Well, I finally got my new ALS-1306 operational today. However, I was
chasing DX on 20 meters CW and suddenly my ALS-1306 went dead! I was only
driving it with 25 watts, and it was running a cool 500 watts output. I
immediately checked the Operator's manual to see what it said about
resetting it if it just totally kicked off. It said to wait a few minutes
with it powered completely down, and it would reset itself. That is what I
did, but it never reset. I called Palma over to see if she could spot
anything, and she said there were a couple of lights flashing, but the most
important finding was that in the HV1 voltage position of the meter, it read
50 volts, which it should, but in the HV2 position, it read zero, when it
should read 50 volts just like in the HV1 position. I picked up the phone
and called Ameritron and told the service tech what happened and what the
meter was reading, and he immediately told me that I most likely had a blown
final. There are 8 transistors in the final, and he said that if just one of
those transistors went bad, it would shut down the whole amp, and I would
get the kind of reading I was getting from the meter. So, we boxed it back
up in the same box it came in and shipped it back to Ameritron this
afternoon. 

 

I am totally stunned! My newest TS-590s was defective coming right out of
the box, and I had to ship it to the Kenwood service center to be repaired
under its warranty, and now, my new ALS-1306 blew up within a couple of
hours of getting it connected up and operational. Whatever protective
circuits it has in it certainly didn't protect it from whatever caused the
final to die! 

 

Based upon my very limited recent experiences, I tend to conclude that the
gear just isn't being built as well as it used to be. I wonder just how much
cheap Chinese parts are going into these new rigs?

 

Ron, K8HSY

 

Dr. Ronald E. Milliman

Retired Professor of Marketing