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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
24.51874.5
AE5JU Rating: 2010-02-19
My first amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
These reviews were very helpful in choosing the AL-811H for my first amp. I have not used tube gear (well, not since TV's in the'60's) before, so was cautious about tuning and possibly damaging the tubes. I puchased this AL-811H from Ham Radio Outlet.

I watched the unpacking and tuning videos on the Ameritron site, which were also helpful. Right away I found that one of the four tubes had a filament tension spring rattling around loose inside. Mike at Ameritron immediately sent a replacement. Amp was received on Friday, and I got the replacment tube from Ameriton the following Tuesday. While waiting for that to arrive, I also ordered a set of Svetlana 572B's from K5SVC. These arrived first, and I used these for the first month of operation until I got over the fear of damaging the 811A'.

I don't try to squeeze every last watt out of the amp, and limit drive to about 45 watts, resulting in about 500 watts out. I've run it just a bit at 65 watts drive and from the reports I'm getting out just as well at the lower power setting.

I'm also using the Ameritron ARB-704 relay/buffer to key the amp, and that is working well, too.

I had put the original 811A's back in and they worked as well.

So far, so good. I feel I've made a good purchase, a lot of performance for the money.
PA1PXL Rating: 2010-02-03
Value for money Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Got this amp bought used. i replaced the bulbs (one was broken) by blue leds which gives the amp a very nice look. I also replaced the 811A tubes by 572B's which makes this amp more solid.
Keep in mind to keep the grid current to max 200
mA.
This is a great amp for a very reasonable price.
KF5AHV Rating: 2010-01-26
Almost A Year Now Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Still working perfect after a year. Two of the original 811a's shorted so I replaced them with 572b's . The amp now runs much cooler and never misses a beat. You will like it.
KE1EV Rating: 2010-01-09
Low power output on 10/12 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought and AL-811 last week, brought it home and tested power output into a 50 ohm dummy load. I got good power out on the lower bands, but the higher bands, particularly 10 meters were low. After discussing the problem with tech-support, I exchanged the amp at HRO where I bought it for a new AL-811H. As long as I was driving to HRO I figured I’d spring for a little more power. I get similar behavior with the AL-811H. I think its due to the dual-band filters used in the amp. I think if I tuned it properly for 10 meters I’d get full power there at the expense of 12 meters. Here’s what I get as measured by my Daiwa power meter.

Band freq load plt drv Wout I-pl I-gr
160 01900 4.9 1.2 60 570 600 140
080 03800 4.5 5.1 60 600 600 170
040 07150 4.9 7.8 60 600 600 160
030 10125 0.0 6.8 60 550 600 100
020 14225 3.5 8.9 60 580 600 125
017 18110 2.5 8.5 45 500 600 120
015 21225 3.1 9.2 45 580 600 120
012 24930 3.1 8.6 40 420 600 125
010 29000 3.9 10.5 40 425 600 130

Tuning instructions were poor. I reworded them and came up with this.

8. Apply only enough drive to indicate a grid current of 100mA and an Ip of no more than 450mA. This level is normally achieved with about 5 or 10 watts of drive. Tune the PLATE control for maximum output power. It is normal for the plate current to dip at this point. If the grid current goes over 200mA, reduce the drive at once. There may be more than one plate position that provides a peak. The correct position will be closest to the position indicated in step-5. Unkey the exciter.

9. Observe the output on an external RF wattmeter. Carefully increase the drive while peaking the LOAD until full power is achieved, typically at about 60w of exciter drive. The peak load setting will change as power is increased. Do not exceed any of the following when tuning:
- 80 watts of exciter drive.
- 200ma of grid current.
- 700ma of plate current.
- 5 seconds of continuous carrier drive

Allow the tubes to cool for a minimum of 10 seconds for each 5 seconds of drive.

10. Full power should be reached with no more than 600ma of plate current nor 170ma of grid current. Reduce the drive until the desired output levels are obtained. Proper tuning should provide about 600W of RMS power (800w PEP).

Consult the Ameritron product support page for more tuning tips.
http://www.ameritron.com/productsupport.php
AI4HO Rating: 2009-12-29
Pretty Good Amp Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had my 811H for about 6 months now. Over all its a pretty good amp. I started out with the plain 811, a friend who is in his 80's decide that he didn't need his 811H any longer, he offered his 20 month old 811H at a great price, so my 811 was sold to another friend who was looking for a small amp. This amp works nicely along with my Palstar AT2K tuner and my Icom 756 ProIII.

Thi is my third Ameritron amp, having had the 811, and the 811H, I bought the ALS-600 to go with my Kenwood TS-570. I'm not rich enough to purchase the other brand name amp, I wish I could get an Alpha or one of the other high end amps, but being disabled,(more and more these days) and on a decent but fixed income I have to get by with Ameritron, which doesn't bother me a bit. Ya know I might just save my bucks and get the bigger solid state amp to go with my ProIII, not a bad idea, Ameritron, way to go guys.
WA3UOO Rating: 2009-12-29
Great initial quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is an initial quality review.

I received my AL-811H on December 20th. After 37 years as an amateur radio op, I finally felt it was time to go QRO.

The amp is well packed using the box-in-a-box packaging method along with dense foam in which the amp is suspended. It is suggested you keep the box and all packing materials in case you ever have to ship it for service. It's also wrapped in a plastic bag. AC line fuses and extra cabinet screws are bagged and taped to the power transformer inside the cabinet. The 811's are already installed, wrapped in foam which must be carefully removed.

A detailed visual inspection revealed no loose screws, broken wires or bad solder connections, of what I could see anyway. The amp is quality constructed and for the money, other reviews here on this site indicate that. The reviews were significant in helping me make my decision to buy this amp.

Connection to my Yaesu FT-900 was simple and straightforward. For those that have this rig, Switch S2001 must be moved to the forward position when using the amp. Check your manual. For those (like me) new to amps, you need to read the user manual BEFORE using it. Improper tuning can and will trash tubes quickly.

After tuning up the amp, I put it on the air with the R7 vertical. I worked 4A1DXXE on 40 meter phone moments later. I was running about 500 watts out at the time.

Later that night, I loaded up to about 700 watts and called a CQ and worked a VA3 receiving an S9+40 report. I guess this thing is working well! We chatted for nearly an hour and the 811H cabinet never got more than a little warm. It performed great.

There are videos on YouTube showing how to properly connect and tune this amp. Very useful. The manual that comes with the amp is well detailed and illustrated. I suggest it be read thoroughly before using the gear.

I'll write a follow up after I've had this on the air for 6 months. I think this was a very good choice for my first HF amp.
KD5RXN Rating: 2009-11-25
Great Amp Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used this amp quite a bit over the past couple of years, DX, Ragchew, CQWW, Nov SS, DXCC and have never had a single problem. I never never run it over 600W PEP and always receive complements on my audio.
N2RJ Rating: 2009-11-17
Weak spot is the Chinese tubes Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this amp since 2006 and it has been with me through several contests and lots of DX.

First of all it is very easy to tune and get going. Very tolerant to operator error, within reason of course (meaning if you key down 100w for an hour with the band switch in the wrong place don't expect your amp to be working afterwards, or your exciter for that matter).

The power rating is a bit high for these tubes. Yes you can get 800w but you are pushing the tubes hard at that point. I typically run mine around 500w to 600w pep. Nobody can tell the difference (and in the pileups I beat out a lot of guys running at least 1.5kw and maybe more hihi).

Now about the Chinese tubes. I had three separate incidents of tube defects. The first one was where the anode caps on a new set of 572Bs became loose. I noticed in CQWPX CW 2008 that the amp was only putting out 400w or so which was really odd. Opened up the amp and pulled the cap off the tube and it came right off, with the glue crumbling to dust. Three out of four tubes had the same issue. I put back in the original 811As. Worked for a while.

Then after my major antenna repair/refurbishment in 2008 I fired up my amp for CQWW. Blown fuse. Ended up operating low power for the contest and came 2nd place in 2nd call district.

Checked the tubes and found one of the filaments broken. Had to replace tube, grid resistor and fuse. I also found one of the coils loose so I re-soldered that too.

I ordered a new set of tubes from Ameritron. One of the tubes had something shaking inside before I even installed it in the amp, so I sent for a replacement. So far so good. But the high incidence of failure in these tubes tells me only one thing, that the Chinese tubes are no good.

My next amp will likely be solid state with the 811H kept as a backup because it is cheap and I can replace the cheap tubes when (not if!) they fail.

But the 811H is a good starter amp. Just keep a spare set of 811A tubes around along with some grid resistors and fuses which are effectively maintenance items with this amp. Don't bother with 572Bs as they won't give you any more power and as can be shown by my experience the longevity isn't any better.
RUSS324 Rating: 2009-10-23
Excellent low cost amp! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this amp for 2.5 years. I works great. Tunes up easily. I use the orginal 811A tubes. No problem. Follow the instructions and don't try to MAX the amp out and you are good to go. I also own the AL-1500 and a Heathkit SB-1000. This amp holds it own in it's power rating. A great value for the money. Russ K8QF.
N5VU Rating: 2009-10-23
What I expected! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my third Ameritron amplifier. Started out with the AL-811, upgraded to a AL-80B and now I have an AL-811H. My most favorite is the AL-80B, however, I did not have a back-up amp in the event of a failure. I received the amp packed perfectly. Turned it on and it works!

Personal thoughts: I must confess, I'm an ampaholic. I just love these things! I sold an old Heathkit HL-2200 and the next day I started Jonesing for another. You just have to love the glow.

Overview: The amplifier made all the advertised numbers easily. I first tried it on 120 VAC. You can use it just fine on 120 VAC, however the voltage sag is bad. THis is entirely normal in this set of circumstances. I placed it on 220 VAC and it simply came to life. All specs. were met (With some to spare).

Advice: Just like any other amplifier, drive it according to the manual and all will be well. Sure, you can drive it with more input power, and you will gain a few more watts. But unless you can gain 3-6 db more, you will only be shortening the tube life (quickly) and producing a loud crappy signal.

Ameritron use to have a bunch of bad reviews, but, as you can see,things are coming together for them and their products are improving. I believe that Ameritron actually reads these reviews and then corrects any problems that the customer has.

I always have had good and accurate help from Ameritron.

73 and happy amping. MArcel