[Amps] Amp Pricing(??)

[Rob Atkinson]

Over the past few years the ham RF amplifier industry if you will, has
been sailing in rough seas due to a number of blows, none of them
strong enough to kill the industry but collectively enough to change
the market for the worse for anyone looking for cheap RF power.  In no
particular order:

1.  Inflation
2.  Increased shipping costs
3.  Tripling or quadrupling cost of copper and sheet metal
4.  Overseas instabilities and irregularities in vacuum tube manufacturing
5.  Supply and demand

For vacuum tube amplifiers, we're seeing the sunset of that sector of
the industry as many hams who at one time would have purchased high
power tube amps are now going solid state.  That has depressed demand.
Many manufacturers have folded their tents and gone away.  Prices of
solid state amps are starting to come down, while high voltage parts
prices are going up and becoming harder to source as demand for them
decreases.  I expect that the sole remaining major American
manufacturer, Ameritron, will discontinue part or all of their tube
line in the next few years.

Hams who have tube amps and like them see what's happened and are
hanging on to their gear.  The used market is getting its merchandise
from SK estates and some hams who have gone solid state and want to
get rid of their tube amps.  But prices have gone high because the
market can sustain it.  A SB200 now goes for what a SB220 went for.  A
single 3-500 amp now goes for what a dual tube amp went for.

My advice in searching the used market is to look for an amplifier
using easy to buy tubes.  Avoid low dissipation tubes and anything
that has its tubes mounted horizontally and anything that has 3 or
more tubes.  I'd avoid anything that has complex exotic
electronics--simply more stuff to break.  Later Alphas that have a lot
of stuff in them to automate tuning or make the amp foolproof are an
example.  You want the amplifier equivalent of an old army jeep.  It's
hard to go wrong with one or two 3-500s.  Heathkit, Drake, Amp Supply,
QRO, TenTec, Kenwood, Henry, Ameritron all used those tubes.

73
Rob
K5UJ