan. 8 for delivery to HRO in NH. I received it from HRO yesterday and worked a couple of new band-countries with it last night.



WM5L Rating: 2004-01-09
TOP NOTCH Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought mine used from a friend and have never looked back. 1000+ watts through a bird 43 on 75/40m with 65w in. This is the best bang for the buck out there...Jim/WM5L
S57LWE Rating: 2004-01-03
GREAT AMP. +++++ Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hellow

I buy the AL-80B from my good friend for nice price. The AMP. have 5 years and works extremely well. With 70 watts drive, I can drive it over 850 watts and 80m (on Inverted antenna)...but is bether to drive the AMP. whit 50W and have 500W-600W (if you work like this you 100% not have problem whit 3-500ZG tube in your-80B)
Easy to tune and a pleasure to use.

Eric S57LWE
N0RQ Rating: 2003-12-19
good amp for modest price Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought mine barely used. First amp for me!

Out of box, works well, instructions could have been easier to follow. No problems so far, except that it will NOT work on 17 meters. Others have reported similar problem, I believe. I have not bothered to tweak it, as I don't want to mess up the 15m operation.

Mine was originally on 110v house current, but the poor 15amp circuit was being pushed too hard (and it had a long run of 14ga. Romex), so voltage drop was a bit of a problem. Plate voltage was low, though the thing did work. I installed a nice 240v outlet in the shack (thankfully had a subpanel in the shack already!), redid the amp for 240v (pretty easy), and wow, the lights don't dim, I'm getting better output -- in other words, it likes the 240v.

It works good all the way from 10m to 160m (except 17m), but due to 17m and instructions that could be improved, it is getting a "4" rating. Note, though, that I am very happy with it, and would certainly buy it again.
KB4QLZ Rating: 2003-02-26
A+ Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Picked up one used from a local ham. Easy to operate. Output around 850 Watts on 10 meters, and around 1KW on 80 Meters. Runs quite. 10 Meter mod is very easy.
K4NR Rating: 2002-11-06
Solid Desktop Amplifier Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I've owned a couple of other amplifiers over the years including an AL-811H and a Tentec Centurion. The AL-80B is a nice, solid amplifier.

The 3-500ZG is forgiving, plentiful, and relatively inexpensive. I have the QSK-5PC internal QSK board and it works perfectly with my IC-746. The best part (or worst depending on who you talk to) of the QSK board is there are no relays. It uses pin diodes and is totally silent. I only wish the IC-746 didn't have that damn noisy relay inside! The QSK is as good as my Tentec Omni 6 and Centurion although the tentec is a much better CW rig..that's another review.

Despite other posts, I see 1KW out on the lower bands and can get 850 out on 10 and 12 meters. I'm running it on 110 volts and the plate voltage drops to 2600 under load. I'm going to run 220 to the shack. I think the high voltage will be a bit stiffer on 220 and I may see a little more out.

My AL-80B had the 110 volt step start circuit. I replaced it with the 12 volt relay that's in the newer AL-80Bs. It was a simple modification and the 110 volts circuit made a bunch of noise when you switched on the amp.

While I'm still a fan of the AL-811H, I think the AL-80B is a far better buy considering the step-start and the fact that there is a single tube.

73 de Tom, K4NR
K2VI Rating: 2002-10-27
excellent after 7 years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
i have two al 80b's and they work as they did back in 95.the only problem with one is the eimac 3-500z is gassing.when i talk on ssb with the lights out the tube has a purple haze near the glass.i dont use theese amps often and that's probably why it gassed.but i absolutly love the preformance of this amp.a+++
SM3LGO Rating: 2002-08-01
Supplement to earlier review Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After "listening" to an AL80A at another QTH, I am now convinced that the AL80
amps do have problem with 50Hz AC operation: also this one produced
a "hum" that would not be tolerable to the ear for more than, say 20 minutes...
(see my previous review).

I tried to mechanically insulate the transformer of my own amp from its chassis
using plastic, seeing a (very) marginal improvment.

Still, the amp has worked without electrical (or other mechanical) problems
for 6 years now...
KB0NAZ Rating: 2002-07-31
OK Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I got the AL-80B used on a trade.The first thing is the so called tuned input is a joke on this amp.To operate 15/17 meters I have to retune the coils in the back of the amp,there is no happy medium between the two bands unless you want to run the rig with about a 4:1.1 SWR!as a "happy medium" Can get either down to around 1.3-1.
10 meters will go no lower than around 2.2 so can only get about 500watts out there.I've read reviews about getting 1000+ watts out with 50 watts of drive?? OK I CAN'T GET 1000+ out with 125 watts drive.Maybe 700-800 watts pounding it.
The front panel ALC seems to have NO effect on output power that I can see
On the bright side the amp does tune up easily and the settings are very repeatable.I'll probably sell this amp.