Andrew VK3BFA wrote:

1. If there was a faulty batch of tubes, they would have been cleared
out by now - MFJ would have had words with Amperex, so they can be
eliminated as future fault causes.

2. is it a design error - possibly, but then again MFJ would be aware
of it by now and offered a correction - this company would not stay in
business in the Amateur Radio marketplace if it didnt.

3. The filaments high at 5.7 volts - it can be safely assumed that MFJ
would have set them up properly at the factory


How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

--

Anti-spam measu look me up on qrz.com if you need to reply directly

Andrew VK3BFA wrote:

1. If there was a faulty batch of tubes, they would have been cleared
out by now - MFJ would have had words with Amperex, so they can be
eliminated as future fault causes.

2. is it a design error - possibly, but then again MFJ would be aware
of it by now and offered a correction - this company would not stay in
business in the Amateur Radio marketplace if it didnt.

3. The filaments high at 5.7 volts - it can be safely assumed that MFJ
would have set them up properly at the factory


How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

--

Anti-spam measu look me up on qrz.com if you need to reply directly

In article ,
Zoran Brlecic wrote:

How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

Perhaps you're on to something. My AL80A was mfg by Prime Instruments
which made a fine amplifier, still with the original Eimac tube.

--
Dale J.
Bloomington, Minnesota

E-mail:

In article ,
Zoran Brlecic wrote:

How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

Perhaps you're on to something. My AL80A was mfg by Prime Instruments
which made a fine amplifier, still with the original Eimac tube.

--
Dale J.
Bloomington, Minnesota

E-mail:

"Dale J. " wrote in message ...
In article ,
Zoran Brlecic wrote:

How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

Perhaps you're on to something. My AL80A was mfg by Prime Instruments
which made a fine amplifier, still with the original Eimac tube.

The vast majority of 3-500z amps have the filiment voltage set too
high from the factory. Probably 80% of them. Maybe more... most
henrys, including my 2k classic, TL-922's, SB-220's, most Ameritrons,
etc, all are guilty. You can stretch the tube life out a good bit if
you lower the voltage. MK

"Dale J. " wrote in message ...
In article ,
Zoran Brlecic wrote:

How can it be safely assumed? You seem to be assuming too much of the
manufacturers. Their business is not humanitarian relief - they're in
this for the money. They would certainly not be the first one to make an
amp with the filament voltage too high.


73 .... WA7AA

Perhaps you're on to something. My AL80A was mfg by Prime Instruments
which made a fine amplifier, still with the original Eimac tube.

The vast majority of 3-500z amps have the filiment voltage set too
high from the factory. Probably 80% of them. Maybe more... most
henrys, including my 2k classic, TL-922's, SB-220's, most Ameritrons,
etc, all are guilty. You can stretch the tube life out a good bit if
you lower the voltage. MK

(Mark Keith) wrote in message om...
(Andrew VK3BFA) wrote in message . com...
"Voice In Wilderness" wrote in message

I get totally ****ed off when 2 amateurs, probably a few hundred miles
apart, insist on running QRO on 80m so they can chat to their buddies
in armchair comfort - wind the receive RF gain back to eliminate those
nasty atmospheric noises, and stuff the rest of the world trying to
have a QSO beneath them.

I get totally ****ed off when I'm talking to other amateurs, usually a
few hundred miles away, usually about 15 of them in the group, with my
rf gain rolled back to eliminate those nasty atmospheric noises,
making efficient use of the 3 kc's we are all sharing, and a bunch of
mindless jerks try to have another QSO on the same frequency. The
frequency is in use. Go find your own.

Wow, I wonder if we are talking about the same thing here - what I was
refering to was the bunch of lids starting their scheduled net (which
the rest of the world should know about anyway, after all its "Their "
frequency ) all running high power with the rf gain wound right back
and not even noticing that they are QRM ing people underneath them
-and these same lids then get really ****ed off when someone with more
power does it to them. You arent one of these people are you? - the
ones I was speciffically reffering to were about 2 years ago (the most
noticeable) when I was operating portable on 80m in the middle of a
forrest in the middle of winter (bloody freezing cold and wet,
operating QRP) during a safety net for a car rally and two Americans
came up and started their QSO - no way they could hear anyone under
them, and I dont think it would have made any difference to them
anyway. We couldnt QSY as the QRO guys didnt leave breaks, just kept
on yakking for hours and hours and hours........ dont ya just love
em....

But hey, this is the way it is - in psychology its called the "law of
comparative advantage" - If I have a big SUV then those nasty little
foreign cars wont bother me when I hit them - but eventually these
drivers get a big SUV as well so eventually everyone is stuck in
traffic driving gas guzzling trucks going nowhere. Same applies to QRO
- if nobody used it, then maybe, just maybe, no one would need it.

BTW - whats the radiated power adjacent channel from a amplifier
putting out 1300 watts - assuming its well designed and has -35
supprseeion (sorry, cant think of the right word here...or the right
spelling....)

BTW, the amount of power I run is irrelevant. But just in case you are
interested, my henry amp has not been on in 3 years. I've got it
partly dismantled. I've only been running 100w for a good while. But
even if I ran 1500w output "I can only do 1300-1400w actually", I
consider people that purposely ignore existing QSO's, mindless idiots.
I also consider them illegal, being they are guilty of malicious
interference if they knowingly do this. "In the USA anyway" You want
to know what happens if we all try to run lower power? We are totally
ignored and run over like 3 legged dogs crossing an interstate. We
*HAVE* to run high power if we want to keep our freq clear of
interlopers that have no concern for others that are already using the
freq. If we don't , we are run over.

You can say I'm full of it, but I can test this theory over and over
again, and I'll tape a nights worth of it for you, and prove it to
you. The AM guys on the west coast are some of the worst offenders.
They don't care who might be using the freq first. Being they are
running AM, they feel they are !***Special***! , and get to flaunt all
rules and regs. MK

Of course you can prove this theory over and over - the rest of the
world knows that - we hear them every night...... all over the bands -
ever wondered how it got this way......

73 de VK3BFA Andrew.

(Mark Keith) wrote in message om...
(Andrew VK3BFA) wrote in message . com...
"Voice In Wilderness" wrote in message

I get totally ****ed off when 2 amateurs, probably a few hundred miles
apart, insist on running QRO on 80m so they can chat to their buddies
in armchair comfort - wind the receive RF gain back to eliminate those
nasty atmospheric noises, and stuff the rest of the world trying to
have a QSO beneath them.

I get totally ****ed off when I'm talking to other amateurs, usually a
few hundred miles away, usually about 15 of them in the group, with my
rf gain rolled back to eliminate those nasty atmospheric noises,
making efficient use of the 3 kc's we are all sharing, and a bunch of
mindless jerks try to have another QSO on the same frequency. The
frequency is in use. Go find your own.

Wow, I wonder if we are talking about the same thing here - what I was
refering to was the bunch of lids starting their scheduled net (which
the rest of the world should know about anyway, after all its "Their "
frequency ) all running high power with the rf gain wound right back
and not even noticing that they are QRM ing people underneath them
-and these same lids then get really ****ed off when someone with more
power does it to them. You arent one of these people are you? - the
ones I was speciffically reffering to were about 2 years ago (the most
noticeable) when I was operating portable on 80m in the middle of a
forrest in the middle of winter (bloody freezing cold and wet,
operating QRP) during a safety net for a car rally and two Americans
came up and started their QSO - no way they could hear anyone under
them, and I dont think it would have made any difference to them
anyway. We couldnt QSY as the QRO guys didnt leave breaks, just kept
on yakking for hours and hours and hours........ dont ya just love
em....

But hey, this is the way it is - in psychology its called the "law of
comparative advantage" - If I have a big SUV then those nasty little
foreign cars wont bother me when I hit them - but eventually these
drivers get a big SUV as well so eventually everyone is stuck in
traffic driving gas guzzling trucks going nowhere. Same applies to QRO
- if nobody used it, then maybe, just maybe, no one would need it.

BTW - whats the radiated power adjacent channel from a amplifier
putting out 1300 watts - assuming its well designed and has -35
supprseeion (sorry, cant think of the right word here...or the right
spelling....)

BTW, the amount of power I run is irrelevant. But just in case you are
interested, my henry amp has not been on in 3 years. I've got it
partly dismantled. I've only been running 100w for a good while. But
even if I ran 1500w output "I can only do 1300-1400w actually", I
consider people that purposely ignore existing QSO's, mindless idiots.
I also consider them illegal, being they are guilty of malicious
interference if they knowingly do this. "In the USA anyway" You want
to know what happens if we all try to run lower power? We are totally
ignored and run over like 3 legged dogs crossing an interstate. We
*HAVE* to run high power if we want to keep our freq clear of
interlopers that have no concern for others that are already using the
freq. If we don't , we are run over.

You can say I'm full of it, but I can test this theory over and over
again, and I'll tape a nights worth of it for you, and prove it to
you. The AM guys on the west coast are some of the worst offenders.
They don't care who might be using the freq first. Being they are
running AM, they feel they are !***Special***! , and get to flaunt all
rules and regs. MK

Of course you can prove this theory over and over - the rest of the
world knows that - we hear them every night...... all over the bands -
ever wondered how it got this way......

73 de VK3BFA Andrew.

In article ,
"Chuck \(Jack\) Hawley" wrote:

Good tips...all of these. By the way, this is the worst schematic I have
ever seen on any piece of electronic equipment.
I take it that the 80A was built by another company which was bought by MFJ.
I'm beginning to think we should convert this amp to an 80A even if the
active bias ckt is not the culprit here.

Thanks,

Chuck, KE9UW


As I understand, Ameritron first came out with the AL-80 which wasnt too
good, then Prime Instruments bought out Ameritron and upgraded and
improved the AL-80 into the AL-80A. After that it gets cloudy. I think
MFJ bought the ham stuff from Prime and came out with the AL-80B. Even
though my AL-80A says Ameritron on the front the back says Prime
Instruments.

If anyone knows better please come forth.

The AL-80A is a good amp for the money, $500-$800 . Power out 800 to
1000. I don't like to push mine too much so I keep it down around 800
in SSB. Also I usually don't use a amp, 100-200 watts gets the job done
most of the time.

73
Dale, K9VUJ

--
Dale J.
Bloomington, Minnesota

E-mail:

In article ,
"Chuck \(Jack\) Hawley" wrote:

Good tips...all of these. By the way, this is the worst schematic I have
ever seen on any piece of electronic equipment.
I take it that the 80A was built by another company which was bought by MFJ.
I'm beginning to think we should convert this amp to an 80A even if the
active bias ckt is not the culprit here.

Thanks,

Chuck, KE9UW


As I understand, Ameritron first came out with the AL-80 which wasnt too
good, then Prime Instruments bought out Ameritron and upgraded and
improved the AL-80 into the AL-80A. After that it gets cloudy. I think
MFJ bought the ham stuff from Prime and came out with the AL-80B. Even
though my AL-80A says Ameritron on the front the back says Prime
Instruments.

If anyone knows better please come forth.

The AL-80A is a good amp for the money, $500-$800 . Power out 800 to
1000. I don't like to push mine too much so I keep it down around 800
in SSB. Also I usually don't use a amp, 100-200 watts gets the job done
most of the time.

73
Dale, K9VUJ

--
Dale J.
Bloomington, Minnesota

E-mail: