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Reviews For: Ameritron AL-80B

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

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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
K1LH Rating: 2019-12-23
So far so good! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Picked up a used AL-80B about 9 months ago. From the sticker inside the manufacture date looks like 1996.

Has an Amperex tube in it, not sure if its original but it easily makes 800W carrier power with 65 to 70W of drive.

So far I have replaced the cooling fan with the nearest or best equivalent I could find (W2S107-AB07-39 AC Fan Axial Sintec-Sleeve Bearing 115V 61.8CFM 28dB (119 X 119 X 38mm)) from Amazon as the one that was in it was a little noisy, the new one is quieter.

While I had the tube out to replace the fan I carefully cleaned it and a bit of dust and gunk wiped off of it, so it's got some age on it.

I got a grid protection board for it, but the install instructions don't match what I see inside the amp for wiring it in, maybe there was a revision to these at some point? I've left the board out for now, seems it's not really needed if the ALC is used correctly which I do use with my Icom rig.

Otherwise the amp runs great on 120V (the shack is in the room above the breaker panel in the garage, so short run), easily pushes 800W to 1kW on SSB, and I use it on 75m AM driven for 100W carrier power.
NG7A Rating: 2019-09-16
Great amp - poor quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Factory new amp in service since 2012 was used for many contests without issues. About a year ago 160M started to have intermittent VSWR spikes; all other bands were ok. Checking antennas, replacing cables etc. did not solve it.

Problem was traced to the 300 pF 7.5 kV capacitor: the doorknob cap was substituted with a surface mount cap on a little adapter PCB card. The surface mount cap was cracked in several places. Given surface mount substitution does not have the same characteristics or heat-sinking of a door knob cap, it is surprising that it had lasted this long!

A replacement doorknob ceramic cap from RF Parts fixed the issue.
KT0DD Rating: 2019-07-05
1 1/2 year update Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought a new RF Parts 3-500zg tube and installed it 6 mos. ago. No problem with original Taylor tube and it is now my backup. The new tube seems just a hair better performing but not enough to matter. Cleaned out amp during install of new tube and no evidence of any damage by arcing one time (see my original post below) 60-65 watts gets me 700-800 pep SSB out on a modest 120V line and I work anyone I hear. Great Amp.

Original Review Below.

I got mine in Nov 2017 used for a great price. It's been awhile since I had a tune / tube type amp and I did make a few little goofs in the beginning resulting in one pretty strong internal arc in the amp. It seems it didn't do any damage and it still works. 700-800W SSB out on a mediocre 120v line with other stuff on it but I have been able to work anyone I hear. I will inspect for arc damage when I do my 6 mo cleaning. I'm keeping it.
N6BIZ Rating: 2019-02-18
Terrifc Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought mine used ,a newer version for $500
Run mine off 120 . 3100 volts on the anodes.
An easy 1k output
AND for max tube life the 3-500 needs to work as it was designed to do FULL OUTPUT .people who “baby” this amp are going to have premature tube failure.
And the amp purrs like a kitty
73
NT9M Rating: 2019-02-01
Cool beans Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned nearly two years now. Bought new. No hiccups. Used mostly on 80 meters. Doubt I'll never need anything else.
THC1 Rating: 2019-01-12
Truly a Classic Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this new about 8 years ago and have used but not abused it fairly regularly mostly on 40
meters.
As several others have posted tuning & operation
is pretty straight forward & and 70 watts of drive
gets 800 out on 40 meters with no issues on 240 volts.
Can't see any reason to want any thing bigger this one does all I need.
KI3R Rating: 2018-12-31
A bit more would be better Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had the amp for about a year now and it has performed well with 500 watts to the antenna. The problem with the unit is with tuned input. It seems to me that for a 1 - 2 hundred buck increase a hardware resolution would be possible. It makes little sense to fiddle with a screw adjustment at the back of the set to enable operation on different bands. I know that the additional hardware would be an expense but the improved operation would pay for itself over time. I also look with amusement at those who operate the amp at "overly optimistic" outputs. It is not a key down KW. The 4 rating is solely based on the input characteristics ... it would have been a 5.

The best to all for 2019 .... Tom KI3R Belle Vernon PA
WA2SI Rating: 2018-10-09
AL-80BQ - Great Amp at a Bargain Price Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
A great bargain and a nice clean amplifier. I rarely use phone but it'll provide a nice clean signal on both phone and CW. I ordered mine with the internal pin diode QSK-5PC module, works fb. My Elecraft K2/100 drives it comfortably to approx. 800 watts on CW. (Although I never run it anywhere near that power level.) Just what I needed to be a bit more competitive in the DX pileups. Two thumbs up!
AD8AB Rating: 2018-03-23
Kickin' Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just replaced my AL-80A that I bought in 1987 with a brand new lastest revision AL80B (version 2F post Serial # 20737.) We took a road trip to DX Engineering to pick it up last weekend. Took the cover off to install the tube and was extremely impressed with what I saw.THe Inrush current protection circuit now uses a sealed solid state relay and the Transmit/Receive Relay has been replaced by a pair of similar sealed Solid state relays. No sparks, thumps, clicks or buzzes. I was really very happy with the 80A that this replaced, but when the XYL offers its important that you accept. The Original EIMAC in the 80A has lasted 30 years and still is 95%. it will get a new set of caps and it will become my backup. This new one will out live me, I'm sure. The new circuitry is a really good and solid design and is a testament to Ameritrons engineering quality..73 AD8AB
NA3R Rating: 2018-01-21
Great amplifier Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just purchased my AL-80B in December of 2017 and it is a great little amplifier. It doesn't take up too much desk space and puts out a solid 700 watts on CW and peaks a KW on SSB.

No difficulties with it so far. Easy to tune-up and the ALC circuit works nicely with my FTDX-1200.

You have to turn the ALC control on the back of the amp fully clockwise then adjust the ALC SET control on the front of the amp to about 4. This results in all tube parameters being within specifications as per the manual.

I purchased a cable on eBay that works perfectly with it from a company called generalvideo and are made by a ham, W7YEN - 10-PIN MINI-DIN CABLE WITH KEYING AND ALC FOR YAESU FT-950 FT-450 FT-DX1200.

This amp is a steal for the money.