--- In ham_amplifiers@..., Bill Turner <dezrat@...>
wrote:
Does anyone have any experience with the new Alpha 8100? Pickings
on
the website are pretty slim. The link to the manual is not working
and
all I can find is a one page brochure. Is it in production?
It would appear to be a rehash of the typical 2-tetrode Alpha such
as
the 91b or the 99 with the addition of a serial port for computer
monitoring. Seems pretty pricey at $4850.00 USD for a manual tune
amp.
All comments welcome.
Bill, W6WRT
### It does appear to be a rehash of the 99 Bill. Interesting,
they only ever built 1500 x 87-A's in 15 yrs between 1990
and 2005... 100 per yr. Notice they say vac relayS..plural. My
bitch with the 8100 is.... it only handles 150 w MAX on
bypass.....where as their new 9500 [$8750.00 auto tune 8877] is
rated for 1.5 kw on bypass. The 9500 also sez vac relayS..
plural.
### can u imagine what these amps would cost in Europe....HUGE
BUX. Also notice Alpha will only ship their amps on a PALLET...
in a wooden crate.... via FREIGHT / MOTOR TRUCK....ditto when they
return ur amp from repair.
## Some fellow on ther other reflector had a pair of 87-A's....
sold em both.... he couldn't afford the shipping charges both
ways every time they had a problem.
### $4850.00 is too much bux...for a manual tune amp.... and
$8750.00 for an auto tune 8877 put's me off of auto tune
amps.
Is the 87-A even real auto tune ? Seems to me they just switch
from one pre-set to another... x segments per band. I think the
pre-sets are originally done into a 50 ohm load..... so what
happens if the load changes say on 3850 khz.... cuz u happen to
have 4 x different ant configs... eaxh with a different load Z
presented to the amp ?
### OZ1AAR built a YC-156... used a motor driven version of
the SSON RI-40 roller coil... + 2 x verticaly mounted 10-1000
pf @ 16 kv motor driven jennings vac caps. A stepper motor on
a bandswitch would work as well.... and an external PC ro run
the thing... with phase detector's built into the linear... then
you would have real auto tune.
### For a lot less bux.. and hassle... you can string several
L4B's, and/or mono band amps, etc, nose to tail.. all tuned up on
different bands. I have 3 x L4B's in this config. If one blew
up... I still have two spares ! You can do the same thing with
YC-156's. The next 3x6 I build will handle the full output of
the 3x3 in front of it.... easy to make em handle globs of RF on
bypass... with vac relays on the INPUT side... and RG-
393 /similar coax on the bypass loop.
### I could afford either new Alpha...but I'd get zero
satisfaction from them. For $4850.00... one could build one
helluva big manual tune linear. A NEW 3x6 or YC-243, plus a 253
lb Dahl xfmr is $2500.00 The rest of it is bit's and
pieces....and time. 1/2" cu tubing is still cheap at home
depot. Then u end up with 10 kw out RTTY /12-15 kw pep out
ssb/cw... and zero problems. For something a tad smaller... a NEW
3x3 PLUS a 127 lb Dahl xfmr is $1500.00 [5 kw out RTTY/ssb/cw]
Later... Jim VE7RF
