[AMPS] Re: [BitBucket] Ameritron/MFJ Reflector

[Garry & Yelena]

Bill Turner wrote:

> 
> Anybody want to buy a used AL-1200?
> 
> I thought so.
> 
> 73, Bill W7TI
> wrt@eskimo.com
> 

I think your comments tell the story of why Ameritron/MFJ has the
reputation for something less than military quality.

For me, a telling moment was to be on the main floor of Hara Arena at
Dayton looking at the amps on display. AMeritron was right across from
Command Technologies and both vendors had the tops off their products so
you could eyeball the insides. No contest--the Ameritrons looked like
they were assembled in a Taiwan dress factory.

There is more to building an amp than choosing a tube and hawking a
power-out spec. Cutting corners on critical components can cut costs,
but overstressed power components are a bomb waiting to go off. Some of
the items you noted indicate marginal engineering or, more likely, a
management directive to cut costs at the expense of design margin.
Some--miswiring the transformer primaries--indicate lousy Quality
Assurance. The broken chimney probably indicates inadequate attention to
packaging and shipping the product--another QA issue. None of those
items give you a warm, fuzzy feeling that you will survive the next
stringent use period. And the attitude of the engineer who blew you off
because "noone operates RTTY at full power on 160" is totally
unacceptable. An amp runs full output, key down, over its frequency
range--or it does not. Put the caveat in the manual, and/or put an
asterisk on the data sheet with the caveat. Do not leave it to the owner
to blow it up, then learn it was not intended for the application in
which it was used.

I am sure many, if not most Ameritron owners are happy with their amps,
and have had little or no trouble with them. They will see your comments
and mine as deviant points on the distribution, or, worse, just the
blitherings of chronic malcontents.  Most of them have probably not put
the pedal to the metal very often with them. Running power on RTTY will
certainly stress an amplifier. But, during my engineering career, I
learned that a product's failures and aberrations--not the general run
of functioning product--were the clues to the product's real sturdiness
and ultimate dependability and suitability. In other words, do not tell
me about the 95% of the units that worked great (at 5% duty cycle, or
one weekend per year). Tell me about the 5% that blew up in the middle
of a contest.


-- 
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
Editor, "The DXer," newsletter of the NCDXC
Visit the Northern California DX Club 50th Anniversary page:
http://www.aa6g.org/ncdxc50.html

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