ALS-600 Keying Issue. Any Suggestions?

I have an Old ALS-600 that has served me well. My guess it is about 15 years old, never a problem with it.
Recently when putting the Amplifier in "Operate", the Xmit Green light dims very low. The amplifier will not key. If I just let it set for some time in Standby, it will eventually start working and the Xmit light that was dimly lit works correctly, and shows a bright green when keyed. Any ideas? I guess it may be time to send it back to Ameritron to have a look at it.

Any suggestions on where to send it for repair vs Ameritron.

Thanks,
Keith, K4KAL

 

Does it do this if you use a clip lead (or paperclip, or anything that's a good conductor) to short out the RLY jack instead of using your "rig" to do it?

 

I need to check that, I have a foot switch I can plug in vs the Relay.

 

The Amplifier acts the same with Foot Switch... My Icom PROIII has a Keying Relay in between, so that eliminates the Radio and the Relay. Thanks for the Suggestion, that tells me it is the Amp with the problem.

 

Just as a guess, could the keying power supply be failing? Maybe get a volt meter on that circuit upon startup.

Ed

 

You may have a leaky filter cap in the 12volt low voltage power supply. Easy enough to change.

 

Thanks everyone for replying, I returned the Amplifier to MFJ for Repair. They wanted both RF Deck and Power Supply.