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Reviews For: SPE Expert 2K-FA

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

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Review Summary For : SPE Expert 2K-FA
Reviews: 46MSRP: 4750 Euro
Description:
The most advanced solid state automatic linear amplifier in the world. the operator has only to move the frequency tuning knob on the transceiver.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.linear-amplifier.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15464.8
LA3ZPA Rating: 2011-12-14
What a amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Upgraded from 1K-FA MKIII, which I hvar extremely happy with. However, much more.
I've just test it for a week with my new SteppIR DB-42.

It is the largest source disappeared between 1K and 2K, is that one is quieter, the fan will not start before you start and send. When you stop and send it immediately stops the fans. Not a bad upgrade.

In addition, you can choose 3 different antennas for the host band. this is also a great up grade from 1K. Can you select the tuner on line, bay-pass or tunebal antennas, ala SteppIR or ULTRABEAM. 2K also has 3 forskjelige power levels low, midel and MAX.
For and drive 1KW to the antenna makes it with great inner ease, I use my MID and for running 1 kW to the antenna with about 35-40W into ALC's so witty active on my Icon 7700 I run my 2K like I was driving my 1K, with ALC on, until it funny what active on my 7700. As for me out about 500-600W on low depends on the band, 900-1KW at mid and 1800-2200 at max.

There is no problem and get a few hundred watts more out certain driving ALC higher up, which I do not see the point.

I am running my MID output is selected so goes Temperature barely above 35 degrees Celsius.

Did run a 9 hours last weekend's ARRL 10m contest, that what a pure pleasure and have a PA at my side. It was cold all the tilde character and was never a hint that it depends strenkte themselves.

A great PA, which I hope I can enjoy for many years.
LA9BM Rating: 2011-10-31
Yo get what you pay for, as usual Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I own an IC-PW1 for 4 years and this amp works well until I connect an interface and HRD/N1MM programs. BIG problems with CI-V crash and conflicts. Have been told on the Yahoo forum that this is a common problem. I send an E-mail to Icom but no reply! So I sold the amp and order the 2K-FA.

This is a modern amp. Very easy to install and to operate. The only downside is the manual. But when the amp is up-and-go, it is just super. I tune the ATU on every 50 khz segment and store once forever. Just turn on your trcv and SPE and you are on the air in seconds – no heating or tuning.

Costy but you get what you pay for, as usual. Don’t forget what you have to pay for a fully automatic ATU and a switch for 6 antennas. Beside that you can connect 2 trcv to this amp.
W5SL Rating: 2011-10-26
Awesome Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been using this SPE Expert 2K-FA daily for almost 3 weeks. I am so very pleased with how it operates. I bought the amp from Expert Amps USA dealing with the co-owners Bob, K5ZOL, and Frosty, K5LBU, and have been very pleased with their service.

The front panel label, "Fully Automatic" really sums up how this amp works compared to my now idle ACOM 2000A. Band changes in the 2K-FA are instantaneous and reliable, following the receiver frequency changes. The 2K-FA works as if it is part of the rig so that now I can set the Yaesu to a frequency and start transmitting without wait. With its multiple antenna outputs the amp switches between the SteppIR and the 80m/160m antenna automatically rather than have to use a manual coax switch like I did using the 2000A. The amp has provision for bypassing its internal tuner automatically for the bands the SteppIR covers, 6-40m, and switch in the tuner automatically for the 80/160m vertical antennas.

Programming and setup is straightforward. I had only 2 minor questions and received immediate answers from Frosty. I can safely send the full 200 watt output of the Yaesu through the amp when it is on standby. The ACOM does have a problem with that when in standby mode, for example on 30 meters, and even flashes a warning on its screen if the power is much above 100 watts. ALC is set automatically by the amp. This means I can set the power output to 40 watts on the Yaesu once, as the amp requires roughly the same power on each band, with ALC control, and ignore this setting as I operate, as compared to the ACOM which needed to have power adjusted on each band individually requiring anywhere from 40 to 70 watts drive for legal limit output, depending on the band. While SPE strongly recommends use of the ALC, ACOM states in their manual the ALC should not be used for their amp. I have read other sources that indicate that using ALC as sole drive power control on some amps may cause distortion. Using the 2K-FA with ALC I have been getting unsolicited reports about great audio quality. I never got such comments before when using other amps like the ACOM even without ALC.

On CW the amp follows the Yaesu keying with flawless true QSK.

It is great to be able to turn on the amp and immediately call a DX station in a pile up, as opposed to waiting the 3 minutes for tube warm up, and sometimes have the DX either go QRT or fade out.

Also, it doesn't hurt anything to have full legal limit output included on 6 meters, a luxury I've not had before.

Summary: I am so very pleased with this excellent amp and excellent support from the Distributor. Considering the automatic features, the power and conservative ratings, internal automatic antenna tuner, frequency tracking, multiple antenna outputs, SO2R features, 6 meter coverage, no warm-up, automatic ALC, etc., it was worth upgrading. I highly recommend it.

73, Jay W5SL. Austin, TX
FORMER_K7HC_CB Rating: 2011-09-12
UNBELIEVABLE Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I did have some "infant mortality" problems involving low voltage fuse blowing, but that was taken care of in quick order by the SteppIR folks. I have been dodeling with Ham Radio for well over 50 years and have never seen anything even close to this amp! So automatic - easy to set up - MANY adanced features - lots of power - small and light weight - I guess I would describe this amp in one word - MAGNIFICENT!
Clay-K7HC
VK3YP Rating: 2011-08-05
Exceptional Contest Amplifier Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The SPE 2K-FA is by far the only choice for serious DXpeditions. During the VK9HR Lord Howe Island Dxpedition we used 2 x SPE-1K-FA's and 1 x SPE-2K-FA units. The SPE-2K-FA performed without a single hitch running nearly 24 hours a day for ten days on all bands and all modes including RTTY (at half power). The weight of the SPE-2K is very similar to the SPE-1K and while larger than the SPE-1K it fits very nicely into a Pelican 1620 case for transport. The SPE-2K was used via the cat interface with our Kenwood TS-590S radio. The antenna tuner worked perfectly in tuning up our 160M Inverted L antenna which had a SWR of around 2.5:1.
I also noticed that the SPE-2K runs a lot cooler with temperatures averaging around 40-45 degrees C. I assume this is because of the larger heatsink / fan cooling area. I am so impressed by the SPE-2K-FA that I am seriously considering putting my Yaesu VL-1000 Quadra back in its box and using the SPE-2K-FA with the FTdx-9000D instead. There is no better solid state amplifier available anywhere with the features and performance of the SPE. For our next DXpedition in 2012 we will be taking more SPE amplifiers with us.
I0JX Rating: 2011-07-01
Another world! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Living just a few miles away from the factory where the Expert 2k-FA linear is produced, I could get a pre-production unit (SN# 0001) much earlier than any one else, and then get it updated every time its design was improved along the testing & validation phase.

The nicest thing of the 2k-FA is that you can forget about it: no warm-up and instantaneous band change.

Also antenna tuning (if enabled) is instantaneous as the 2k-FA has a modern-design relay-actuated memory-controlled antenna tuner, differently from those old-style auto-tune linears which utilize slow motor-driven variable capacitors.

So, you can instantaneously go and work any DX appearing on the DX Cluster, on whatever band and frequency, without having to wait even a second.

If so desired, the 2k-FA antenna tuner can still function even when the linear is not in-line, so effectively making the transceiver internal tuner useless. Doing so, when operating barefoot, you will feel like transmitting into a dummy load, as you will read low SWR at any frequency. And you will not be able to perceive the antenna tuner operation at all (apart from the click of a few relays now and then).

If you really need to do something on your 2k-FA (e.g. to switch an antenna or to vary its power level) you can do everything from your PC (via a USB link) without having to touch the linear at all. The screen faithfully reproduces the linear front panel (both the controls and the display) and you can remotely do / see whatever you can do / see on the front panel. You can even switch the linear ON / OFF from your PC.

I measured output power on my SN# 0001 (CW key-down, with a Bird wattmeter on a dummy load). Power is generally well above the 1,500W US limit. In range 7-28 MHz you can get around 2,000W. On 6 and 80 meters you can drive the linear up to about 1,750W and somewhat less on 160 m.

I cannot here mention all the nice features of the 2k-FA. Please read the operating manual carefully and you will discover the great deal of features offered by that incredible machine.