Ameritron AL-811H 800 Watt Amplifier Demo and Review 

i didnt even know they made this product. its on my list of things to get now. Thanks Josh

This is a good video of tune up procedures. Far better than most. He didn't over drive the amp, and he let it cool between key down. Started small and re-tuned when he went to higher power. Good job. He also gave a good description of why you would want to own one.

Just bought an 811 yesterday. Great video for amp n00bs. Thanks Josh!

Thanks Josh. You're the source that sealed the deal for me for my first amp. Thanks for posting the video! 73 de W5AJO.

Very nice video Josh, excellent for new hams thinking of more power. Highly recommended and appreciate your "no attitude" style. 73 Peter

best vid I have found for tuning a Amp I looked everywhere For Icom 7300 with a Al 80n but this will work thank I even have the same Antenna tuner.

Congrats on getting a nice Amp Josh you will really like it!

Great video and probably the amp I would go with since it’s reasonably priced. The only concern I have is getting RF into the neighbors devices. So far with 100 watts I’ve had no complaints.

I recently purchased a S/H AL811 600 watt version and like you say Josh they are so well made and parts are readily available and this has now opened up my interest in valve construction and history I find it so interesting and there a lot of engineers who reverse engineer these amps and come up with improvements for safety and to prolong the life of them . Its just makes the hobby more fascinating and there are some great engineers on here who explain how valves work too . bwrgds Mike

Mine is 31 pounds Got mine because it runs on 110. Just love it. Had it since Sept. 2021.

You have the best audio on the RU-vid than anyone else. Show that us Hams know what we are doing.

I have been a Ham since 65 and a year ago is the first time that I have had an amp. my 811H has been so good the main reason I bought it is for the 120 that it runs on. The first week I had it it made a big popping noise and the two fuses blew. After calling Ameritron found out one of the tubes was shorted. After putting in a replacement tube has been doing great. Nothing but good reports on the signal and my horizontal 80 meter loop on all bands running through my antenna turner. The amp I got has a built in grid protection so I am limited to only running it with 50 watts from the exciter. This gives me 700 watts PEP out and I am happy.

I've been running my 811H for over three years now and absolutely love it! Thanks Boss Nass for another great vid. de AJ5F

i have a Ameritron AL-811HD and i found it to be a very good amp too. thanks for the video :)

Thanks Josh... congrats on the AL-811H! I picked up a used AL-1200 yesterday from another ham friend and am itching to get it on the air. I never thought I'd want to go beyond 100W, but here we go with QRO! One thing certainly leads to another... also had to put a tuner downstream that could handle the wattage and will be putting in a 240V feed tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving de KM4RT!

The difference in signal strength from 800 watts out to 1500 is only about 3 db. A half S unit. Easily made up for with a good antenna.

This video answered my questions about this amplifier. Your manner of demonstrations is very good, thanks and 73 W8MTR

Great review, I have the Ameritron AL-80B and have no complaints. 73 from W5DPV

Have had my AL-811 3 tube amp for over 20 years, still working fine. Changed the tubes in 1997 to Svetlana 811A Russian made tubes. I run the 600 watt amplifier at about 400 to 500 watts with about 40 watts of drive from my Kenwood TS-570SG thru an old MFJ-989C manual tuner. Antenna is a liner loaded dipole fed with ladder line to a 4:1 balun, then RG8 to the shack, it all works well. Tom W7GER

Welcome to the big gun club my friend. Great video.

Great video!! It should be noted that you will also likely need a new tuner, swr meter, and new antenna. 100W to 800W is 9dB...or 1 and a half S units of improvement at the receiver.

I have had mine for nearly 30 years. I think I got it when the H model came out. It still has the original tubes and can put out 600 watts on CW.

If you look at Ameritron's specifications for this nice little amp, you will find that it's the transformer itself that weighs 17 pounds...The entire amp is around 32 to 40 pounds depending on what material you read...

It was a very good video you were explaining things very well I’ve seen your videos before they usually very good so thank you and God bless

No shame in running some power. QRP makes ham radio fun in some ways and QRO makes it fun in other ways. Whatever gets it done while having fun! 73

You had me at "Really nice knob" I can never resist a nice knob!

Thank you Sir. Nicely done.

That's the amp I have and I love it. I use it with my FT1200DX.

Great video, thanks a million.

Enjoy the new QRO in the shack Josh! Wishing all hams and future hams a great holiday. Mike N6IMY

Home-wrecker... You are tearing us apart! lol. Great video. Enjoyed the previous video on organizing the shack, too.

Got me one. Works well. Service needed new out of the box unfortunately, expected though. One thing forgot to mention is down side and up side. Solid state is more expensive but you do not need to tune them. A pro and con. P.S. Save the family, lol, the only difference between the men and the boys is the price of the toys.

Another fine video! Thanks.

Damn my HOA. They did save me another $1,000 though. Great info

Good review 👍

Finally scored me an amp. Sb-220 that runs like a spotted ape! Had to drop in a 240 line but only took a few hours. Haven't used it much but guy Chile with my first contact.

I would like to see a video on the antenna that your using with the amp.

My 811H works great up here in Ontario , Canada. Great video Josh. Keep them coming. 73s , VE3NCV

nice ameritron al 811h good job 73

Great review -just sux how much this amp has went up in price in like 2 years. Was $1029 - now like $1475 - nearly $500 price increase in just over 2 years - OUCH!!!!!

A great video, how ever, it might be a good idea to tell people how are new to tube amps that you should always let the tunes warm up for a couple of minutes before starting to tune. Just for the life of the tubes. Thanks and all the best OH2FHJ

I absolutely understand about hearing further than you can be heard. I hear DX stations (using FT-8) that call CQ for many minutes at a time, and I call them repeatedly, and never get a reply. I can only assume that my TX signal is just not making it. Now, I guarantee that someone will say, "You need to put up a better antenna!!!!!" Yes, that would certainly help, but an OCF dipole and and a short end-fed wire is all I'm allowed right now. More power would help even the playing field for me. The only real concern is that right now, at 100W, many of our dimmer-controlled lamps go nuts when I transmit, and more power would exacerbate the problem. Upset XYL is a very definite limiting factor in many people's ham radio hobby.

Your videos have been very helpful to me. One area that would be very helpful to me and many others is interfacing and using a tuning pulser with the FT-991A. I purchased an Ameritron AL-811H and have carefully tuned it when using it. I read about using a Tunning Pulser and how that would be a great aid in tuning the amplifier. I purchased an ATP-102 and the instructions are as clear as mud. There is nothing published on interfacing this Pulser with the FT-991A. Myself and many others would be very grateful if you could demonstrate how the Pulser might be setup and used with the YEASU radio. Thank you!

2:30 graphic shows amplifier weight at 17 lb. The transformer itself weighs 17 lb. The amp weighs about twice that amount. I have the 3-tube AL-811. I added a 4th tube and associated parts and get about 700 watts PEP - No problems following the modification (I even have a 572b mixed in with the original 3 811As).

Nice video. I think you convinced me to get one and IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT. Thank you very much... good job wb8bra

I love the color of hot tubes. Happy Thanksgiving Josh, have a nice day with the family.

Great review - show us practically how your signal compares thru a remote receiver at 800 W vs 100 W vs 20 W

I have had one for about a year great little amp watch your tuneup time those tubes really are not very tough.

One thing I would suggest - do yourself a favor and get a tuning pulser. This makes it so much easier to tune to full power. You can get full power (or something lower) by tuning with average power. It's a lot less stressful on the amp and the timing on keydown is less critical.

great video ! I have fixed many over the years. biggest problem is tunning up to long and starting at to high power level. watch for them China 811A tubes. some not so good. likely to flash over damage HV supply in amp. can put the better 572/B tubes in. like the Penta labs ones. keep drive down and tubes will last make notes where it tunes . watch your key down time. when working RTTY and digital modes cut your drive down . 10% drop in power goes a long way in life of the tubes and makes little to no difference on the receiving end. I have the AL 572 ones. 1300 watt 4 572/B tubes . I have Russia tubes in it. and I run it 800 watts or less. and I used mine portable with a gen set. no RG 8X with a amp like that. just between radio and amp is ok. RG 213 or ABR 400 or M & P like the POTAFLEX 7 . if you spend the money on a nice amp get good coax ! after all you want the watts out the antenna not lost in coax . also check antenna rating for power. ground the AMP with single point ground in the shack. and please stay away from antenna when transmitting ! also HV inside. do not open unless you under stand how to discharge HV caps. 73's

tnxs 73

Ok, that makes sense as to why I see people transmitting random tones for several seconds on the HF bands. It's really annoying when having a QSO and someone transmits a constant carrier tone in the middle of the frequency I am listening!! I could never figure out why people would do this but this makes sense now that people are probably tuning their amps.

Good job Josh!. 73's KB4ELI Ps. I love the last parts hahahahaha!....

For full-legal, you'd want to run 220, or at least put it on its own breaker, so that'd add to the cost. Honestly, I had ham radios for years, and never talked to anyone on SSB until I ran an amp. Have never had time for QRP, just always busy with work.

"Proll" & "Hamature Radio", I'm building my vocabulary on HRCC

$1200 now days. Looking forward to getting one.

The manual mentions something about turning the Load slightly clockwise after tuning for peak rf out. Any thoughts on that?

Hi Josh, love your videos. Is the best way to buy off the used list from Universal-Radio to give them a call? I couldn't find a way to make an online order. Thanks for your channel! You're getting a lot of adds from prepper types as they are finding you through your Baofeng videos.

Thanks for the review. MOST useful is your demo of tuning process, most useful part of video. However...would’ve been maximally useful to show the entire installation process, that is show all cables and connections in order like xcver to tuner amp to swr/pwr meter to antenna...these details and installation process does matter a lot and should not just be taken for granted in my opinion.

I wish you would have covered the relay and ALC cables. Does this AMP require a " buffer type" cable connector to protect the modern radio from a higher voltage being introduced to the radio from older style amps ???

A simpler way to tune, with over 8 years of the original tubes to prove it, is so set at 40 watts, immediately dip the plate for peak power, and then load, and dip one more time. less than 10 seconds and 600-700 watts and ready to go. It's an amazing amp. As long as you don't overdrive the amp, and go for a plate dip, it will past forever.

I was thinking of the lower power version, the AL-811 to save $200. Is 600 watts worthwhile especially when you wont get that operating CW?

Do you need that swr meter if you use the meter in your antenna tuner? If so, where in line does it go?

Great video. I was either going to get this or the Acom 1010. One thing I don't understand in your video though is the part where you say you should tune up into a dummy load. Can you explain that in more detail? I thought the point in tuning was to get a match with your antenna system. How would tuning into a perfect 50 ohm dummy load help?

Great video to the point. Answered several questions. David Byrd KN4BHS

ORO-verkill is not my favorite power setting, but this is really a nice and efordable amp. Not my game, but nice! 73, Stephan DF6PA

'Hamature Radio' -Luv It!😻 LOL!💩💨🙊💃😼... Great video, very informative -Thanx☺!

I just bought one of these the other day. I'm still not exactly sure how to tune it. If I understand correctly, you start with the Load and Plate settings. Adjust the Plate knob first for max output power.. Then you adjust the Load knob for max power, also? That is the way I've tuned my tube hybrid HF rig for about 40 years with no problem. While you do this with the amp, you just make sure the grid current doesn't exceed 200mA, and the plate current doesn't exceed 750mA? And if it does, reduce the gain on your radio? Or, do you reduce the Load knob? Am I missing something here?

Great Video! What cable do you need to run the 811H with the IC-7300?

Did HRO lend to you for review or did you finally break down and buy one? In any case - good starter amp....but....if you can find a use one, get an Ameritron AL-80B over the 811. The 811 works great, but you need to be careful about tuning up due to the tubes it uses. The 80B sells for about $1000 used, and uses a much more forgiving tube. Josh - you need to due a tuning video. There aren't many of them out there on YT and I'm sure your viewers would love to see how its done!

Josh 2 questions. What is the max you should set the output for FT-8? Also do you need to have a power meter to set the the plate and grid?

Hey Josh, I am wondering if a repeater can deny you access if you have the wrong bandwidth. Like if you’re trying to use a repeater on 12.5 when it is actually 25 khz and vice versa. Will it still work?

Love it Josh. Thanks M0XMX

I have an al80a,l4b//alpha87a and thinking on the al811 for me bedroom radio back at the house

I need one tonight on 80, when the noise was 5/9 and they could barely hear my 20 watt, station. 73's kd9oam

Can you use one rca jack make the ic-7300 work for keying I just ordered al-811h and have ic-7300

great video! Question, does your radio get warm when using your amp?

Is a ALC câble required between the Ic-7300 and amp, or only the PTT ‘RCA’ cable is enough?

The knob shafts are insulated from RF which is great. Most Ameritrons are not.

Pretty nice knob, heard that before.

Got my AL-811H now. Waiting for a dummy load that should arrive today. For the main line, will use LMR-400, but ordered also 3' jumpers in LMR-400, so was told those are not that flexible. My actual jumpers are RG58 for little toys. Ok, so do you use cables for ALC and Relay from amp to radio? I got an IC-7300. Thanks.

Very informative. Thanks for the video Josh. de W2MSA

Did you have to do any settings on the 7300 like adjusting the TX delay for like 25ms? Just curious if you did

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving. Secondly, have you ever reviewed or will review; in the future, any Flex (SDR) Radio Systems?

I had one for nearly 3 years, then part exchanged it for a new Alpin 100 MKIII. I found that the 811A's weren't that good on the higher bands and produced more heat than light. Not the best amplifier for data modes or AM, etc. The are okay for SSB, though.

How much power will this do if you only put 15 watts in (dead key) and 60 watts peak?

How did you interface this to the ic7300. Did you use a soft keying interface also what are your tx delays. Please forgive the questions I am a new ham

Kindly suggest some good 70€ Ham Radio kits I mean Tuning of up to 70€

Have you ever created RF problems for your self or neighbors (other electronics)? If so, how did you fix it?

josh, should i get the AL-811H or the AL-811HD ??? And, why?

I like big Watts and I can not lie.

What's the device on your desk that kinda looks like a radar scope had a kid with a compass?

Good info I have same,ac2ms, lee

I use an MFJ half wave end fed 10-80 in an inverted V. My SWR with my MFJ 998 auto tuner is about 1.5 to 1.6 at the best on 80 meters. I have the 811H also but do not run it since I can not get the swr lower than that. Not sure if it would hurt the amp or not.

Considering the AL-811H for my first amp but I would like to know what else I need to purchase if all I have is a radio and a homemade full wave loop antenna. 1KW tuner, 1 KW SWR meter, 1 kW balun, watt meter????

Is it a passive amp? Or an active amp

Any experience with fan noise or vibration?

Want!

Great video thanks for sharing...Vic

I am assuming that while there is an auto tuner in place, SWR has been checked with the antenna or wire to make sure is resonant. I do have an IC-7300 and close to buy the AL-811H. Great review. Now, for the tuner, I may get one of those, as very easy to use with the radio. First, I am waiting today for an SWR meter to check my wire. It is resonant from 80 - 10 meters. In 6 meters, the SWR goes from 1.5 to 1.8 from 50.137 to 53.670, where I use the most or nets. I am also assuming the auto tune will take care of me on the 6 meters, and low or not reflected power. If you can use a dummy load, then the idea is to tune the amp to the frequency to be used at. Not sure if there will be a great difference tuning with a dummy load or with the antenna, other than perfect SWR to now something that needs to be tuned with auto tuner. I will have the SWR meter inline anyway to monitor for any differences. Also learned from a local ham that my Coax may not be set to be used with an amp, as it is RG58, therefore not made for high power. One question to anyone is, there is nothing on the video on a device to control the amp such as the Keying Interfaces ARB-704. None used or none needed? Great review. Thanks.