Looking for AMP suggestions for my 6600M I just ordered

Rob Monsipapa

I am wondering what AMPs people are using with their 6600M. I just ordered mine at the Yuma Hamfest, will get it in 6-8 weeks so I have time to shop. Would like a solid state AMP with a built in ATU. Min 1000 Watts. Open to input folks! Thanks

Tim - W4TME

If you relax the built-in requirement for an ATU that can be located closer to the antenna feed point (making it a coupler), the PowerGenius XL integrates nicely with the 6600.  Both are Ethernet connected and when mater up with the 6000, the radio becomes a 1500W transceiver. They are in beta testing now and the results have been excellent.  

http://www.flexradio.com/amateur-products/powergenius-xl/

Varistor

Why solid state? Do you need 6m? Take a look at OM Power, carried by Array Solutions, Acom, Elecraft, and the yet to be released Power Genius (no ATU). Personally I use OM Power and Alphas. If you don’t need 6m, right now there is a guy on QTH.com selling a 4KW automatic OM Power.

Rob Monsipapa

Love the PowerGenius but it’s been priced out of my range. Looking at a top end of $5000 so there are some great amps at that price....

Rob Monsipapa

Solid state are smaller, lighter and come on a lot quicker. Don’t need 6M. Been looking at the Expert 1.3 and ACOM 1200S but wanted to see what others have been using.

Wim

I use an elecraft KPA 500 with the KAT500 tuner, works very well with the flex, the band data
can be sent via USB output of the flex to the Amp/tuner

Larry _ NY8T

I am using a SPE 1.3k-fa and use the built in tuner for my hex beam but I also have a palstar hf-auto mated up with it to tune my multi band dipole. For me this is a very nice combination and covers all my needed bases.

N8FNR

I have a KPA500 also and it is great. The kit was super easy to build. I have a Steppir vertical so I don't need a tuner.

dj3cq

Using an Expert 2K since 2012, a small warranty issue and no further problems yet. For Dxpedition use I have a 1.3 as well and if the 2k would die I would opt for the 1.5.
The connection to these Experts, using the FDX usb-ports works flawless, one of the best jobs FRS ever did...
 My amp is under the table now and I control on/off standby/operate with the small applet.
Tuner or not, an important question: For me it's a must but others mileage may vary...

73, Jo
dj3cq

Paul M

I put a second vote in for the Expert series of AMPs,  I, too, have the 2K-FA and the 1.3-FA and they both work flawlessly with the Flex.   The before and after sale service here in the US is excellent.

Paul -W4PGM

John - K3MA

I have the exact same setup with a 6500.  It works well.  Stay away from a PW1.  I am not saying the amp is not good but we have had all kinds of interface reliability issues using it with a Flex 6XXX series.

I should also add that I operate the Flex and the SPE amp in a remote fashion 100% of the time.

If money were no object and I did not already have a good amp then I would get the Power Genius.  Otherwise I would get a SPE 2K or 1.5K.

K3SF

ditto..

i also have KPA500 that works well with flex and the USB cable. Antennas are tuned to each band.

I find the 500 watts is sufficient.  Now sitting at 329 worked with 327confirmed on my way to HR.

Steve K9ZW

I’m running a Flex-6700 with an Alpha-9500at each of my QTHs. The home one has been set aside for a Flex-6600M and PGXL recently. I’ve run an SPE 1.3 which along with my ever-trustworthy Alpha-78 remain as backups. Zero issues with the Alphas or my PGXL. The SPE has gone in twice since new. I do like the Alpha-78 if one is in the shack to make band changes. My two Collins stations have 30L1s and somewhere in my lockup is a dedicated 6m King Conversion amp. YMMV but most of the popular amp choices do well. Orphans might take more effort to keep going long term and amps dependent on obsolete components are a challenge. BTW I seldom run any of these at more than half power. Little point. 73 Steve K9ZW

Ria

3 minute warmup has caused me to miss many a DX on 160. Solid convert to solid state now.

Ria

Power Genius XL is my first choice but the SPE 1.5K-FA is a good choice as well. The 1.5K has the new 1K80H transistor so it can run legal limit with acceptable IMD.

Burch - K4QXX

That 3 minute warmup sometimes feels like eternity.

Jerry W4UK

Yaesu Quadra - good for 1.2 KW SSB/CW. Very nice auto antenna switching by band to 4 output ports, ATU handles up to around 3:1. BCD output on Flex controls Quadra bandswitching.

Jerry W4UK 

Jeff W7NEE

I too have used a Quadra amplifier with great success with my Flex Radios. It is like having a 1kw Transceiver! Everything tracks and operates automatically!

Varistor

One thing to consider- heavy is not necessarily bad. There are certain components you do want to see heavy duty, ie heavy. For example, the LPF wire and toroids, output matching transformer, combined, power supply, and cooling subsystem. Even the cabinet/enclosure benefits from using heavy duty materials to minimize vibrations and noise.

So unless you plan on moving your amp all the time, consider de-emphasizing weight.

Mark WS7M

Rob, If you are looking for Solid State amp, I have an Expert 1K-FA in great condition.  We can make a deal on it.  Email me:  ws7m@arrl.net

Rick Ciotti W3DIY

Operating a SPE1.5K. 1.5K out with 8W drive from the Flex6500. The ATU matches a not so flat 40M beam without an issue. The amp follows the radio band changes. This is my first experience with SPE and its been a great one so far. W3DIY

Jeff W7NEE

Jerry, are you using DDutil to control your Quadra?

David Salomon

I have an Acom 2000a.  Yes, it's a tube amp and the replacement tubes can be pricey (and maybe very hard to find eventually).  However, it will take anything you throw at it without a hiccup.  It handles 400 watts of reflected power (more in some cases depending on resonance, frequency, etc.).  The automatic tuning is nearly instantaneous.  It has every imaginable built-in protection.  And the best thing (for me) is that it can be located almost anywhere.  Only the remote needs to be touched once the main power is on.  There are several programs that will control it automatically, including DDUtil, so you really don't even need access to the remote.  It's also pretty quiet.  The only downsides are: the weight (around 90 lbs, I think), the footprint (it's a big sucker), and like Ria said - the warmup time.  I've tested it using my SplatterView (www.CleanRF.com) and scope and it's always perfectly linear.  Oh, and you can use it to heat your house as well.

Bill -VA3WTB

K3SF are you using DDUtil controling  the amp and using the USB?

Jerry W4UK

Yes - DDUTIL does bandswitching (only) at present.  I have the USB to BCD gadget but just haven't wired it up yet.

W4UK

Mark_WS7M

I've never had an issue with an SPE amp... (so far).

I started with the 1K FA which was a great amp.  Maxed out at about 1100 watts.  However since I like CW and digital modes the amp simply could not handle digital mode activity.  For example a rtty down of about 20 seconds takes it almost up to red-line temp.

So when the PGXL was announced I was excited, except for the price.  However a deal came up on a new 2K FA that I could not turn down.  It was almost $1000 off the new price making it about $1500 cheaper than the PGXL which still is not available.

So having the 2K FA now for a few months I have to say it is a great amp.  I only had two concerns:

1) It will not do 1500 out key down in CW.  It will do it for a short time then the protection takes over even though the heat is not really that high and it automatically reduces the power to the mid range or about 1100 out.

2) It was not integrated with the flex.  This meant for true remote I had to pull together a webpage to control it with.

Considering my operating these two things are not too bad.  I op CW as much as I can and the amp easily does 1500 out as long as I don't key down for long periods.  I have managed to with my web page and a pi make the amp seem to be almost fully integrated.

When I was considering amps I seriously considered the RF amp from the Germans' I think called PA B26 and I might still look into one of these.  From what I read in the news group and the web page it looks like they are getting 1500 watts with like 1.5 watts input.   Because the FCC to get my 2K FA to do this I need about 30 watts in.

Anyway I fully agree that solid state is the way to go.

Mark - WS7M

Varistor

Here's a summary of the B26 amp performance:

Last Weekend I did an heavy 48h activity at the WPX with DL1CG and DL3SKF.
We used 2 x RF2K+ (SW 55.2.150), 3 Antennas. (2x LW Doppelzepp 42m, 10m ASL and 1 x Spiderbeam 15m ASL)
PA Drive Power: =<15W with PA-ATT: 13 dB
What was good:
- The outstanding RF Performance !
- the Power efficiency is more than the Acom 1000  Tube-PA's we used in the past. 
  So, one 2500W Generator is enough per Station.
- No reported IM and Splatter from our side and nearby stations :-)
What was bad:
- Metering Display comes with (variable, depending of CPU-Load?) 2-3 Sec. delay
  You can not see what's going on if you press PTT and start TX (real RF Power seems generated with no extra delay)
  but it was almost impossible set the TRX Output Pwr/Processor/MIC-AMP correctly in SSB for legal Limit Power. 
- Releasing the PTT after TX causes a massive Time Lag in the Meter displaying (variable) 1K+ RF for ~2-5 Sec on RX
  it looks like the cpu flushes the TX-Metering-Data after releasing the PTT-Line. 
- all Keys on the Touch where (variable) delayed....this was not funny :-) 
- No Yaesu BCD Support ( we must use PTT Line with Hardware Universal IF)
- Sometimes (not very often) an Over-Current and High SWR - Errors occours caused by RF-Injection trough the LW-Antenna from the 
  Second Station. This is a minor Problem because the LW Antennas where too near. (~50m) 
  The combination Spiderbeam and one LW did not cause this Problem. 
  
- No WLAN-AP Support ==> no VNC Remote yet (I'll make QSO, not playing with my Raspi so this is a minor Problem for me)
So, for us is the focus to have a Real Time Display to see immediately what's going on Pressing the PTT-Line or Pressing a Key on the Touch.....
My suggestions:
- We use Raspi 3B+. Does the new FW use all CPU-Cores or is the PA further controlled by an 4 Core-Raspi using only one Core?
- The status modification of the PTT-Line should cause an Interrupt on Raspi !
- To save time -when pressing PTT- for me it is much-needed to Implement the BCD-Band-Data functionality that makes
  the frequency counting on the Universal-IF not more necessary.
I would be glad if the new FW will solve some fundamental difficulties.
In this (SW-) condition the planned RF2K+-presentation for our HAM-Group is postponed.

Vy 73 de Rolf DL4SKF

roger na4rr

As others have said, cant go wrong with the Expert. Also service form Bob in Texas is outstanding.  I thought I had a problem and I did. As usual OP error.
Roger

Varistor

We all have our own reasons for making decisions. Personally, I would not buy anything that depends for service on "Bob in Texas". I am in the process of replacing my manual amps with auto/no-tune and my shopping list is as follows (note that I need two amps for being able to run both SO2R and M/S):

1) Used OM Power 2500A (not too many of them around)
2) Used Alpha 87A with all mods/upgrades (it's a classic, totally idiot proof but not as robust as the OM Power)
3) Used Acom 2000a (the protection is a bit too picky and sometimes trips when using different stack combinations, not as robust as the OM Power)
4) Elecraft K1500 (things are getting really expensive for two amps)
4) Power Genius (not sure I want to place all my best in one amp, no ability to run M/S)

Haven't decided yet how to rank the K1500 vs the PGXL

W2PP

I have an ACOM 2000a for sale right now if you are interested, email me.
pgprendergast@yahoo.com
Peter

Varistor

I have about 90K QSOs under my belt with Acoms. They don't like it too much when you change the stack combination and the protection sometimes trips. It requires I keep an eye on it all the time. Last but not least, I should have mentioned that the tubes are becoming rare and expensive.