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Reviews For: Gamma Research HPS-1A

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Gamma Research HPS-1A
Reviews: 36MSRP: 129.95
Description:
The HPS-1a is capable of supplying full power to any 12 volt, 100 watt class transceiver in normal Voice SSB or Morse CW modes. RTTY, AM, and FM modes should be limited to about 35 watts.

Input Voltage = 100-240 VAC, 50-60 Hz, 2 Amps maximum.

Output Voltage = 13.5 VDC
Output Current = 5 Amps Continuous., 22 Amps @ .25 duty/sec.

Dimensions: 3.37" x 1.55" x 5.25"

Weight: 1.25 lbs.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.gammaresearch.net/hps-1a.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00364.8
VK5JJJ Rating: 2007-09-20
Excellent Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great unit for DX travelling. I can suggest three improvements.

Firstly replace the power lead with a small female IEC (Computer) connector on a short lead (it won't fit in the box). That way we can use commonly available (cheap) PC leads with the mains plug for the relevant country.

Second suggestion replace the molex plug with an anderson powerpole.

Third suggestion - is there room for an externally accessible fuse for the 12V line?

73 de Chris VK5JJJ
NV7E Rating: 2007-09-13
Best Small Power Supply Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is by far the lightest and smallest power supply I have seen that can support a 100 Watt transceiver. It is very reliable. It is not noisy. I use it with the Yaesu FT-857D. There is no problem with overheating. It automatically switches from 117 vac to 220 vac. I have made an adaptor from the 13.5 vdc output connector to the Anderson Powerpole system. I also made an adaptor from the Anderson system to charge my Kenwood D7A(G) handheld, so I don't have to carry the charger.

ZS6SIG
KQ0C Rating: 2007-09-12
Yep, It Works Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I can't find any way in which this little power supply works any less well than my several big ones. I bought it to power an IC 703, and ended up letting it power a 756 Pro III.
K7AGE Rating: 2007-07-18
One year later Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I thought I would add to the postings. The power supply has worked fine since last year.

The fan became very noisy. I removed the fan and pealed off the label on the fan and gave it a dab of WD40. This fixed the problem, but I wish the fan was quieter. If the power supply is sitting on the table in front of you, you will hear it.

I would buy another and I recommend it to anyone needing a small light weight power supply for portable use. Perfect for FT-817 too.

Randy
K7AGE

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K7AGE on 2006-06-20

I bought the HPS-1a to use during my holiday to the UK. I was in the UK for a month, first week in hotels, and the last three weeks on a canal narrowboat.

I wanted to take my FT-857 to use on the boat, but the big question was how to deal with the 12 VDC from the battery to the radio. This would involve some heavy wire and battery clamps. Routing the DC cable would be a challenge since the batteries are under the back deck with covers and a door to pass the cable through.

Then I saw the CQ article about the power supply. The boat has 220 VAC from an inverter. I figured that the power supply would weigh less than the DC cables and take less space for packing. And, I could operate from the hotels! Thanks for the 100-240 VAC operation. The power supply is about one quarter the size of the Alinco DM-330 power supply that I also have.

The power supply arrived a couple weeks before my holiday. I made up short power cable to the FT-857 that was just long enough to allow the power supply to sit on top of the radio. I also added a switch to the power cable that forces the FT-857 into low power. This saves going to the radio menus to reduce power. I made a second power cable with a Power Pole connector to run my HT. I ran the system for several days from home, and everything worked great. No noise in the radio and the fan is very quiet.

Operation from the hotel was great. I used the power supply to run the FT-857 on 2M FM to connect to a local Echolink node. On the boat I used the FT-857 for 2 meters and PSK31 on 20 meters without any problems. For PSK, I dropped the transmit power to about 40 watts. For 20 meters I clamped a Super Antenna MP1 vertical antenna to the roof of the boat. Narrowboats are all steel, a good ground plane! I did not hear any noise from the power supply nor the boat�s inverter.

If you open the power supply up you will see a small OEM switching power supply connected to a pc board with 5 25 farad 2.7 V caps in series. The soldering of the cap board was a bit sloppy and the flux was not removed. Everything else is well made.

Take this power supply to your local club meeting and tell everyone that it has 5 FARADS of capacitance and watch their faces!

Oh, the fan runs for 4 minutes after you turn off the HPS-1a! Otherwise the front LED would probably never go out!

Randy, K7AGE
N1GXC Rating: 2007-07-18
Simply Amazing !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
At 1-1/4 pounds this is just a portable or DXpedition dream. It meets all their claims for power and quality. All I added was a powerpole connector. I'm using it with both the IC-706MKIIG/LDG Z-100 and IC-7000/LDG AT-7000. Full output on SSB & CW. No problemo.

Dan WZ1P
RW3AH Rating: 2007-06-29
very nice PS Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am happy owner of very small but very powerful PS "HPS-1A". I would like to say THANK YOU to Fred K3GQ for very nice product. Unfortunately USPS was delivered parcel for 1 month to Europe, but finally and fortunately I got it.
N9QGU Rating: 2007-06-18
I Year Later Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I took this to St. Martin for an ocean side mini-dx trip. It was used to power an Icom 706MKIIG. I had it conected to the local 220 power grid. The 706 was putting out 100 watts SSB. I made 1011 contacts over 14 days. The power supply performed flawlessly.

What more is there to say?

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N9QGU on 2006-04-09

I have always been hesitant to buy version 1.0 of any product. However, when I saw CQ Magazine's review of this product, I was intrigued. I have a mini DX-pedition coming up shortly, so I decided to bite the bullet and order one.

I've had it for less than a week. So I am still shaking it down. However, up to this point everything looks good. I think I made the right decision.

I ordered it directly from Gamma Research. I submitted the order to their website on Saturday night. It arrived at my house on Thursday.

I plan to use it mainlyh while traveling. I go to the Caribbean and like to play mini-DXpedition. The HPS-1A is smaller than a Steve King paper back book (Even those from before they started to pay him by the word). When it arrived, I was surprised at the tiny shipping carton. When traveling every ounce counts. This power supply only weighs 1.25 lbs and will fit nicely in the corner of a suitcase or carry on. The last thing I want to do is to have to lug a lot of extra baggage for my radio equipment. Too much luggage raises eyebrows with both the XYL and the customs officials. This power supply combined with my antenna tuner (LDG Z100) and rig (Icom 706 MKIIG) will take up minimal packing space. Think QRO power in a QRP sized package. (No, this is not an invitation for comments from the complete station in an Altoids tin crowd). I will probably take all three components (rig, tuner, and power supply) in my carry on bag for my next ocean side/pool side DX adventure.

When traveling, I normally run 100 watt SSB. Before hooking the HPS-1A up to the radio I measured it at 13.67 volts. When hooked to the rig, on transmit (SSB) the voltage dropped to about 12.7 during peaks. This appears to well within the 706's range of tolerance.

I will not use the HPS-1A as my main shack power supply. Due to the tradeoffs that allowed it to be so small, it is limited to 35 watts FM. The Icom puts out 50 watts on 2 meters.

However, if it survives the shakedown, it will be my power supply of choice when traveling. I will only be running SSB.

Don't be afraid, there is no magic here. It isn't a "miracle" power supply. It is just an innovative application of well established technology. For an in depth review of the technology, please see the excellent discussion on ad5x's website (www.ad5x.com).
K6USN Rating: 2007-05-12
Still going strong! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a follow up review a year down the road.

I've taken this little p/s all around the South Pacific, and used it on 110 and 220V grids to power my IC 7000 as well as my FT 817. It runs cool and quietly. I do use surge protectors when
in 'developing countries' as line voltage is often suspect. Performance: flawless!

If I could, I'd give this a "6" !

What more is there to say?

Allen
K6USN (ZK1USN)

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6USN on 2006-06-20

I was skeptical. How can anything this tiny run my 100 w IC 7000? I read all the reviews (CQ Magazine, ham websites, and e-Ham) and took a chance and ordered one.

This little p/s is outstanding! I bench tested it for stability and output, and let it run for several days.

Hooked it up to my IC 7000 and proceeded to give it a thorough workout. Ran cool and powered the transceiver to 100W on SSB (I throttled back to 80W on CW just because I thought it might be better to do so, although others report it handles full power on CW as well.) No switching hash found on any band, and cool as the proverbial cucumber.

I have tried literally EVERY power supply out there that I thought would fit in a suitcase or carry on. The best before the HPS-1A was the Astron SS 18 - a fine power supply but twice the size and three times the weight of the HPS 1 A.

I visit the South Pacific a lot: VK, ZL, ZK1 and this little gem was made for grab and go DXing with dual voltages and total portability.

For the next version, would suggest Gamma Research use an Anderson Power Pole chassis mount and a detachable AC power supply cord. Minor issues in a clearly hands down winner!

K6USN (ZK1USN)
K3GK Rating: 2007-02-01
Just received Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a little jewel! I hope Gamma stays with the molex DC connector. Anderson power poles can easily be added, and Gamma Research provides a connector with the unit, which is rugged and similar to the connectors on my rigs. I followed the soldering instructions for the connector provided on the back of the instructions sheet.
WD0JIM Rating: 2006-10-31
Works Well for SSB @100 Watts Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Amazing how small this power supply is. No problem running my Icom 706 MKIIG at full power on SSB. Wish the power supply had Anderson Power Pole connectors on it.