[AMPS] AL-811

[Jon Ogden]

>
>Well Dan, cheap is good when you don't have much money.  I wish I could
>afford an Alpha or one of those killer Henry amps.  No can do.

I think Dan's point was that if you buy a cheap amp, realize what you are 
getting and don't try to push or massage it to perform like a big amp.  
If you want big amp performance, you gotta spend the cash.  If you can't 
afford it, then you do the best you can with what you are able to afford. 
 But realize what you are getting.

>  I've
>actually had several Ameritron amps - all bought used and all gone.  They
>were OK, that's all.  Warped cabinets, bad tubes, randon arcing, etc. Even
>had their solid state amp (ALS-600) - very, very sensitive to SWR.  Couldn't
>get more than about 450 watts out of it.   But mostly they worked OK.

I take it that "OK" is a term meaning "not good but not bad, either" as 
opposed to "OK" meaning "good."  I don't call what you mention above as 
good performance.
>
>  For one thing, I just
>don't have the space.  And I just can't afford to spend the money for what
>I'd really like: an Alpha 87a.

Lotsa times you can get good deals on used stuff like you did with your 
Ameritrons.  Why not, instead of buy many used amps at say, $300 a piece 
or whatever, you save up that money over a period of time and buy one 
good amp that will last the rest of your life?

> I thought I could design and
>build one once, but hey, I'm a pretty good computer programmer, but
>electronic design just isn't my best skill-set.

I hate hearing this from hams.  These days it's all too common.  Please 
don't think I am trying to insult you, because I am not.  But, in the old 
days, people from all walks of life designed and built amps.  They were 
not only built by the guys that have the RF design experience. 

One of the aspects of ham radio is learning that new skill.  Maybe you 
aren't a good hardware designer now, but you could become one.  That's 
what ham radio used to be.  Guys played and tinkered and as a result they 
learned how to engineer and build stuff.  Todays hams just want to plug 
it in an operate like you'd operate any other household appliance.  I am 
sure many couldn't even tell you what an image reject mixer or a 2nd LO 
is!  I challenge you to read some books, get some elmering and just dare 
to venture out and built that amp.  Yeah, it might blow up the first 
couple of times and it may take a long time to do, but just think of all 
the stuff you'll learn and the satisfaction you'll have knowing that you 
built it!

OK, off my soapbox.  :-)

73,

Jon
KE9NA



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Ogden

jono@enteract.com
www.qsl.net/ke9na

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."


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