[Amps] Alpha 87A Alpha Max Upgrade

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 14:44:55 -0700
From: Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: BFOCKEN at msn.com, Amps Amps <amps at contesting.com>
Cc: Dick Green WC1M <wc1m73 at gmail.com>, jsternmd at att.net, W9AC Paul
Christensen <w9ac at 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