Goodbye to Henry Amps!

[KG4ZQZ]

saw this at:

http://www.radiodan.com/Henry/hf_price98.htm

pretty sad...

[K6UEY]

Well we are sorry to see them go,but not surprised.The list of American Amateur Radio manufactures is getting pretty short. Won't be long you no longer will look in the Yellow pages, but in the Archives.

It is my understanding it should have minimum impact on the new people in Amateur radio. Despite the fact it takes a good experienced operator,an efficient antenna,and an understanding of propagation,the new people are operating QRP.It is my understanding that they know all there is required to know,they passed a test!! # # #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif # # # # # # # # # # # #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[nz3m]

That's what happens when you severely overprice your product.

Dave

[kg4kww]

I agree with 3bk. 3/4 of ham stuff is overpriced.

It's called greed.

[WB2WIK]

Henry stuff was a lot of things, but it was never overpriced.

If anything, it was underpriced for the market. My model 3K Premier with a 3CX1200D7 and 1500W output on 160 through 10 meters has been a workhorse since I bought it new in 1986 for only $1695. That was about half the price of an equivalent Alpha, and less than Ameritron or anybody else in the world sells a similar amplifier for, today.

The old 2K models of the 1960s ran the legal limit (then) and sold for no more than the Collins 30L1, which ran about half the legal limit and sold by the thousands and thousands.

Henry built high powered amateur amplifiers for 45 years and were always extremely easy to deal with. My 3K literally vibrated completely off the bench in the Northridge 1994 earthquake, and hit the floor. The roller inductor roller jumped position and wedged itself between turns of the ribbon, and when I fired up on the air, it got so hot it welded itself to the ribbon coil -- not exactly Henry's fault.

I drove it down there in my car. They replaced the bad parts while I waited, tested the amp, and loaded it back in my trunk. For free. A "warranty repair," even though the unit was really out of warranty and was damaged by an earthquake. Not bad.

I'm sorry to see them go, but then, I was sorry to see Rockwell acquire Collins; I was sorry to see Heathkit go; I was sorry to see Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, National, Swan, E.F. Johnson, Astro, Clegg.... A lot of this is because great companies founded by entrepeneurial engineers just had to fail when the founders got old, or died. They were great engineers, but never set up an infratructure for the companies to survive them.

The Japanese, I must say, are great at this.

WB2WIK/6

[KC7UP]

I also am sad to see Henry go with amplifier sales. My 2KD classic was purchased new from Henry in 1986 and my only problem was replacing the filament choke resistors and a 12V relay. This amp was bought new for 1100 bucks plus shipping. Long before becoming a ham I was in Butler, Mo and accidentaly stumbled into the original store and that triggered my thinking about becoming a ham. I already was in communications thru the goverment.
Curt

[W5RLW]

SORRY TO SEE THEM GO. HENRY BUILT QUALITY PRODUCTS, NOT MANY AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS. W5RLW

[AG3Y]

Yup, I'm going to miss old Henry Amps. #Mr. Amps was a great guy ! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

( just a little levity there ! )

Edited to correct the Brain Phart !

[KG4ZQZ]

Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ Feb. 10 2005,16:35)]Yup, I'm going to miss old Henry Amps. Mr. Amps was a great guy ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

( just a little brevity there ! )
uh, levity? (i know you're not being 'short' with us)...

:-)

but i get what you're saying...

and yes, it's sad to see another line of amateur radio products disappear from the market... (i feel fortunate in being able to say that at least i've seen a Henry amp - too bad that i turned down the offer to use it at the time)...

but there *is* hope!

witness the growth of kit projects from the QRP groups and other talented hams! sometimes these kits and projects can become commercial products...

and there are also some very good commercial kitters and parts shops still on the market - including several for HF amplifiers....

i've been on a building spree lately, and i have to say that there are some great kits out there that provide useful and interesting hardware; great bang-for-the-buck, too!

but that's for another thread...

[AG3Y]

I suspect that there will not be any amplifier kits available in the near future. #The reason I say so is that there are just too many people that are willing to sue the pants off someone because their "significant other" fried him/herself into kingdom come by grabbing hold of some capacitor that had a few thousand volt charge in it. #It would be very possible for someone building a kit amplifier to do that, but nearly impossible for someone building a popular qrp rig, on the other hand.

There are just too many litigation-happy people running around loose in the world, today. #I don't think it has ever been said in so many words, but I suspect that it could be one underlying reason that manufacturers such as Heath and Knight got out of the business! # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

73, Jim

[n9lya]

Quote[/b] (AB3BK @ Feb. 10 2005,00:20)]That's what happens when you severely overprice your product.

Dave
Ok.. Keep buying your walmart, made in Korea ,low wage worker markets... And pay nothing for nothing...

I sure will miss them.. They were not over priced if anything they tried like hell to cater to the miser Hams..

73 jerry n9lya

[nz3m]

Quote[/b] (n9lya @ Feb. 09 2005,16:59)]Quote[/b] (AB3BK @ Feb. 10 2005,00:20)]That's what happens when you severely overprice your product.

Dave
Ok.. Keep buying your walmart, made in Korea ,low wage worker markets... And pay nothing for nothing...



73 jerry n9lya
Just what are you trying to say? I'm a low wage, WalMart shopping loser. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

Last time I checked, their prices were very close to the Alpha Amps. Are they comparible in quality? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

Dave

[WB2WIK]

Henry amps and Alpha amps are not very similar at all.

Alpha focused on desktop amplifiers exclusively and attempted to package a great deal of power into small enclosures. They also focused heavily on bandpass or autotune amplifiers, which were really their forte, and all the Alphas going back to the old "ETO" days (when the amps were made in Florida, by W4ETO), had a lot of self-protection circuitry to make them fairly idiot-proof.

While I've owned and liked some of the Alpha amps, the idiot-proofing used to drive me absolutely nuts. Even if the amp was fully capable of delivering impressive power into a seriously mismatched load, the amp simply won't let you. SWR over 2:1? The amp will simply shut down and bypass itself until this "problem" is corrected. Ugh.

Henry amps, on the other hand, were mostly very substantial: Read "heavy" and "large," and all their best amps were floor-standing models, called "pedestal" units. They had enormous power supplies that ran cool as cucumbers at any power level, and no self-protection circuitry at all. My 3K Premier can pump 1500W into a 6:1 SWR on pretty much any band, alleviating the need for an antenna tuner most of the time.

I kind of like the Henry products, because they're a lot closer to what I would homebrew, or what I have homebrewed. Bulletproof by design and component selection, backed by a warranty that was hard to believe. For many years, if you owned a Henry amp and it failed, no matter how old it was, warranty or not, they'd simply fix it. Pretty hard to beat that.

Of course, I was spoiled by being within a 30 minute drive of the factory, so I've been to the factory many, many times. It was always like a walk through history, because they had stuff there from "day 1" of Henry amplifiers, and could support, service and supply spare parts for virtually everything they ever sold. A lot of the parts in Henry amps were fabricated by Henry, expressly for use in the amplifiers -- including their gigantic edge-wound roller inductors found in the majority of their HF amplifier products.

Also unlike Alpha and most others, Henry built legal-limit amps for 6m, 2m, 220 MHz, 432 MHz, etc. I had their floor model 4004, which was an 8877 amp for 70cm that easily delivered 1500W output all day long without breaking a sweat. It was stable and ran cool and was the perfect "moonbounce" amp for those who didn't want to homebrew.

Very different products, from very different companies. I'll miss 'em for sure!

WB2WIK/6

[KC0NBW]

how much equipment did henry radio actually make?

the two tempo ones i have had were actually yaesu ft-200s.
the tempo #hts i have were made by aor.

i agree that they had some good products, but they were not always ''american made''. # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[K3UD]

It feels strange to be out of the loop.

I thought Henry radio bit the dust a long time ago and had no idea that they were still turning out amplifiers. I don't remember seeing any advertising by Henry in QST for a number of years and I don't think I have seen a review of the amps in QST.

(as I was writing this I thought it wise to go to the ARRL site and check in he product reviews section to make sure I did not miss a review of a Henry amp. There was nothing at all listed for Henry)

Was Henry still making versions of the old 2K and 4K series that was aimed at the ham market or were they producing commercial and military stuff?

If they were making them for the ham market, I am surprised that they did not advertise in QST (unless I missed it) or that there was no review of any new amps Henry produced ever published in QST.

73
George
K3UD

[K7FE]

Most Henry amps were based on Eimac application notes. #Henry had a large industrial market for their products, since they were built so solid. #An example is in the semiconductor industry where manufactures would use the Henry amps with the band switching removed as RF sputtering amplifiers at 13.7 Mhz. #The RF signal would heat up gold, silver or other metals in a vacuum until it vaporized and plated everything in the Bell Jar. #This was used extensivly in the manufacturing of diodes, transistors and integrated circuits. # I saw a lot of Henry "2-K" type amps used for this prior to Vac Ion systems. #Higher power tube amps were used for industrial heating to "cure" glues. #A ham could purchase a Henry Amplifier use it for 20 years with the same tubes in it and pass it on to your grand children. Quality comes at a price. I have had my Henry 2K-4 amp for almost 30 years and no problems.

73,
Terry, K7FE

[KM5FL]

The buzzards have started to circle.. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

http://radiodan.com/Henry/Amp_specs/sshf_spec.htm

KM5FL

[K3UD]

Supply and demand.

Capitalism at its finest.

I have been looking for a Very Fine or better pre 1800 US Silver Dollar. For some reason I always seem to get outbid on eBay and can't seem to find one for less than $600 for the most common date from the coin dealers.

Someone has a TR-4CW up on eBay and the last time I looked, it was up to almost $3,000. He is advertising it is Mint and Collectable.

There is a person who is advertising one here on QRZ and identifies the condition as excellent. It can be had for $950.

You make a choice and pay the going rate, or drop out of the action.

73
George
K3UD

[kb2vxa]

Hi QROers,

No, Henry didn't make all their own equipment, some like a power supply that eventually crapped out was simply "repackaged". This 13.8V 20A regulated supply was a double sized aluminium box with a Lambda supply made for forced air cooling sitting along one side, the other half empty. I partitioned it off and installed a cooling fan and it worked for a few years before it died. SOME "Henry gear just isn't what it's cracked up to be but that 3K does everything they say it does and more.

BTW, Clegg is alive and well in Escondido California under the Palomar Engineering Group. FIY, and I'll bet much to your chagrin (spelling?) Clegg designed the first crystal synth 23 channel CB rig, the Polycomm Pro 23 made by Palomar and much more. Now get this, they even made a VFO for CB but I can't say Clegg had anything to do with it.

See Alice? Not everything is as it appears this side of the looking glass.

73 de Warren KB2VXA

[WA2CWA]

Quote[/b] ]BTW, Clegg is alive and well in Escondido California under the Palomar Engineering Group. FIY, and I'll bet much to your chagrin (spelling?) Clegg designed the first crystal synth 23 channel CB rig, the Polycomm Pro 23 made by Palomar and much more. Now get this, they even made a VFO for CB but I can't say Clegg had anything to do with it.

I'm curious where you got this information from.

The "first" frequency synthesized 23 channel CB rig was designed in the Polytronics Lab in 1963. I believe it was marketed as the PC-23. Clegg (under his company) wasn't involved in CB sets. Later on, after merging with Squires Sanders, several CB sets were marketed (1965-1968).
The Poly-comm "Pro" and its "business" brother were manufactured by Polytronics after it became a subsidiary of Vitro Electronics in MD. Manufacturering was roughly from 1963- 1968.

Palomar Electronics was involved in "arrangements" with Swan and Siltronix. Swan manufacturered the Swan 1011 under a private label brand for Palomar. It was called the Palomar Siltronix 1011. Palomar also made a line of VFO's or "sliders as they were called. They also made a line of linear amplifiers. The Company faded away in the early 80's.

Palomar Engineers, currently manufacturers of amateur radio products, had no connection to Palomar Electronics.
I could find no connection between Clegg, Polytronics, and Palomar Electronics other than all three creaters of these companies have now passed on.

Pete, wa2cwa

[kb2vxa]

Hi Pete CWA and readers,

Since it's Confusion Band to begin with I could have confused Palomar Electronics with Palomar Engineering. If anyone should know it's you so I'll accept what you say.

One thing I DO have right is the Gonset Communicator series used Clegg designs and later Palomar Engineering manufactured an FM adapter for them. I wish I could remember where the manuals and docs got off to so I could scan and send them to you. That would be RIGHT up your alley knowing your business.

BTW, I once had the Communicator 1 through 4 2M sets and matching 6n2 VFO but like boat anchors they weighed me down so I had to sell it all.

73 de Warren KB2VXA