[CQ-Contest] Alpha 87A Alpha Max

[Michael Tope]

Per the RKR website, RKR sold Alpha to "Alpha RF Systems" which I 
understand is owned by Dishtronix. Recall that Dishtronix purchased 
Ten-Tec several months ago. Alpha RF Systems new website was up 
yesterday, but appears to be down today:

www.alpharfsystems.com

73, Mike W4EF.................



On 10/5/2016 1:54 PM, Dick Green WC1M wrote:
> It would be worth a discussion with the RKR techs about which 87A parts can
> no longer be supplied. The results of that conversion would heavily
> influence how much I'd be willing to pay for a used 87A.
>
> 73, Dick WC1M
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: john at kk9a.com [mailto:john at kk9a.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2016 9:15 AM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Alpha 87A Alpha Max
>
> Alpha 87A's are pretty inexpensive now. I am not sure how it works without
> Alpha Max, I owned one with Alpha Max and it tuned very nicely. My comment
> regarding this amp is that they are very expensive to repair if you send it
> back to the manufacture so be cautious what you purchase.
>
> John KK9A
>
>
> To:	cq-contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Subject:	[CQ-Contest] Alpha 87A Alpha Max
> From:	Jim Brown <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>
> Reply-to:	k9yc at arrl.net
> Date:	Tue, 4 Oct 2016 13:47:09 -0700
>
> Guys,
>
> I'm about to buy an Alpha 87A, early production, without the Alpha Max
> Firmware. That's the feature that provides auto tuning (as opposed to auto
> recall of saved settings, which was how the amp was originally built).
>
> Some questions.
>
>
> 1) How useful is the Alpha Max auto-tune feature?
>
> 2) The new owner of Alpha says the upgrade kit is no longer available. Is
> there an easy way to add it? That is, are the chips generic? I'm guessing
> that at least one of the two chips is an EPROM. Is it practical to buy the
> chips and copy the firmware from another 87A?
>
> 3) Is it worth going to the trouble? I would use it for my high dipoles for
> 80 and 40M.
>
> Thanks and 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
>
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