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Reviews For: Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5KFX

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

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Review Summary For : Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5KFX
Reviews: 48MSRP: 2,980
Description:
Amplifier, HF + 6m 1.5KW Solid State
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tokyohypower.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00484.8
N3WAK Rating: 2011-01-18
Very Nice Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great amp. Extremely good customer service from Bob and Jay at Array Solutions. Both spent a lot of time answering my questions, and Bob spent a lot of time helping me to troubleshoot an issue that arose when using my Drake TR5 as exciter. The THP amp works flawlessly with my Icom 746pro, and now works FB with my TR5 in SSB mode.

I strongly recommend the amp, and emphatically recommend Array Solutions. They set the amp up for you and test it. Like I said, in my case they had the time to do a lot of hand holding. Truthfully, I could have saved $50 by buying it somewhere else...but they set up the amp and spent a lot of time on the phone with me. My money was very well spent at Array Solutions.

If you get this amp, do what I did first: get your shack wired for 240v. What you get: full output power. What you also get: no more flickering lights. Do it right. You will also need a tuner if your SWR is above 1.8:1, which is where the amp trips. I have a couple of manual tuners, but am thinking of going with an MFJ 998 in the near future.

I'll be a repeat customer at AS.
KM6EG Rating: 2010-12-10
Happy with HL-1.5KFX Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
These are my first impressions, and will post again in a year: Well made amp, inside and out; Easy set-up; Good support from dealer Array Solutions. Auto-bandswitching and 6-meter operation matched my rig. Interfacing with the FT-950's 10-pin mini DIN was easy with W7YEN's cable (eBay). I originally looked at tube amps, but the scarcity of quality-made glass tubes was a big negative to me.
HK4CZE Rating: 2010-08-18
Excellent A+++ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having had a really bad experience with the Expert, which developed a major power supply problem -Never a word of support from the factory- because of my posting here, but arrogant words from the owner,- I continued with my enthusiasm to get myself a nice a solid state amplifier. I am so glad I got my money back for the previously mentioned one , and went the THP way.

Having a top brand tube amp (Alpha), I thought the solid state idea would translate into a rather fragile noisy amp ( Noisy, yes the european competition is really noisy when you run it at full power). Am I surprised, this pet really puts out 850-900W on all bands -60 65 W in- runs absolutely quite, even during long " rag chew" type of qso, and this is something because I am at a very high altitude ASL (7000F).
A great feature is that you can adjust the Txfr taps (primary-secondary) to suit your line voltage in a very accurate way, so the PS works exactly as is required. The construction inside is amazing, excellent quality and perfection throughout.
Finally, I received a supper nice support from Bob W5OV with Array solutions who was willing to please my order needs in all aspects. Tom Run W5RUN also provided the technical support that I wanted to help my purchase, Mr Nobuki at the JA headquarters did too.
In summary if your are looking for an excellent quality solid state amp that runs quite (to me this is really important most SS amps are noisy) with an excellent support this is it.


Jorge HK4CZE
K8RI Rating: 2010-01-18
Good solid state amp Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
First although some one claimed this is a 1.5KW amp, it is a 1KW PEP/CW out 160-10 amp with 800 watts out on 6-meters.

I purchased it from HRO early on and have had no problems with it. However hooking it up to one of the Yaesu FT897's is a royal pain in the back side as you will have to make up cables using the mini-DIN connectors for the radio and figure out which pins on one end to to what pins on the other end by looking up the pin-out for the larger Yaesu transceivers so I see the manual as a bit lacking. I purchased some Apple printer cables which meant I didn't have to work with the mini-DINs to make up cables for the 897D. The voltage taps are important too during set up.

Once the HL-1.5Kfx is hooked up and running with either the FT8997D, or the Icom 756Pro (or Icom 7000) using the Icom interface every thing works as advertised. the auto band switching, no tune is great. Unfortunately an antenna/line tuner is almost mandatory unless you operate on the same areas on each band. The amp is very sensitive to SWR as others have already noted. Run it into a 1:1 or even 1.1:1 and it puts out the rated power while running cool and quiet. By the time the SWR hits 1.3:1 the output will be down between 100 and 200 watts. (Auto tuners are wonderful and solid state amps make you appreciate them)
It's a great, medium power 160-6 amp.
KF5SA Rating: 2010-01-04
Reliability problem resolved Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It seems there was a problem with a part on the fan control board. They sent me a new board and it's been working great. I can certainly recommend this amp as well as the service I received from HRO and THP.

----------------------
Earlier 2-star review posted by KF5SA on 2009-11-20

After much research, including reading these reviews several times, I purchased the HL-1.5KFX in September. I loved it until my 18th QSO when the fan suddenly roared then quit completely. I tried to talk to someone at AVSL but it's extremely difficult to reach a real human there. HRO tech support was very helpful and sent me a replacement fan control board and fan. That didn't help - still no fan. Cost to send it in is $80 plus. Needless to say I'm not a happy camper after spending this much money and having it fail within 60 days after very light usage. I'll update this review after it's repaired and I've used for a several more months.
K8ESQ Rating: 2009-08-20
Very nice amp Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the HL-1.5KFX at Dayton from Array Solutions. This amp Replaced my Heathkit SB-1000. The amp is whisper quiet compared to the SB-1000. I drive it with an Icom 756 PRO II and have the Array Solutions Bandmaster to automatically switch antennas and the Palstar AT-AUTO antenna tuner. The system works together flawlessly, switch bands and transmit (listen first of course).
The HL-1.5KFX is very sensitive to high SWR and I have tripped the protection circuit a few times, but it does protect the finals.
The guys at Array Solutions are great to work with too.
K9UHF Rating: 2009-08-01
A great amp. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had no problems with the amp.Love it 1000watts out on most bands.
WB4OOA Rating: 2009-07-29
Quality High Power Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Amp was: Delivered in 3 days from Array Solutions; Double boxed; Wired for 240VAC; Power Plug Installed; Custom made K3THP1 band data interface cable; spares kit; and a welcome letter. Jay Terleski WX0B included an excellent 9 page primer called “Operational Hints and Tips” which I found informative and helpful. Solid state amps are NOT like tube amps.
I removed the cover and was very impressed with the Workmanship; High quality parts; and attention to detail. High quality, internal connectors are used. Some of these connectors are the same connectors used in Commercial equipment, very impressive. It is rugged and conservatively designed.
Automatic band tracking with my K3 is wired through the ACC DB-15 connector. This keeps the K3 Serial port free for my computer. I was really pleased with this arrangement.
ALC, is a must to protect the Solid State final Power FET Finals. My K3 604 was modified to allow negative ALC voltages. Array Solutions includes instructions on correctly adjusting the ALC. The ALC action works exactly the way Array Solutions recommends.
NOTE: The K3 can be programmed to allow a set maximum power output for each band. This is another handy way to protect the amplifier from inadvertently being over driven.
Resonant antennas such as my SteppIR Beam and my Standard Dipole on 75meters work well with this amplifier. It is so nice to be able to operate without an antenna tuner. It is a pleasure to operate because of:
1. Instant on operation.
2. Small size.
3. Light weight.
4. Automatic Band Changing.
5. No tune up.
6. Quiet cooling.
7. Very little heat produced.
8. No worry Fault protections.
9. Rugged construction
10. Nice looking.
11. Operates on 6 meters.
12. Excellent USA web site with a factory tour and good technical data to read.
13. Very good support available in the USA and from the factory in Japan. www.tokyohypower.com
I am so impressed that I don’t think I will go back to using a Tube type amplifier. I think this is the future of Amplifier Design. Try it, you will like it.
AB2CD Rating: 2009-04-16
What a joy to own and operate! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This my second review of the amp. I originally reviewed the amp April 27, 2007 under my previous call KF4TCR. Well after two years of operating I am pleased to report that the amp still works perfectly. It’s been a joy to own and has opened up a whole new world of ham radio enjoyment. Power wise, the unit puts out somewhere between 900 & 1000 watts. The unit is also very sensitive to drive and will fault if the input power exceeds 100 watts. Be careful about your SWR as well. If the protection circuits do detect a fault, the unit is easily reset and back on the air with a toggle of the power switch. All in all, this is a very sleek amplifier which, absent a few precautions, is a “no-brainer”. Tokyo Hy-Power strongly suggests taking advantage of its auto band switching feature and I agree. It’s a quiet and a very cool running amp that's ready for use instantly. I’ve been so pleased with this amp that I recently bought the higher power 2.5 unit from Array Solutions. These units are well worth the price and they really retain their value. Within hours of my posting the 1.5 for sale on a local repeater message board my unit was sold. I highly recommend these amps and strongly suggest getting yours from Array Solutions. Jay and Bob are terrific and are the guys who would perform factory service in the unlikely event you’d ever need it. Please don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions.
K1BJS Rating: 2009-01-14
Excellent Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have just recentlly purchased the amp. I was a little concerned as I was warned that it is very easy to have the amp shut down due to line voltage, overdrive, or high swr. Line voltage is a protection from over voltage and so long as the taps on the power transformer are set to your actual line voltage you will have no problem. If you go over 100 watts or drive power it will kick off thus protecting the costly output transistors. If you go over an SWR of 1.8 it will kick off. You need to have resonant antennas and or a tuner to keep the SWR seen by the amp below this value. The amp has the capability to have its band changing circuitry contolled either manually by two buttons on the fron panel or by any of the major radio manufacturers. (ICOM, YAESU, Kenwood) Cables are supplied for all three and its realy simple to hook up. When you change bands with the radio the amp follows suit.

Now for the hard part. We operate a Flex radio here and wanted to accomplish the same feat with that radio. For those with limited computer experience like myself this was not easy. I went to the FLex Radio knowledge center for help. The process involved downloading a program called "Com0Com" this program is used to create "virtual com ports" The next step was to download a program created by Steve Nance called DDUTIL. This is a utility program designed to interface the Flex radio with numerous devices. Getting all the settings correct was difficult but I finally succeeded. The reason I am writing such a long winded review is that sinced the THP is becoming such a popular amp that perhaps I could help others in getting things going if they use a FLex radio. So if you want to get the FLEX/THP combination going feel free to contact me.

As for the amp itself, it blends seamlessly with your transceiver. Its like having a 1KW transceiver. The no tune feature is so convenient for quick and easy band changing. ( My other amp which is now my backup is an Ameritron AL-1500) I have not used it very much since acquiring the THP.