[Amps] Amp Pricing(??)

[Fern Rivard]

Well Jim I don't have any worries if I should ever loose either 8877 or 
3CX800A7 in either of my alpha amps as years ago I met a fellow ham at 
the Glacier Montana Ham Fest who serviced MIR equipment. I purchased 
every one of his pulls at a bargain price and checked them all in my 
alpha amps and found all of them to be in perfect condition. People back 
then thought that I was crazy in acquiring those but my reply was that 
it was very cheap insurance. I will probably start selling a few of my 
8877's as I have more of them as spares.

Fern VE7GZ


On 09/12/2022 10:05 a.m., jim.thom jim.thom at telus.net wrote:
> Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2022 18:26:07 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Fern Rivard<crc at cyberlink.ca>
> To:amps at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Amps] Amp Pricing(??)
>
> <Hey Jim, don't be so quick to discount those ceramic tubes such as the
> <8877 and 3CX800A. They will have "floozy grids" for operators that don't
> <know how to use them properly. I have an alpha 86 with a pair of
> <3CX800A7 and an alpha 9500 with single 8877 which I've used for many
> <years. The trick with those tubes is to make sure that you don't draw
> <any or very little grid current. On both of my amps I only see a flicker
> <of grid current if any at all. Just my 2 cents worth and I'm sticking to
> it.
>
> <Fern, VE7GZ
>
> ##  Fern, there are plenty of amps out there using both of those tubes,
> that DON'T have adequate protection built into them.  IE: grid + plate
> overcurrent protection, loss of airflow, loss of B+ etc, etc.
>
> ##  you alpha's are done correctly for the most part.  I'm talking about
> joe newbie ham..and his 1st amp is a used amp with a 8877 in it.  That
> EIMAC 8877 went from $2000  up to  $2950.00   and now is back down to
> $2200.00     The chinese version is now $1350.00 . Add  36% + 12% tax  +
> USD $ shipping for cdn values.   And a heck of a lot more in EU / Asia / ZL
> / VK/ZS land.
>
> ## back when chinese 8877's were $500.00  maybe, but not at today's
> prices.  The amps that didn't have grid overcurrent protection, or
> protection from hotswithcing, are easily modified.
>
> ## a lot of these hams, both new and old, just don't get it.  Got one old
> fellow, who drives his Henry 2K-4  with a Swan 500.  The swan xcvr's, none
> of em even have an ALC jack.  On the swan xcvr's on SSB, they say to use
> the mic gain as a power output control..which of course will never work.
> They stuff 200+ watts into these amps, then wonder why the tubes go into
> orbit.
>
> ## another old guy (ham for 60 years now)  sez he tunes his Ameritron
> AL-811H up at 3840 khz..... then qsy's down to 3506 khz.... without
> re-tuning, then complains he only gets no more than 2-3 weeks out of a new
> set of 811's. (His swr is high down on 3506).  When u tell em the amp needs
> to be re-tuned, they tear a strip out of you, since they have been doing
> that way since day-1.
>
> ## Local ham here in town managed to get 1400 watts out of his
> AL-80B...driving it with a Icom 775DSP ( 200w xcvr)...until he blew it up.
>    Then we have the local folks who like FT-8, since it's all the rage these
> days, then wonder why the ceramic bandswitch overheats and cracks..on 17m.
>
> ##  Myself, I would be real leery about buying any used amp with an
> expensive tube in it. It could last a year or two, and maybe 5-10 years,
> who knows.
>
> ## On the SS amp group, one fellow went through 3 x pairs of BLF-188's.
> They are not cheap..and a real bitch to replace.
>
> Jim  VE7RF
> _______________________________________________
> Amps mailing list
> Amps at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps