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Reviews For: ALPHA 78

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

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Review Summary For : ALPHA 78
Reviews: 39MSRP: 3495
Description:
3X 8874
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.rkrdesignsllc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00394.9
N5WJ Rating: 2011-04-22
Great Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
What a great amp.. had mine for a couple of years and have it mated with my Flex 5000A rig.. and a 3 ele SteppIr antenna.. can work anything I can hear for sure.. Very Quiet amp and doesn't take much to get it to legal limit.. Usually run mine on 20 mtrs about 40 watts in for a good Clean KW out.. Sent it to Dick Byrd a couple of times for Various upgrades .. he is a super person and Tech and always has done a great job on my amp...

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N5WJ on 2007-07-26

Was looking for an older Amp and decided on the Alpha 78 because a friend had one and loved it.. What a great amp.. just got mine back from the upgrades performed by Dick Byrd.. N4UG.. What a great guy and he did a super job on my amp.. Have been having a ball with it.. 1KW out with it just loafing along... Highly recommend the amp to everyone...

Frank N5WJ
W2FBS Rating: 2010-12-18
Great Amp - Made Better by W4UQ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my 78 back in 1995. I am the second owner. I have had zero problems with it, using it daily. I recently sent it out to W4UQ for updating and what a great job he did! Added the WARC bands, put in step start and did other mods, all for far less than Alpha would have charged me. Dick even got me connected to another owner who had several tubes for sale at a great price. Now I have a full set of extra tubes too.

Legal limit output, bandpass tuning, quiet operation, what more can you ask for?

Great amp made better by the Alpha Master W4UQ.
SV1OZ Rating: 2010-08-17
SUPER Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This amplifier is my best linear I ever had.
I bought it in a hamfest 1 year ago.
When I tried this beauty on all bands incl. warc I was surprised how quite was with plenty of power coming out from 3 8874 tubes.
I really enjoy to work RTTY full output 1-1,5kw for hours without any sign of problem.
The power supply has a heavy duty transformer which never complained with noise on high output.
This little beauty will stay in my shack for ever.
Photos in my shack can be found at qrz.com
If I ever buy another will be 9500...
N3ZC Rating: 2010-08-08
The Best! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well..I've only had my Alpha 78 for a week & a half...It has all of the Dick Byrd (N4UQ) mods (2-3CX800A7s, Low Drive mod, New HV Caps & Bleeders & Diodes & Realigned..& in pristine shape!). My 811H is sitting on the floor..soon to be sold.

It work's (& look's) GREAT! I really like the Band-Pass Tuning..turn the knob to 14(mhz) & CW/SSB selector to SSB or CW and you're ready..and with 60W I get almost 1200W out on SSB (and it's just loafing)! or, you can tune manually.. It's also VERY quiet fan-wise (can't evem hear it!)..It's also built like a tank!

They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands..

A twist on a Mel Brooks line:
"It's good to have an Alpha!"

Go get your's!

73'..Tom N3ZC


N5OU Rating: 2008-06-25
The last amp you will own Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned an Alpha 78 for the last 4 years along with quite a few other amps. It was converted to a pair of 3cx800a7's and all the updates and mods were done by the Alpha Master himself N4UQ Dick Byrd. Folks, if you have an alpha do yourself a favor and send it to Dick for any repairs or updates. One of the finest gentleman and true electronics craftsman that I have ever met. As another review stated, I love this amp and will take it to the grave with me. Bottom line, if you ever get a chance to buy one, do it! The no-tune bandpass is very convenient when chasing DX or if I just don't feel like tuning.
K0MD Rating: 2008-04-26
Solid and Easy to use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the Alpha 78 for 10+ years. It has been a workhorse for me. I am the second owner. It runs well, and the tubes are still good! It has interfaced easily with all of my rigs over the past 10 years.

I like the bandpass feature which essentially makes it a no tune amp. Just turn the bandswitch and you are ready to transmit.

I sent it back to Alpha in 2007 after a lightning strike. It runs like a new amp now.

I am very pleased with the service I received at Alpha. Janet and Molly were most helpful and provided explanations for the delays I experienced.

The 78 is a solid amplifier for multipurpose use in ham radio.
W9CLA Rating: 2008-04-10
Quiet and totally reliable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the good fortune to have (2) of these amps both of which were converted by “The Man” N4UQ to use 3CPX800A7’s. I also had him add 30M, 12M and 10M. What a conversion. The new bandwitch markings look like the factory did it. The fan is extremely quiet, vacuum relay switching, full QSK and plenty of power from the Hypesil 2.4KVA transformer. The best part is the availability of reasonably priced 3CPX800A7’s medical pulls in the $175 each range.

I debated about a no-tune solid state amp but with the bandpass positions on the Alpha 78 it is almost as good all you have to do is turn the bandswitch and key it up. With the addition of the WARC conversion it does everything a new amp costing >$4K will do.

I did do some power supply upgrades by replacing the 220ufd filter caps with new CDE 560ufd 450V caps of the identical physical size providing much better ripple characteristics. It has 93ufd of total filtering versus the stock 36 ufd. Check those 2 watt bleeder resistors I had a couple that were open and some that were reading way high. I replaced all of them with high quality 2 Watt 5% metal oxide resistors. I also did the metal doubling mod so that you can load the amp to full power and yet stay on scale.

The Alpha 78CPX will go to the grave with me. It is all the amp you will ever need. If you can find one buy it!
EI7BA Rating: 2008-01-01
Easy and reliable. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these....I got the first one over twenty years ago second hand, and the second one about five years ago, also second hand. They both have the original valves, and both will still put out up to 2kW. I only had one problem, and that was the well known "sticky paint" syndrome on the original one. Alan EI8EM organised a nice new front panel for me, and I did a respray on the rest of the cabinet. The broadband tune facilty makes these amps great for chasing mults in a contest, as there's no time wasted in tuning up when changing bands. Every couple of years I do the recommended maintenance, which is just a clean out with a soft brush, and a drop of oil on the fan bearing. They are both still whisper quiet.
Alphas really are the Rolls Royce of amps.
K9ZW Rating: 2006-12-29
Rock Solid Power Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought my first Alpha 78 from a senior amateur who was downsizing her shack. After sending it to Alpha Products for check-out, clean up, new casework and some modifications I wanted, the Amp has provided exceptional service.

The Bypass settings were adjusted to my usual operating frequencies and work a charm.

Warm-up time is much less than the 87A and it is far less fussy about things than the 87A is.

The amp does what you ask of it, without complaint. Straight forward operation.

Output has been on the money, though I usually run at about 2/3rds output or less.

In the new casework it looks like the quality amp it is.

I've found a second Alpha-78 and had Alpha Products give it same check up & upgrades.

These are definately keeper Amps.

73

Steve
K9ZW
K2DC Rating: 2006-03-04
ALPHA POWER !! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought my 78 used about 6 months ago from KK4UA (also SM6SSP) when he was returning to Sweeden, and it is in gorgeous condition. The serial number is 1987 vintage. 1600W out on all bands with 100W in. Output may be slightly less in some parts of the bands in the no-tune positions, but still very nearly full legal output.
I recently managed (my mistake) to smoke the vacuum T/R relay, and sent it to Dick Byrd, N4UQ for repair. If you EVER have a problem with an older Alpha, Dick is THE MAN ! His labor rates are extremely reasonable, he stays in constant contact through the process, and he will fully test and document performance when he's done. He picked up a replacement relay for me from Max Gain Systems ($35 used but hi-pot tested), replaced a cracked plate choke insulator, installed the PA meter doubler, aligned the front panel meters and input and output tuning circuits, documented the tune and load settings for all bands in manual tune mode, and shipped it back all for $175 (plus relay and my shipping to him). Try and get that from Boulder !! Go to www.N4UQ.com.
I've owned an MLA-1200 and SB-200 in the past, and I still have an AL-1200 (that has been down multiple times with power supply problems and has a screaming fan) and an SB-200 for backups. But I am always impressed with the quality and performance of the 78. Even at its age, it's probably one of the best purchases I ever made.
If anyone knows where I can get a spare set of tubes (NOS or full power tested pulls) at a reasonable price, please let me know at k2dc@arrl.net.

73,
Don, K2DC