On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:38:30 GMT, "Dave" wrote:

I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks

I've heard they make a nice little driver for a Henry 8K.

I've had mine for about 5 years and love it.

I highly recommend getting an LDG AT-1000 auto antenna tuner for it. Makes a
really slick combination and pretty much assures a flat load for the amp to
see. (Assuming you don't need 160m as the LDG doesn't do 160).

I tried some real torture tests on the LDG and it has been amazing...like
feeding a 40m inverted V on 80m....terrible idea and a rotten antenna...but
the LDG matched it right up. Very few auto-tuners can pass that particular
test.

The ALS-600 has excellent protection circuits. I have tested them on several
occasions when not paying attention. The load fault circuitry works very
well.

I have no reservation about recommending the ALS-600. I use it on both SSB
and CW, even RTTY at reduced power. I have used a TS-870s, FT-847 and
TS-2000 to drive it and had no problems. IMD measurements on PSK31
indicate -30 dB with the ALS-600 running 200w output, driven by the TS-2000.

Have fun. 73
....hasan, N0AN
"Dave" wrote in message
news:W3%Qe.291004$x96.260755@attbi_s72...
I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks

Dave wrote:
I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks


How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...
Dave wrote:
I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks


How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."



Dave wrote:
How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...

Dave wrote:

I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks



How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

Here's another posting referring to 6 dB "S-units". Have you actually
measured how many dB between marks on your receiver's S meter? I have.
Here's what they are, on my Icom IC-730, 40 meters, preamp off:

S1-S2: 1.4 dB
S2-S3: 1.3 dB
S3-S4: 1.6 dB
S4-S5: 2.3 dB
S5-S6: 1.8 dB
S6-S7: 3.2 dB
S7-S8: 3.1 dB
S8-S9: 4.0 dB
S9 - S9+10 dB: 5.6 dB
S9+10 - S9+20: 7.3 dB
S9+20 - S9+30: 6.6 dB
S9+30 - S9+40: 10.5 dB
S9+40 - S9+50: 11.3 dB
S9+50 - S9+60: 13.5 dB

So if I put up an antenna with 7 dB gain over a dipole (about par for a
3 element Yagi), it would kick my S meter from S2 to S6 when switching
from the dipole to the Yagi. If I assumed my "S units" were 6 dB, I'd
conclude my antenna had 24 dB gain. I'd be mistaken by a factor of 50 --
that is, I'd think my antenna had the gain of an array of about 50 Yagis.

I don't understand why we need a 6 dB unit which doesn't bear any fixed
relationship to the marks on an S meter. Why not just use dB? Most hams
can't measure 6 dB "S units" any better than they can measure dB.

I've got it. When somebody asks for a signal comparison and it's a 7 dB
difference, I'll just tell him "My S meter went from S2 to S6, which is
a difference of 1.2 S units." Everyone should understand that, right?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ham op wrote:
7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."



Dave wrote:

How does the ALS600 do when using with the Butternut HF9V vertical?


"Ham op" wrote in message
...

Dave wrote:

I am thinking of buying the Ameritron 600 watt solid state amp and was
wondering what opinions you all may have of it. Thanks



How many $per watt for the Ameritron 600? Ameritron lists the ALS-600 at
$1299. For base station usage you need the power supply. Total package
list price of $1428. Or, $2.38 per watt [SSB]. [600 watt]

The AL-811H lists for $799 or $1.00 per watt [SSB]. [800 watt]

The AL-80B lists for $1349 or $1.39 per watt [SSB]. [1000 watt]

The AL-1500 lists for $3045 or $2.03 per watt [SSB]. [1500 watt]

If you are considering base usage the AL-811H is less than 1/2 S unit
below the AL-1500 at about 1/2 the price.

The ALS-600 is only 1 1/4 S units above a 100 watt base or mobile
station.

I own the AL-80B. It has about 1/4 S unit below the AL-1500. [SSB]

Save some money and put it to good use on your antenna system.

"Ham op" wrote in message
...
7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."

I will agree that it is best to go with a beter antenna, sometimes it is
just not practical. Not many can put up a beam for 80 meters and not that
many for ever 40 meters. Most amps will do 80 to 15 meters. Some will go
to 10 meters. The specs for a TH3 tribander is only 5.8 db over a dipole.
That is slightly less than 4 times the power. That is only for 20,15, 10
meters. That only takes your 100 watt rig to 400 watts. An amp that is
worth buying will put out atleast 600 to 800 watts and you can almost double
that and stay legal.

If you have to pay someone to put your beam antenna, the cost will go way
over the $ 1400.

The thing of hearing a station and he can hear you is also bogus in some
cases. I was trying to work a mobile on 80 meters that was parked running
100 watts. I could hear him just fine. About 1/4 scale on my S-meter. He
could not hear me for some local (to him) qrm and qrn. By turning on my amp
we could work each other.

The amp will not let you turn it to cut out some qrm/qrn like the beam may.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
. . .
The thing of hearing a station and he can hear you is also bogus in some
cases. I was trying to work a mobile on 80 meters that was parked running
100 watts. I could hear him just fine. About 1/4 scale on my S-meter. He
could not hear me for some local (to him) qrm and qrn. By turning on my amp
we could work each other.
. . .

The idea that if you can hear a station he can hear you is totally
wrong, especially at HF. At HF, you can have a terribly inefficient
antenna and hear people just fine. This is because the dominant noise is
coming from outside the receiver and therefore both signal and noise are
attenuated by the same amount by the loss. I can easily hear 20 meter DX
on my little Sony SW radio with a 2 foot rod antenna. But there's no
hope they'd hear me if I were transmitting with that antenna, even if
I'm running an equal or much greater amount of power than they are.

At VHF and above, where receiver noise dominates, a station you hear can
hear you if you're running about the same amount of power and if your
receivers have about the same noise figure. But this isn't at all true
at HF and below.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

"Ralph Mowery" bravely wrote to "All" (01 Sep 05 19:38:35)
--- on the heady topic of " Amplfier opinion"

RM From: "Ralph Mowery"
RM Xref: core-easynews rec.radio.amateur.antenna:216043


RM "Ham op" wrote in message
RM ...
7.78 Db BETTER [+1 1/4 S unit] than 100 watts.

Upgrade the vertical to a beam and the net gain can be as high as +19.78
dB [3+ S units] on the path:
1] + 6 dB in receive
2] + 6 dB in transmit
3] + 7.78 dB for the amplifier.

For $1400, a beam has a much better return on investment than an
amplifier by itself.

The #1 rule I teach new or aspiring hams is "Your station efficiency,
and your enjoyment, is directly proportional to your antenna."


RM I will agree that it is best to go with a beter antenna, sometimes it
RM is just not practical. Not many can put up a beam for 80 meters and
RM not that many for ever 40 meters. Most amps will do 80 to 15 meters.


Just wondering if it wouldn't be possible to compensate for antenna
size, by actively driving the reflective, directive elements using
correctly phased amounts of power from the xmtr output. I'm probably
preaching heresy in the midst of this bunch of laurelled gurus but I
don't mind being told I'm thinking laterally, so shoot your best
flames.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... Firemen are proud of their hoses.