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Reviews For: Commander VHF-1200

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - 6M/VHF/UHF+

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Review Summary For : Commander VHF-1200
Reviews: 7MSRP: 2995.
Description:
50 MHz monoband amplifier based on a single 3CX800A7 Eimac ceramic metal triode, capable of 1200W PEP SSB, 700W continuous carrier output.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.palstar.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0075
W2WRX Rating: 2022-07-23
Awesome tube amplifier and still trucking along..... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is an awesome 6 meter amplifier and is nicely built tube amplifier with the now rare 3CX800a7 tube and the more harder to find the 3CPX800a7 pulse tube. If you tune it right, it will last you a lot longer. This Commanders 1200 VHF is made by Pat Stein N8BRA and are very solid built with aluminum frame's and cover's and with some inside gold anodized aluminum and silver coatings on the capacitors and tank. The parts are US made with industrial components,such as the heavy duty Dual Hypersil transformer that weighs about 60lbs. by itself and the total weight of 75lbs. This 6 meter amplifier is huge,it's a lot bigger than my 2 meter Commander II. The size looks about the same as the HF Commander 2500,it's alot larger than my Alpha 86,and that front face of the Alpha is big too.

It will do SSB and CW very well in 1200 watt range with no problem of heating up,it's only when you drive it on FM or other modes that the amplifier should be trimmed down to 650 watts max for longevity of the rare tube,when I say rare,there are some operators that still own some NOS tube in their original box's and still hanging on to them,cause their are gold mine's of NOS Eimac's tubes,not chinese brands,the chinese ones are ok,but they do not last as long as the USA made ones,their not quality built like the USA made ones,just saying.This tubes cost now in 2022 are $3000 for match pairs and around $1500 each for Eimac's in the NOS box's...wow......back than in 1990's,they were about $200 to $350 a piece....Time sure flies.........

Palstar does great work on all their components that goes in their amplifiers,I can't say for the Commander 2500 HF,cause I never owned one and I never operated one.The blower is not bad in noise,but it sure cools down the amp.pretty fast after a good long QSo's.The tuning takes awhile when going through the steps in increments of wattage of load applying power to the amplifier. Once the Load,Tune,Plate,Grids and peaking and dipping are done,the next time I want to use the amp,I just turn it on and do my thing on the radio.....I have faith in my tuning applications and if your not sure,just turn down the power from the radio to the amp and just apply low power of watts, while watching your grids and plates with out touching the tuning knobs.I did connect the ALC's to the amp and radio jacks too for comfort.I found no problems of all the capacitors,resistors and rest of the components after many years of usage in this amplifier and I did clean the inside of little dust with my photo camera rocket bulb blower...just so that I don't pick up any statics from the air of the blowing actions.Oh btw,I bought this from the original owner and all the original box's with the amplifier box too and all the accessories that came with Commander VHF 1200 amplifier and a 3 digit number made.

I like the Commanders 2 meter and 6 meter amplifiers and they are built very well too and made in the USA and will last as long as you take care of them.....73's......
VE2JKA Rating: 2007-01-12
Jusk Kick A!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Incredible! I love this amp... Max I got out of it on FM was 750W and ssb it will give you 1kw + no problem..smooth tuning, heats up a little at max output yet it cools off quite rapidly. Owned it for a little over a year now and it has performed flawlessly every time.

Highly recommended.

ve2jka
radioquebec.net
KC9AWS Rating: 2002-09-07
5/5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Pat Stein is very helpful and accomadating when he sells you this amp. The amp is well made and works very well. It's simple to operate and the manual is easy to understand. Pat called me the next day after my Email and answered all my questions up front. This amp is the ULTIMATE AMATEUR RADIO TOY. Reports from 150 miles away, ground waves, raise my signal by 4 on their s meter. The fan noise is real low.
AK5B Rating: 2002-06-28
Excellent amp--recommended! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The Commander is an excellent 6M amp in all respects that I recommend it to anyone serious about magic band dxing. I'm currently driving mine with less than 20 watts PEP from a SSB LT6S transverter which results in around 600 watts PEP output. Conveniently running it off 117 volt house current works fine at these levels, too. At some point in the future I plan to drive it with an FTV-1000 for full output which will require me re-wiring it for 220v (very easy to change via terminal-strip jumpers). The first time I fired up the amp I worked stations in FJ, 9Y, KP4 and PY during a rare and marginal opening to the Caribbean from my mid-Pacific qth. It would have not been possible to make and complete these contacts without the solid help of the Commander VHF-1200. The amp has made a good number of European long-path openings bear fruit for me as well. My hat is off to Pat Stein for building such a reliable and easy-to-use amp that never needs retuning (I'm always in the weak-signal portion of the band)and delivers clean power. The slightly noisy blower fan doesn't particularly bother me--it's obviously needed to keep things running cool and dependable. My philosophy is like what the T-shirt often seen at hamfests proclaims, "Life is too short for QRP!" I'm glad I invested in this fine piece of gear and I now look forward to the upcoming fall F2 season more than ever before.
KC4PX Rating: 2002-06-28
Excellent 6 Meter amp Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Once you tune this amplifier, you never have to touch it... I purchased this used - built in 1999. This is the older version of the VHF-1200 with the older TUNE control (i.e. 17 turns from min to max), so it takes a bit to get it tuned the first time. After that, don't touch.

I've always received excellent audio reports with 900-1200 PEP out, driven with my IC-756Pro + Heil and W2IHY EQ. Excellent also for contests and high duty cycles. I do recommend this amp to any serious 6 Meter DXer.
WD8OST Rating: 2001-07-18
great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
n4cpm, said it all-have had mine since feb. 1998 works flawless it is best 6m 1200 watt. if you do not want to play games this is for you--mike
N4CPM Rating: 2000-08-28
Strong & Sturdy Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Commander VHF-1200 is a 6 meter amp. I have had mine for over a year and it has been service free. Like most Commander Amps the only negative I can say is that the fan is a little noisy. The amp performs great. I get 1200 watts from 60 watts drive and can even push it to 1500 watts with 70 watts input. The 3CX800A7 Ceramic Metal Triod really takes a licking and it keeps on ticking. Tune up is easy and you really never need to tune again as long as you stay in the CW or SSB part of six meters, great bandwith. Although 1200+ watts is a bit much on 6 meters, this Amp is a good investment if you gona chase grids and work a new country. I have worked over 350 grids and 25 countries with mine. 73 Ed