[CQ-Contest] Alpha 87A

[Jim Brown]

The latest owner of TenTec and Alpha has been repairing them, and a key 
tech staff is still there (in CO) doing it. A few months ago, I 
exchanged email with him. They're also building and selling new amps. 
The operation is somewhat limited by capital, so the support staff is 
purposely thin. No telephone support, contact via email only, and the 
person who responds to email works only a few days a week. Reports on 
the Ten Tec reflector say that service is good.

alpharfsystems.com

Here's an excerpt from email from a local ham, retired EE, smart guy, 
who needed service on an 89. He was quite happy with the repair work, 
which was prompt.

73, Jim K9YC

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I investigated several guys who fix Alpha 87 and 89 amps. Glenn, the 
official factory guy has a
3 month backlog and one can only communicate with him by email. Dick 
Byrd N4UQ is a rather
well known repair guy for Alpha amps in Georgia. Trouble is he is most 
known for his knowledge
and stock of parts for the really OLD amplifiers like the Alpha 77s, 78s 
and 374s. He is not
intimately familiar with the circuits in the Alpha 87 or 89. He 
recommended Brad a 17 year
Alpha ex employee who trained Glenn and helped design the Alpha 9500. He 
is an expert on
all of the circuits in the Alpha 78 and 89. I spoke with him for half an 
hour and he does indeed
know what he is doing. Best of all he is also in Colorado and three days 
away by FedEX ground.
He has all the parts including the long discontinued high voltage FETs 
and bipolar transistors
that are used in both the Alpha 87 and 89. He even has pin diodes.

I sent him the Alpha 89 yesterday. I will get there Thursday. Brad will 
check it out thoroughly
and repair it ailments. As the tubes are fine I expect to receive a 
fully functional amplifier.
Brad said his turn around time could be as short as a week, two weeks max.

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On Thu,6/22/2017 8:46 PM, Bill Parry wrote:
> I have been having some intermittent problems with my 87A.  Anyone have any experience with finding someone that can work on them?