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Reviews For: Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.2Kfx

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

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Review Summary For : Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.2Kfx
Reviews: 39MSRP: TBD
Description:
750W PEP HF Linear Amplifier
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tokyohypower.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00394.9
N5SUM Rating: 2007-12-19
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
New amp rec'd 12/17. Constructed like a tank! Easy to set up & use. Fan is noisy; email to THP got an immediate response from Mr. Nobuki.....fix is to replace a 330ohm resistor with 470 ohm. Will be done under warranty. Can't ask for better service. Manual is VG and complete with boards & schematic. Expensive, yes, but so is the FT-2K!
73, Bill, N5SUM
KG8CO Rating: 2007-12-09
Nice Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Overall, very pleased with the amp. It is a little heavier than advertised. The amp seems to be built very well and works great.

The fan moves a lot of air so it is kind of noisy. If I had one complaint, I guess that would be it.

The amp is more like a 4.75 than a 4.
N8OIL Rating: 2007-12-03
Pretty good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Received from HRO weeks after the date it was expected. Easy to set up and use. I have seen PEP output as high as about 600W, but the peaks usually run about 400W. Drive is 90-100W from an Icom 756 Pro2.

This product moves a lot of air. I'm considering two approaches to minimizing the problem of the noise: (1) moving the noise source (amp) to as far away as a I can still reach it and (2) buying an ANR headset.

I guess the product is OK. "Good" or "pretty good" -- definately not "great."
K2DZ Rating: 2007-10-08
Tips from a Happy User Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I could repeat every comment about this fine company, their quick response, their pride in their products, and the excellent quality of the HL-1.2Kfx.

Instead, let me relate some operating experiences and also tips passed along by Mr. Nobuki.

Tuning my Kenwood exciter's ATU had become a habit for me because of the variety of antennas I use, and because an old Yaesu tube amp did not present a 50-ohm load to the exciter. Accordingly, I would flip on the exciter's ATU while in the AMP's Operating mode. It never required more than a 1-second adjustment, but it did blow the PA module after a week of operating.

I removed the PA module which swivels out very nicely, and sent it to Tokyo from my Asian QTH. The THP staff was on vacation at the time, but Mr. Nobuki emailed me on a Sunday (!) that the unit had arrived safely. A few weeks later, I was delighted to have it back with two tubular components (not sure what) across each final-FET.

Mr. Nobuki suggested that the exciter ATU's ratcheting caps and coils produce spikes at the AMP input, and that I should tune the exciter ATU in AMP Standby mode only.

He also strongly recommended an ALC connection to the AMP to preclude overdriving the unit. (This did clear up some slight SSB compression.)

Using a Palstar AT1KP ATU for tuning all antennas, I tried turning off the exciter's ATU altogether. Lo, the exciter's SWR meter read 1:1 whether the AMP was switched off, in Standby mode, or at full power. No exciter ATU needed! What a bad habit to have relied on it...

My AMP arrived wired for 230 VAC. The shack voltage showed 230 VAC, but I was experiencing 15-volt drops at key-down: stressful for the AMP, and did this contribute to the PA problem? After an electrician found a fault at the fuse box, I was happy to see only 1-volt drop at full power. So was the AMP...

Mr. Nobuki commented that running the AMP at a higher voltage than it was wired for was very chancy. His suggestion: match the source to the load as much as possible.

One time, I applied power to the AMP in Operating mode while the PTT line relay was disabled in the exciter (Menu A -on vs Menu B -off). The Overdrive light lit up when applying more than 15 watts to the AMP. So, synchronize those A/B menus!

After running a month now on SSB, CW, PSK, and RTTY, I have seen no fault lights and have full confidence in this fine unit. I have less confidence in my own ability to set the bandswitch correctly before flipping the Operating mode switch.

To avoid overdriving the ALC in AFSK's digital modes, I now set the Kenwood exciter's Power Out to it's full 100 watts, then carefully tweak the notebook interface pot for a Palstar wattmeter reading of 150 watts (to be conservative in RTTY). The AMP shows 150 watts out, and the exciter shows 20 watts out with no ALC indication. The AMP stays very cool. If I send a few CQ's at 500 watts (exciter's meter: 50 watts), the AMP's fan will go into overdrive after a few minutes. The unit itself stays cool to the touch.

I suggested to Mr. Nobuki that he consider lighting up the ON-AIR lamp when switching INTO Operating mode, rather than with key-down IN Operating mode. I'm quite aware of when I key the amp, and don't need the lamp to tell me this. I want to avoid the potential damage of lighting up a fault light with an improper setting at key-down (thinking it's in Standby).

The manual suggests winding every cable a few turns around a toroid core. I deterred doing this until my notebook rebooted on 15 meters, and the rig's external speaker announced the presence of the AMP on 20 CW. A set of Amidon FT-240-77 and FT-140-77 cores fixed these and TVI problems nicely.

Try this AMP from an excellent company... you'll love it.
NB2N Rating: 2007-10-07
Fabulous and Idiot Proof Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Payment by bank transfer, and shipment from Japan went smoothly. No major problems to report after 9 mos. The various protection circuits have operated flawlessly at times when I've overdriven it, or forgotten to change the band setting. There was some TVI within the house, which disappeared after placing a few snap on ferrites along the TV cable. This may have been due to the close proximity of the cable and antenna on our small townhouse property. I use it 100% for CW and the QSK is fine. Output is 600+ watts key down using 220 V power. My thanks to the early reviewers, who were most helpful in my decision to purchase this "fine little brick".
LA1PHA Rating: 2007-10-05
What a fine little brick Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've been a ham since 1989 and been a 100w runner and qrp guy. I'm still a qrp guy. When condx are poor qrp won't do and looking at this amp I made the
money available. First of all this is a very easy to use amp. It is with no tuning , straight forward push to talk amp. You feel that you are in charge and not the amp. The amp is fairly positive to some swr , so if your antennas are under 2:1swr you can
work full power with it. My antenna is a butternut HF9V and work very well with this amp. Do I need a tuner?? NO!! The price is also right. The protection circuits are working very well and saved my amp when my antenna took fire because a mounting error.
On air reports are good.
This is a small sized amp with big amp performance.
Also Miwa at THP took very good care of me during the purcase process.
I don't think I would pay twice the money for a 1KW ameritron. This is the amp if you don't need 1kw and can settle for 750watt pep.
Would I buy another THP product?

YOU BET I WOULD!!!!!!

Tom LA1PHA


KJ5XF Rating: 2006-10-26
Satisfied Customer! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this HL.1.2Kfx for 3 weeks now and have been using it daily. This amp has performed flawlessly and I will definitely consider buying another "Tokyo Hy-Power" amp in the future. But, for the time being, running 400W CW (while driving it with my K2/100 at 50w) suits me just fine.

I would have preferred purchasing the amp with a credit card, but the money-wire transfer process was seamless and only took 1 day. I was VERY surprised to see the amp at my doorstep 4 DAYS after it left Tokyo. That included the time it was in customs in San Francisico.

Conclusion:
Very satisfied and will also re-iterate what everyone else has said about Mr. Nobuki. He is a gentleman and VERY easy to do business with.
W3ACO Rating: 2006-08-09
Works Great!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently received my HL 1.2Kfx. Nobuki modified it so I can drive it with my QRP K2. Nobuki also included a custom bult T/R interface for the K2 at no charge. I get 500-600 watts out with low distortion. It is quality built. I could not ask for anything more. Air Shipment from Japan took only 4 days WOW !!
NL7Y Rating: 2006-02-25
Tokyo Hy-Power does it again! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My new pre-production Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.2Kfx is similar to the highly rated HL-1KFX reviewed here, except it now includes four units of more rugged ST Microelectronics SD2933 MOS-FETs as finals, that replace the MRF150's used in earlier models. Output power is now 750W PEP/SSB, and 630W CW typ. at 1,600VA max. consumption. Mr. Nobuki JA1DJW is a true gentleman to deal with. It's beautifully made and well supported by the manufacturer. Toyko Hy-Power has produced one of the few products I've owned that performs better than advertised.