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Reviews For: Ameritron ALS-600

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

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Review Summary For : Ameritron ALS-600
Reviews: 197MSRP: 1299.99
Description:
600W Output Solid State Amplifier w /Power Supply on 100/110/120V for US
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=ALS-600
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
451974.2
N7HHC Rating: 2012-07-21
Update Time Owned: N.A.
After more discussion with Ameritron, it has been determined I most likely have a defective switching power supply. After a few more attempts to get it working, it now will not stay on for more than a few seconds.
The good news is that Ameritron is sending me a new amp and power supply. I truly loved the amp before it quit working, and I am hoping the new one will keep working.
ND4P Rating: 2012-07-05
Solid Performer Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased this amp new and use it on a daily basis with a Flex-3000. I've used it on 10 thru 75 meters with no issues. The “no tune” functionality makes changing bands as easy as turning the band switch. So far it has delivered solid performance in rag chew, DX chasing and contest usage.

The Good:
1. 10/12 meter mod is easy to install and works as expected.
2. Converts to 240v operation by following instructions in owners manual.
3. Amp sits on my bench and the fan is fairly quiet.
4. Small size doesn’t take up too much bench space. Lightweight and easy to move around.
5. ~60 watts in gives advertised output.
6. Power and SWR meter reads reasonably close to my external meter.
7. The built in safety features work if you forget to select the correct band or the reflected power is too high.
8. No bad solider joints or loose connections found during pre-install inspection.

The (not so) Bad:
1. Found a couple of extra washers floating around inside when I took the cover off to install the 10/12 meter conversion board. Didn’t find any loose screws to go with them and nothing was loose so I’m guessing they were dropped during assembly and not recovered.
2. The standard power supply puts out a fair amount of heat and is heavy.
3. Would be nice if the line voltage selection was done with jumpers similar to the switching power supply.

Overall this amp meets my expectations and works as advertised. The only thing I might do differently is look closer at the switching power supply version. Other than that I’d buy another one and recommend to others.
K6NJ Rating: 2012-06-06
A great amp! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've owned my ALS-600 for about a month. So far, so good! I really like the solid state ease of use. Very easy to set up and use. It was plug and play! I am running a Yaesu FT-450 as the exciter and I didn't realize I needed the Ameritron ARB-704 interface to make the amp work. With the FT-450 it needed the relay to turn on the amp. Not a big deal. With about 50 watts in I'm getting nearly 600 watts out. Very easy to use and I get great signal reports and I'm told the audio sounds very clean. I am not using the ALC since the FT-450 only puts out 100 watts maximum. I was told by a technician at Ameritron that I didn't really need to mess with setting up the ALC. A good amp and I recommend it!
K8ZXY Rating: 2012-02-05
Great little amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Must admit to being puzzled by a few of the previous comments. Followed manual instructions and setup was a breeze. With 65w drive it gives me the 600 rated watts out. I have been doing a lot of county chasing over five bands lately and this little baby just follows right along with the twist of a knob. Wish I had made this decision years ago.
AD4GB Rating: 2012-01-28
Great Amp! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I love this amplifier! I have owned it for 4yrs. I bought it used from a friend that bought it new and only had it for a few months when I bought it. It puts out a full 600 watts on voice peaks ssb and 450 watts on cw. It is so easy to operate, no tune no fuss! I have owned several tube amps and hated to have to re-tune every time I change bands. With the ALS-600 all you have to do is change the band selecter switch, and if you forget the built in protection circit will break the key circit so the amp won't be damaged. The only problem I have had with it is the fan on the power supply went out and I had to replace it, and the keying relay will get dusty and stick over time and I have to blow it out but other than that it is great!
G8ZGK Rating: 2012-01-24
Great now, terrible manufacturing Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I wanted one of these in UK so it would provide the UK max 400 watts with ease.
Bought mine with 10m board + switching PSU in USA about 2 years ago for $400 inc. shipping to Connecticut.
Apparently, it had blown all of the power transistors in the amp within a few hours from new.
Ameritron had repaired it FOC in 2007, and it never worked OK after that so it was sold for 'spares' and described as 'not working'.
I had the hardware at a bargain price and now just had to repair it.
I had read the reviews of MFJ/Ameritron products so had the lids off as soon as I got it back in UK.
The only problem was the blue -14 volt wire in the PSU had never been stripped or soldered to the switcher PCB.
This meant that there was no -14 volts to the PSU fan so it had never run, and no -14v to the amp.
This confirms that there is no 'final test' of these products when assembled.
No -12v in the amp means that the ALC comparators and circuit can not operate.
This was probably responsible for the PA transistors dying.
Resoldered the blue wire and immediately got full output on all freqs, 1.8 to 30 MHz.
Have since fitted a 12v 1.1 amp DC fan + temp controller with the sensor on the PA heatsink.
Absolutely quiet now and blows a gale when key down 600 watts for 10 mins.
Fitted the excellent AD5X relay mod. Achieved QSK and almost silent Tx/Rx changeover.
Changed the meter bulbs that burn out occasionally to white LEDs that do not.
Also, changed the hi-power input resistor arrangement to a 2db 50 ohm pi-attenuator and...
re-wound the input RF transformer with 3 turns primary rather than the oiginal 1 turn.
This now provides 600 watts output for 6-10 watts in, (depends on the band) and is ideal for my barefoot K2.
It has operated faultlessly since the blue wire fix and has also has protected itself against the aerial falling out once while transmitting,
the band switch being set wrong on many occasions and being over-driven on several other occasions.
This is now a solid amp to be proud of. Not so when it was new.
N6GRY Rating: 2012-01-05
Good amp, although Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased the ALS-600S new and attempted to set ALC with negative results. Contacted Ameritron and discovered the ALC Set on front panel was not working, Ameritron said I really didn't need it anyway, but if I wanted to send it back, they would repair it, or I could fix it myself. After some debate over fixing myself or leave it and run without ALC set, I returned it to Ameritron for repair. My thought is, if you really don't need it, why would they put it there? and when I buy a new item I expect it to function as it was designed. Let me add, that while the ALC would not set, I could and did use the AMP for about 30 minutes, during that time it did work perfectly with a 600 watt tx and without the ALC. I will do a complete update once I receive the amp back from Ameritron.
W8RMV Rating: 2011-12-06
Good Value Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Purchase a brand new ALS-600 in May 2011. I had some “problems” with it. It seemed to load down on occasion. The PA unit lights would dim but the linear power supply (PS) lights were fine. Max output was 200watts some times. Any drive over 50watts would cause it to put out less. Weird. So for grins I tried it on a different 120V outlet thru a long extension cable. Problems were gone but the output was down from what was advertised. As soon as I would plug it back into the original outlet, the intermittent issue return. I ended up putting in a 240VAC 20A outlet & the amp seems happy. No more problems (I hope). One of the reasons I went to 240V is because the power cord to the PS is a nice HD 14 gauge construction, but only 16ga wires are found inside the PS & PA. These wires have to carry 13A at 120VAC to 25 amps at 55VDC. I know the wires are short, but still, I felt the wires should be at least 14ga. The 120/240 supply voltage comes into the PS then is routed to the amp ( for the on/off sw) via a 4-5' long multi-wire cable which then goes back to the PS. The PS then supplies up to 25A DC to the PA thru that same 16ga multiwire cable. Anyway, I recommend running the ALS-600 from 220-240VAC if possible. If not, make sure you have a dedicated 120V 20A service to the PS. I get good clean signal reports at max output on SSB. The output meter on the ALS-600 correlates very well with my Palstar AT2KD meter. The output from my ALS-600 ranges from 450W to 550W depending on the band on a CW key down into an MFJ-264 DL. The construction is on the cheap side, but it works & is a good value.
73-Bob V
K4YYY Rating: 2011-11-10
Very Poor Quality Control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First of all this is not a NO TUNE AMP. Unless your antennas are all set up with very low SWR's This amp will shut down forcing you to run lower power or purchase a tuner.After less that 30 days and only 2 contacts my AMP dropped out as soon as it was powered up. The power switch felt spongy upon further investigation I found the switch had been melted by very poor and sloppy soldering.While the cover was off I found a lot more cold solder joints. THE RIG IS GOING BACK FOR A REFUND. GLAD I PUT IT ON AMER EXPRESS!
WB7BV Rating: 2011-08-29
Nice little amp. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Sold my old als 600 s to buy the ALS 1300. The 1300 did not last 30 hours and three contacts. Purchased another ALS 600 S and returned the ALS 1300.
(Reviewed the ALS 1300 previously)
The Good:
1 Higher bias gives more output the previous unit.
2 Reliable and not over sensitive to SWR, Power output etc.
3 Cool and quiet.
4 Small and light.
5 Inside looks clean and professional.
6 10 /12 meter installs OK and works correctly.
7 Power and SWR metering indicates about the same as a new Array Solutions Power Master meter.
8 Ameritron engineering was responsive to my questions on the design and operation.

The Bad: (No major issues here)
1 Lower output than expected on 80 meters. About 525 watts. 700+ watts on other bands. This due to the output transformer core material. Per Ameritron engineering.
2 Active components (power transistors) are mounted on top of the heat-sink. Heat-sink on the bottom?
3 Cooling fan is too small. OK for SSB but marginal for CW and much too small for RTTY FM etc.
4 Manual schematic is poorly done and has some omissions.
5 Manual operation section is disjointed and not logical. But mostly it is all there if you do some "reading between the lines".
6 Rear panel is poorly designed. Connectors too close and other connectors not spaced from the edges, etc.

The Ugly: (Not much here)
1 The meter is the cross needle type. Hard to read for me and I have 20/15 vision.
2 Remote control USB connectors are on the front. (In the way)

Overall it meets advertised operation specifications and has not had any issues. Just needs more cooling.

Suggestion:
Put the heat-sink no the top of the transistors and a more powerful cooling fan.
So it gets a weak 5, works fine but there are things I would change. (Personal opinion)
73 de wb7bv