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Reviews For: ACOM 1010

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

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Review Summary For : ACOM 1010
Reviews: 87MSRP: 2340 USD
Description:
KW 160 - 10 m PA, 700 W PEP

Jan 2007 Note - Vine Antennas, UK agents for ACOM, have advised that their ACOM 1010 amplifiers now have a fan- noise reduction modification that reduces fan noise considerably whilst maintaing sufficient cooling of the amplifier tube

Product is in production
More Info: http://www.acom-bg.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15874.9
KY6R Rating: 2018-05-11
Super Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I previously had an ACOM 1500 and loved it. After making all my DXCC goals - I wanted less power, smaller form factor, but still a tube amp. Solid State amps with auto tuners spook me if and when something goes wrong at the antenna. Tube amps still seem more forgiving to me.

ACOM's TRI tuning is easily my favorite. I like to know firsthand if the antenna and power amp have any issues - so I prefer having my hands on the dials. With the TRI tuning, and the fact you do not need a tuner if your SWR is 3:1 or less, I can tune in seconds and know with confidence that I'm ready for the pileups.
AB7OY Rating: 2018-03-06
Looks great, works great! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is the 1st amplifier I have ever used. I downloaded the manual before I received the amp and read it through. When I got the amp I hooked everything up and was operating within minutes. It operates smoothly and quietly at all power settings with no strain, but a satisfying amount of gain as is reported on the other end. I have keyed the amp a few times when things were not set right and it simply goes into standby mode. The tri tune feature is exceptionally easy to tune. Highly recommended!
ON5HB Rating: 2017-12-16
Solid performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I drive this amp with a TS-590S and it easily outputs 800W.
Nothing bad to say about this amp apart that it takes long to warm up.
I would buy another Acom any day.
AD0GW Rating: 2017-12-08
Wonderful amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After using for one week I can say that it meets all of my expectations. Tuning is way easy.

I originally wired it for 120V, but after a couple of days I switched it back to 230V. Switching operating voltage requires soldering jumpers. There are many options for voltage settings, which could lead to confusion, but the documentation was sufficient to figure it out.
KB6HRT Rating: 2017-04-27
SWEET! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Only been using it since tuesday, been many years since I used a tube amp, guess i didn't forget as much as I thought I did. 750w most bands, It will do more but want it to last, am using it on 160m and 75m most of the time the guys I talk to on
160m say its not as load as the ALS 1300 700 vers 1200 watts, but it 2 S units up on my Kenwood TS990 at full output, so its doing what it should be doing. I run it through a tuner, the ACOM is seeing a 1 to 1 match, the amp is very quite an heat that comes out of it is just slightly worm, going to give it a 5 right off the batt. The extra tuning is not a big deal when using a Palstar Auto- tuner, this AMP is backup for me till I get the ALS1300 back from the factory...................73s.............kb6hrt
M0HDX Rating: 2017-03-18
Reliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Acom 1010 is a superb medium powered amplifier that will easily produce 700 watts.The build quality is excellent along with the finish so looks great on any shack bench and the single russian ceramic GU-74B tetrode is cheap to replace should you ever need to,I did the fan mod jumpering-out resistor R35A for slightly more fan noise and much better cooling which i prefer.Tuning is so easy and takes seconds with my pre set cheat sheet.I paid £1200 for the Acom 1010 new and now they sell for £1695 just over a year later (Brexit bandwagon or pure greed not sure which) so a huge price increase. Still a lovely designed amplifier that works very well and like all the other Acom products very reliable.I use it Daily with no faults or issues.
DB3GF Rating: 2017-01-17
and DURABLE Time Owned: more than 12 months.
...see my first reviews from 2009 and 2011; this black box drives my antenna now for more than seven yrs in SSB, CW and PSK31 w/out any trouble and it's first tube - and I'm still happy w/ this EXCELLENT DX tool. 750 Watts are the legal limit at Germany, so it's fine over here. Overall rating: OUTSTANDING
LA9JFA Rating: 2016-11-03
Great AMP Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Got my ACOM 1010 two years ago and used it a lot.
It’s a great amp easy, safe and fast to operate.
With 50 – 60 watt input it works smooth and calm with 500 - 600 watt output.
I used the amp with 80 meter loop antenna, CushCraft R6000 and 9,92 meter homebrewed vertical and it works fabulous with all of them. Enough to get through pilups.

Here you are protected at all mats. Almost impossible to make mistakes and it goes into distress immediately if you make mistakes.
If you drive 100 watts input you may of course break the tube. Some hams have done that – thoughtless.
Recommendation; Read the manual.
MI0NWA Rating: 2016-09-19
Great amp! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hey all! Here’s my take on this fine amplifier. I've been using this amp for around 6 months now and it's great. 40w from the rig will let me work 400w all day long. I found the LED's were a bit lazy on my model though. I tested this by putting it into overload to get the G1 G2 warning lights to come on and while the amp was only showing 600w via the LED's my power meter was showing 850w out so I knew then the LED's weren't to be trusted. Not a big deal though as it’s always good practice to have a meter inline anyway to tune for maximum power.
The added feature on the amp is being able to handle 240w reflected power or as Acom state, about 3.1 SWR, so there is no need for a tuner unless you work with antennas with high SWR’s but in my opinion there isn’t any point using an inefficient antenna in the first place and an amp should be the last thing you should be using until you get your antenna sorted, or at least use one that's a bit flatter in the SWR department. This will save you having to listen to neighbours complaining when you’re slapping their electronics with loads of RFI...lol. Anyway, I use this with an OptiBeam OB9-5 and a 40m Double Bazooka. My SWR on the OptiBeam is between 1.0 and 1.4 on all bands I work and 1.4 and 1.5 with the Bazooka. The rig sees no SWR at all as the amp holds it back, so really an excellent feature.
Lastly the protection, any misuse at all, say trying to tune on 40m when the switch is still on 20m it will detect it and switch into standby for a few seconds giving you time to realise the fault. It will also protect itself if you exceed the 240w reflected power.

Another couple of points. The heating up time is a bit long but I guess its necessary or Acom would have made it faster but I turn it on first and once I'm ready to get settled to work some stations its ready for operation. The second point is when you switch the amp on and it has finish heating up it will automatically switch to operate mode meaning the amp is active, its just worth knowing in case you are transmitting barefoot while you’re waiting on the amp heating up as when it finishes it will automatically push out on high power in operate mode, although it should still protect itself if there's a fault but I don’t think it would be good for the amp having to put it through unwanted and unnecessary procedures.

Well, that's all I can say, highly recommend it. It's a great wee workhorse and looks awesome :-)


AK6ZZ Rating: 2016-09-06
Excellent amplifier Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just purchased an used Acom 1010 amplifier and all I can say is Wow! The one I bought was just serviced by Array Solutions as it was a Dxpedition amp that needed some repairs. The amp is great and put out a solid 800W with less than rated input.

The Acom 1010 is a great amp that is very easy to tune and it provides nice protection system. I highly recommend this amplifier. I thought I would miss QSK capabilities from other amps I have owned but I find the relays to be quiet and fine in non QSK CW. Overall a great amp especially at the amazing used price I paid.