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Reviews For: Ameritron AL-811H

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

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Review Summary For : Ameritron AL-811H
Reviews: 187MSRP: 899
Description:
160-10 meter RF Amplifier. 4 811A tubes
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=AL-811H
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
34.31874.5
ON4MHO Rating: 2006-07-25
Good amplifier Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this linear about a month ago. I'm happy with it, as it's working well and doesn't cost too much. I'm getting good reports about the audio quality that doesn't suffer of distortion. Easy to tune and the tunings are repeatable. I had a tube failure after a week and Ameritron has been very efficient by replacing the faulty one in less than a week. Not bad, as I'm living in Belgium! Excellent customer service. I like the low cost of the tubes, which means you don't have to spend a pile of $ to replace them when needed. As summary, I would recommend this to a hams investing in an amp for the first time. Hope I'll keep it a long time. A bad point: the tuning procedure described in the manual id for me rather confusing. But, not so important considering the + points.
W5GW Rating: 2006-05-31
Good value for the $ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use it on RTTY at 250 Watts out and SSB at rated output. Tunes up nice. No arcs or funny noises like you sometimes get from amps. Cooling fan a bit noisy and fact that h/v meter hits the stop when you power amp on is scary at first, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything. I especially like the tuned input. On 40 and 20 my exciter sees less than a 1.2:1 SWR across entire band. Haven't tried it on any other bands yet. I can get full output with maybe 60 Watts of drive, so need to be cautious about overdriving it. On the air reports have been very positive, both on SSB and RTTY. My other amp is a SB-220 and I used to have a homebrew 811A amp similar to this Ameritron. A great value for the money.
HR2AHC Rating: 2006-04-19
Very Good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got it from a friend with the tubes replaced with 4 572b tubes and when received it I rewired to 220V and easly get 900W PEP SSB in all bands for the price I´m really happy, easy to tune no problems.
I drive it with a ts-2000 (65W) easy interface for relay no alc conection.
VE6XL Rating: 2006-04-16
Excellent first amplifer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This amplifer realistically produces 700w maximum. I usually operate the amplifer at 300w and mostly on 20m and 80m. 700w is more than enough power!

The amplifer tunes up well and previous settings are easily repeated. The quality of output is excellent. This has much to do with how the exiter is adjusted. If the amplifier is adjusted per the manual and not over driven no distortion can be heard.

Far too many operators try to squeeze every last watt out of their amplifiers and sound horrible.

All of the controls are well laid out and feel solid and smooth. The cooling fan is quite, and the relay is the only sound you hear.

I would recommend using a high quality low pass filter with any amplifer. This will reduce or eliminate RFI issues before they arise. In addition be sure to make use of the 811H high voltage input (220-240V AC).

On the negative side the built in ALC connection to the rig is difficult to use. The SWR on some bands requires adjustment. The internal components could be a bit more heavy duty. The manual is not very well written.

For the price I would recommend this amplifer (811H) over the lower priced 3 tube 811.

VE6XL
www.ve6xl.ca
N5UV Rating: 2006-03-05
Great amp, despite what some say!!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If you put aside any lingering prejudices about MFJ and it's sister companies (like Ameritron), this amp is definitely a steal for the price you pay when compared to Alpha and other amp mfrs. Having never run QRO, I set this puppy up with NO help on-site (not even my Elmer, other than the advice he gave a few months back).

Anyway, it tuned up great on all bands (except 10/12m, haven't gotten the mod instructions yet). Because I don't want to overdrive the amp. (and the HF rig, an IC-707), I just kept my key-up power to under 500 watts. My voice peaks on SSB only showed about 250-300 watts on the tuner, but I'm sure I was getting more power out...suffice to say, I maxed the power as much as I can with less than 50 watts input.

Regardless, 500 watts is PLENTY! As a testimony to this rig, I just used it for the Intl. DX SSB Contest this last weekend...I only operated at night for 3 hours on 40m. and 80m., and it literally busted thru the pileups. Those few stations I couldn't work I just went back to later when band conditions. I now have 9 new DX contacts on 40m. and 13 on 80m! And these are stations that I normally could never reach barefoot with a ground mounted multi-band vertical (a Hustler 6BTV). But now I can easily work anything I can hear, no doubt about it!

For those looking to get their first amp, GET THIS ONE, or the 600 watt version. I got this from AES for a mere $749.99. Make sure you also get the ARB-704 Interface Buffer to protect your HF radio in case the amp decides to spike your rig with high voltage...doesn't mean it will happen, but you never know and for another $49.99, it's worth the extra dough to protect your HF rig.

Also, when tuning this amp, do NOT try to maximize the power output by reducing the LOAD...the instructions give you a basic starting point for the load and plate, but do NOT adjust the load too much...the manual clearly states that "underloading" the amp will fry your tubes. I know that the instructions tell you to adjust the PLATE and LOAD for max power at a certain point, but just be careful about the load control. You'll find that cranking it to 0 will always maximize your power...but at the cost of burning up your amp!
KC0QEH Rating: 2006-02-28
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The AL-811H is a excellent all around amplifier I have owned and operated for several years. I just wanted to drop a line and give some hints and tips for its operation and use.

Not long ago I experienced an oscillation that took out two of the four tubes. Most likely due to a failure in the original oscillation suppression system which seems to work very well until that point. My amp was built in 1994. I installed two new tubes and they lit up.

Concerned about oscillations I installed Richard Measures Retro Fit Suppressor kit.
Turned the amp on and kept blowing fuses.

I sent it in to Ameritron they discovered The Chromium wire supplied with the kit caused a short to ground and burned out the high voltage choke, The tall stick that comes up between the tubes. And of course when that blew it took all the capacitors and resistors installed in the kit along with it.

Ron and the boys at Ameritron in Starkville MS were able to get it working after returning it to original factory specifications. Excellent tech support and nice people. The amp arrived on the 21st and was repaired on the 28th .

I do not recommend Richard Measure’s the retrofit suppressor kit for the AL-811H.

Care and feeding of the ALl-811H Those of you who wired your amps for 230v AC.
Changing the fuses in the amp from 10 amp to 8 amp will help in putting the idle voltage at 1800 volts.

Do not run more than 55watts input if wired for 220-240v.

Do not drive the amp into more than 2:1 SWR.

Do not exceed more than 600ma plate or 150 ma grid.

Do not key down when tuning for more than 7 secconds.

If possible use a tuning method that does not involve key down.

Do not run full output continuously this design drives the tubes to their limit.

If you need more than 500watts under most conditions your not doing it right.

Thanks for the soap box. I hope my experiences can be helpful to someone.

73 KC0QEH



K3ASK Rating: 2006-02-18
Great amp for the money Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
If you�re looking for a fairly inexpensive amp to fit your budget, this is the amp to get. It does the trick to get through the pile ups. It makes a huge difference coming from 100 watts to 800. Would recommend to anyone wanting an inexpensive decent quality amp.
KE4KVW Rating: 2006-01-27
GREAT Mid range amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just picked up my Ameritron 811H in Dec.2005 & could NOT be happier.I only drive it with about 50 watts of imput & it makes 800 watts PLUS "EASY" on all bands.Dollar for dollar I think it's the BEST amp going!Replacement cost for the 811A tubes is pocket change compaired to ANY other tubes that I'm aware of.The amp can be run from common 110 household current up through 240 volts which ever is best for your shack.The AMERITRON 811H deserves some SERIOUS thought if your ham radio budget is lacking or you just want an amp that will give you MORE than a sporting chance in the pileups or just a VERY hearable signal on 75 meters this is the PERFECT amp for you!If you don't think so send me an email & lets set up a schedule & hear it for yourself.Look at the REAL figures & you will see that 800 watts vs 1500 watts is a VERY SMALL difference on an S-meter reading but a VERY BIG differece in the pocket book!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$73's & God bless,ClaytonKE4KVW
WA6GON Rating: 2005-12-04
Frustrated Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased mine used from reliable source. One tube arrives gassy with open filament. I didn't know that when I plugged it in and wham. Blown fuses. Bought four new tubes from Ameritron put those in and everything worked for about 1 hour. Four blown fuses later I had two "new" tubes with little springs rattling around inside. Grid resistors look OK, unit powers up with tubes removed. I'm feeling like I don't have enough time to own this amp. $575 plus $64 for new tubes, not to mention the wiring costs in the shack for it. First email to Ameritron was very helpful. Wait and see about the new tubes.
KF9MA Rating: 2005-11-30
Great Value Great Company Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When I first connected the amp I thought it was going to blow up in my face considering the reviews in the past. It didn't. It tuned up like a champ. The only problem I had was the Standby mode. It wouldn't go into Standby, the amp was on in both Operate and Standby. I emailed Ameritron and after a few trouble shooting emails I called Mike. He determind the amp needed replacement and in 3 business days a new one arrived. I returned my original with Ameritrons return postage.
The new amp works great. Tunes up using a Kenwood TS450 exciter, MFJ 989b tuner(one of the good old ones)into a G5RV from 10-80 meters with no arcs, smoke or over heating.
Even the best products are prone to have issues. A good company will fix those issues promptly.
The 811H is a great amp for the dollar and Ameritron is a stand up company.