Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 14:44:55 -0700
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: BFOCKEN@msn.com, Amps Amps <amps@contesting.com>
Cc: Dick Green WC1M <wc1m73@gmail.com>, jsternmd@att.net, W9AC Paul
Christensen <w9ac@arrl.net>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Alpha 87A Alpha Max Upgrade
Dick,
I suspect that you have missed the two sales of Alpha, first a couple of
years ago to RKR, a corporate raider who ran both Alpha and Ten Tec into
the ground by selling everything in sight, and then a year or so ago by
RKR to Dishtronix, who currently owns what's left of both companies
(mainly their names, I suspect). Dishtronix is running on a wing and a
prayer, but word on the Ten Tec reflector is that they ARE repairing Ten
Tec gear. Dishtronix is in OH, Alpha was in CO. I'd guess that it's
rather unlikely that CO employees have been coaxed into moving to OH.
I STRONGLY doubt that these upgrade parts even exist at Dishtronix. And
Distronix does not answer phones or email. The last anyone heard from
Dishtronix (about two weeks ago) is that all hands have been assigned to
get a commercial receiver out the door to meet a contract.
73, Jim K9YC
## This is my problem with these esoteric megabuck amplifiers...parts
availability.
Alpha has always had this tendency to use a silly tube lineup in all its table
top amps
since day1. I have 4 x drake L4Bs, and all 4 are cabled nose to tail, in
series, so they can
be tuned up on 4 x bands, or ssb /cw on one band, or any other combo you can
think of.
If one blows up, I still have three amps left. Parts are interchangeable
between them.
They all handle 2 kw on bypass mode, and are easily converted to qsk...( and
also 160m).
## since 1977, I have had one bad oem TR relay, and one bad HV diode in the
outboard oem
HV supply...and one pair of oem tubes that finally went soft with 20+ years of
daily use.
## They just run and run and run. No floozy delicate 4 watt grids, and
expensive tubes.
Most of these older amps are easily upgraded with a few simple mods. Step
start B+ and
fils all in one shot, qsk, high power bypass, warc bands, 160m, 6:1 verniers,
etc, etc, are all
easily implemented. The kw you get out of a very expensive amp isnt going to
work any better
than the kw from an inexpensive amp.
## I know folks who will do similar with 3 x SB-220s.... tuned up on 20-15-10m
during the day,
then switched to 80-40-20m in the evening. A buddy added 6:1 verniers (
jackson bros complete
ball drive assy) to his SB-220. Makes tuning a lot smoother...and just dial
it up by the numbers.
## For the amount of $$ spent on an Alpha 9500, you could also build a pretty
wicked hb amp. But
that’s not for everybody.
Jim VE7RF
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