Problems With ALPHA 8410

[KO6WB]

Well Ken, it took a lot of jumping through the hoops and some screaming and hollering, but the fact Alpha shipped you a completely different amplifier kind of is an admission from Alpha that you got a dog. Yes they are finger pointing and skipping around trying to make it look like it's not their fault but it really doesn't matter now. What matters is the amplifier was replaced and you have got what you need for the operation of your station. I'd just be happy with that.
It's kind of like the bank making a mistake on your account. You would have to pull teeth out before they would ever admit fault. There are scapegoats for their errors, such as, the computer made an error. Well it took a person to put that error into the computer to begin with but more often then not people accept that excuse.
Relax and enjoy your fully functioning amplifier and just let the other things slip away.
73
Gary

[AG6K]

Well Ken, it took a lot of jumping through the hoops and some screaming and hollering, but the fact Alpha shipped you a completely different amplifier kind of is an admission from Alpha that you got a dog. Yes they are finger pointing and skipping around trying to make it look like it's not their fault but it really doesn't matter now. What matters is the amplifier was replaced and you have got what you need for the operation of your station. I'd just be happy with that.
It's kind of like the bank making a mistake on your account. You would have to pull teeth out before they would ever admit fault. There are scapegoats for their errors, such as, the computer made an error. Well it took a person to put that error into the computer to begin with but more often then not people accept that excuse.
Relax and enjoy your fully functioning amplifier and just let the other things slip away.
73
Gary

 Amen Gary. It's called hubris - which is why it took so long to get rid of the 18th Amendment mistake after it was realized that a war on alcohol was a disaster for this country. Of late we have been finding out the same thing about Tricky Dick Nixon's War on Drugs.
- editorial - For a dose of reality regarding Nixon's War on Drugs I recommend the uncensored version of the movie "Spun" (2002, 101 minutes).

[W3XAF]

Hi Gary,

You are absolutely correct. My brand-new ALPHA 8410 is working perfectly. It's a gem of an amplifier. No complaints whatsoever.

Well Ken, it took a lot of jumping through the hoops and some screaming and hollering, but the fact Alpha shipped you a completely different amplifier kind of is an admission from Alpha that you got a dog. Yes they are finger pointing and skipping around trying to make it look like it's not their fault but it really doesn't matter now. What matters is the amplifier was replaced and you have got what you need for the operation of your station. I'd just be happy with that.
It's kind of like the bank making a mistake on your account. You would have to pull teeth out before they would ever admit fault. There are scapegoats for their errors, such as, the computer made an error. Well it took a person to put that error into the computer to begin with but more often then not people accept that excuse.
Relax and enjoy your fully functioning amplifier and just let the other things slip away.
73
Gary

[AB1QP]

Really?

It would be my guess that almost all Ham radio operators would not know or care.

This is the "plug and play" generation of ham radio like it or not. Most of them (us) don't know even the most basic things about ham radio, nor do they (us) seem to care.

Rich, I've been reading your stuff for decades and you still have not convinced me that your theory is correct. Nor have you convinced me that every thing that goes wrong in a commercial amp is somehow related to these mysterious parasitics.

Who knows? You might be right, but your arguments are not conclusive, especially when you dilute them so much.

Good luck with the crusade. How many years (decades) has it been now? Is it not time to give it a rest?

73 Rich and I mean it with all sincerity...

Gary

True, most of 'dat. Except for making the assumption you understand what <most> amateurs care or know about. I'm not sure thats knowable with the info available.

BUT - as far as the crusade...when what you sell is nails, I suppose that its natural to offer nails as the solution to all and any fastening problem. Tiresome, though.

AB1QP

[AB1QP]

Hi Gary,

You are absolutely correct. My brand-new ALPHA 8410 is working perfectly. It's a gem of an amplifier. No complaints whatsoever.

Are you really the ONLY W3AXF writing these posts?

AB1QP

[AG6K]

Even Rolls Royce had thier bad days. Alpha has always been a stand up company they have helped me trouble shoot a 17 year old amp that had an intermitt. TX problem. Glad it worked out for you so far( we'll keep our fingers crossed). I did not think it was Ol' Parasitic vodoo snake oil BS that was the problem like the only one person in the world thinks. I have never seen a problem from that but I have seen the problems that his so called fixes cause.

 Many of Rolls-Royce's problems were caused by Lucas electrics. My neighbor had a Bently and the dealer in Beverly Hills used to pick it up on a flatbed truck to haul it to the hospital. . . . Fortunately Rolls switched to Bosch electrics when BMW bought them out. Eventually my neighbor got rid of the Bently. However , it was definitely a beautiful automobile. I guess you could say it invited comparison to a beautiful woman -- nice to look at but . . . . . . .

How could decreasing the VHF-amplification of a HF/MF amplifier c. 70% and retrofitting glitch protection cause a problem? Is a 2% decrease in P-out at 28MHz likely to cause a problem?

To find out whether or not a HF/MF amplifier had a VHF or UHF oscillation, don't take anybody's advice, instead disconnect one end of the suppressor R and measure the ohms. If it's more than 5x out of tolerance, chances are you had at least one.

[AG6K]

True, most of 'dat. Except for making the assumption you understand what <most> amateurs care or know about. I'm not sure thats knowable with the info available.

BUT - as far as the crusade...when what you sell is nails, I suppose that its natural to offer nails as the solution to all and any fastening problem. Tiresome, though.

AB1QP

 It seems to me that the solution is to stop reading that which tires you.