Power Genius XL

Asher - K0AU

Pair of Alpha 9500s would look really impressive on your QSL card!

The 9500 has been a solid performer. Lost a TR relay just before SS a couple years ago. Lost QRO for the contest, but Alpha was great at fixing the problem after I mailed them the control board.

I'm just dipping my toe into 6M. Next project is to swap out my Optibeam OB9-5 for a SteppIR. (Don't tell Thomas at Optibeam). Wish it was easier to sell used, high-end ham gear.

Eric Gruff

My Alpha is about 7 years old and has been back for repair three times. Mostly the HV circuits. Right after the latest repair, the internal RS-232 chip died again, so it only works with local control (no remote). I hate shipping it back for repair due to the size and weight, so it's going to stay that way unless I find the time to fix it myself.

As a 6 M enthusiast (WAS, 450+ grids worked) and a SteppIR owner (had DB36, now DB18E), I will tell you to buy a good 4- or 5-element yagi for 6 M. The SteppIRs are not good performers on 6. They work marginally well at best. I've done countless A/B tests with my 7-element OP-DES yagi, and there's at least an 8 dB improvement with the dedicated yagi over either of the SteppIRs. They are great on HF, just not for 6 M.

Asher - K0AU

Useful feedback on the SteppIR. I have an OB9-5 stacked with a OB2-40M Moxon. Covers 10-40M beautifully. The SteppIR sales people wouldn't return a phone call when I was antenna shopping in 2014. I generally won't buy product from a company that won't return a sales inquiry.

I can't add a dedicated 6M yagi to my current stack, but I suppose I could do a DB18E for 10-40M and stack a a 6M yagi above it. Any field reports on 40M performance with the DB18E? I can't fit a DB36.

Eric Gruff

I had a DB36 up on the same tower for 2 years before the trees around it got too big and i had to switch it out for a DB18E. The only real difference between the two (besides dimensions and weight) is on 40 M. There is no question that the DB36 is a much better antenna on that band, and I did sacrifice quite a bit by moving to the smaller antenna. That said, both work very well, but are delicate and often require work, so make sure you have access via a crank-up tower or other means.

You can put a 6 M yagi on a 25-35' push up mast and it will work very well. I see only small differences in my 7-element yagi when my tower is nested at 25'. Not perfect, but you're still over 1 wavelength high and will do just fine. I would do that before replacing your OBs. Just my $0.02. 

Good luck!

mikeatthebeach .

mikeatthebeach .

Works Great

KF4HR

It's great to hear Oct '17 orders are being filled.  Hopefully my Dec '17 order won't be far behind.

Tino Pavic

Difficulty may be relative, but distance is not. Despite of using massive antennas, I never operate without good amplifier. From VK3 there is virtually nothing to work within 10,000 km.

Tino Pavic

My grandfather is 300 years old, he always run less than 1W, and he stabbed Napoleon with rusty screwdriver. So much **** ....

Tino Pavic

It is game of decibel, and big amp adds 13 dB in your favor. How hard is this to understand ?
I have 4 element yagi, so how much bigger antenna I need for 13 dB gain ? Only 10 stacked 6 element yagis. 

Tino Pavic

Pat, you may argue 3+1=7 and demand we respect your opinion.
You are saying nonsense, and we help you by telling you the truth.

Pat N6PAT

To each his own. If you need a lot of power to make a contact then by all means use it.

It's my belief that the less power you use to snag a rare one the more enjoyment you will get. That's just my opinion.  I doubt I'll ever run more than 300 or 400 watts. I'm having way too much fun at 300 with a simple ground mounted vertical.

KF4HR

The off-topic points have been made.  What say we focus on the subject of the thread now?

DL4RCE

Any update on availability in Europe / CE certification?

Thanks

Volker

Doug

FWIW I ordered a Power Genius XL this month. It is shipping now and should be here Wed 29th of April. Ordered on 15th of April
Doug K9CRT Decatur, IL

Bill -VA3WTB

Wow, nice,,let us know how it works out in you shack...

Doug

Thanks Bill, sure will keep you up to date. It has been a long time coming for me. I sold my Alpha 8410 about 2 years ago. I have been looking for several years to get a linear the same as my transceiver I was running. So I am sure I will be happy with the PGXL and my Flex 6400M.

Eric Gruff

Just an update - I have had my PGXL for about two months. It's no longer vaporware (or vapourware for my colleagues outside the US).

It's a great amp in many ways. Instant on, very tolerant of imperfect SWRs (nothing crazy, but say 2:1), interfaces beautifully with my 6700. No glitches or crashes or any other issues.

Two negatives, although one is the design and something I knew going in, so just an observation.

One, the fan is NOISY. Under heavy use or in Contest Mode, it sounds like a turboprop plane revving up for takeoff. It does a great job of cooling the amp, but my wife and daughters have come by and asked me what the heck was making so much noise in my office. Definitely a bit of a drawback for contests.

Two, only two antenna outputs (one per channel). I have four different antennas to cover 160 - 6 M and I have to use an external antenna switch to cover everything, which makes remoting more of a pain than it should be. All of my other amps have at least three antenna ports, and four is really ideal IMO. Not sure there's any chance of a firmware upgrade to address this issue ;-)

Overall, I am very impressed with the PGXL and recommend it to anyone looking for a rugged SS PA. This is coming from someone who saw an Expert 1.3K-FA immolate itself a total of three times in routine use.

Sergey KN7K

Hi Eric,
Send me an email, i will show you my way to make it less loud, may be it will work for you. email is good at qrz dot com
kn7k

4O3A Signature

Hi Eric, just to ask - are you talking about SSB, or CW mode. In AB class ( CW, Digi..) do you have MEffA enabled? 73 Ranko

Patrick

Part of the deal to buy this amp, was the inclusion of an antenna tuner.  So were is it, is it anywhere near production?  We are now years into this process, so how about an update for those that put up there cash for the amp with a promise of an include tuner.  Time for an update!

Doug

My amp was delivered a day earlier than UPS predicted. Unpacked it and had it on the air pretty much painless. Just a little confusion in the setup screen finding my radio (6400M) but once I found the drop down menu to choose it it is off and running. 1st contact was on 20m and it certainly puts out the juice on 20m. Even with 30w drive my radio will talk it up on ssb above 1500w on a LP700 meter. The only negative I see so far is the meter on the amp and what it displays on the radio that shows it's output is it doesn't read PEP. Come on Flex this is terrible my Ten Tec Centurion that is 30 years old does this. My AL80B does this, what is up with this ? 

Mike-VA3MW

I had my Amp online this morning for some 6M Meteor Scatter running with MeffA turned on.  I worked VE1SKY on about the 2nd call as a couple of timely rocks buzzed by.  

This is with my HF remote station and the PGXL remote as well.  

The power was only 317 watts when I took the screen shot rather than the 700 it normally is for Meteor Scatter.  We are limited to 750 digital modes in Canada.

Mike va3mw

KF4HR

Doug I contacted 403A awhile back about the issue of the PG-XL not providing a PEP reading and received the following reply:

PWR display on PGXL when read peak power in SSB is software issue and will be improved.

73
Ranko

I heard that this problem may involve Ethernet latency issues.

I also use the LP700 to monitor the PEP output.  What a fantastic unit, eh?

Butch
KF4HR

Doug

I was hoping it could (maybe would) be solved with an update of firmware. It's not a deal breaker of course especially with our LP700 meter and also my Palstar AT4K meter set to pep following my LP700 very closely. One other trivia comment after adding my PGXL and sitting back looking at my station is now every piece of gear sitting there is black hi hi. The amp, tuner, LP, Flex transceiver. And I might add it is 100% USA. 

Doug

Good show there Mike, I remember looking at your station remotely from the Collinsville,IL (Greater St. Louis Hamfest) the past January where Flex had a wonderful display setup.

Tim VE6SH

Other than the amp being manufactured in Montenegro?

Doug

I feel like this is splitting hairs but yes it has 4O3A on it but Flex has their finger on it and has written most of the software for interfacing into the 6000 series Flex radios. When we look closely most electronic equipment is full of China inside. As you are aware everything is global anymore from electronics to soybeans. I live in Central IL (The soybean capitol of the world) and when it rains in Brazil the price of soybeans here goes down 10 cents a bushel.

Tim VE6SH

I agree Doug. I was more tongue in cheek! 

73

Tim VE6SH