[LCC] Ameritron AL-1200 - power supply repair/upgrade

[Charles Morrison]

The amplifier is of course, designed by Tom Rauch.  Tom's page has the
upgrade board WITH the resistors and Caps included.

The board's improvements with the additional caps doesn't increase the
amplifier's voltage, but it will increase the voltage capacity of the
filtering circuit.  As N5OB pointed out when I recapped mine, the circuit is
operating at close to max value with only 8 and that an increase to 10 would
give you the additional headroom for safer operation.

Your tube won't suffer because it will still be operating at whatever
voltage your transformer is capable of supplying.   Since this circuit comes
from Tom, I'd say its about as close as you can get to a factory component.

https://www.ctrengineeringinc.com/parts-for-sale/ameritron-upgrade-boards/

Charlie
N5WE


-----Original Message-----
From: LCC [mailto:lcc-bounces at louisianacontestclub.org] On Behalf Of
w5wz at w5wz.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2019 7:09 AM
To: LCC <lcc at louisianacontestclub.org>
Subject: [LCC] Ameritron AL-1200 - power supply repair/upgrade

My AL-1200 is not putting out the power it used to.  I've noticed that HV at
idle has sagged to 3,150-3,200 volts, and at key down drops to
2,850-2,900 volts.  About 5 years ago, I replaced the HV filter caps and
bleeder resistors.

The factory design uses 8 caps, 270mF @ 450v, 85C (8x450=3,600)  I've found
an upgrade board that will use 10 caps (10x450=4,500).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/W7RY-Ameritron-Amplifier-Replacement-Capacitor-Boar
d-10-Capacitors-4500-Volts/283294210547


Regarding the 10 cap board:

1.  Do you think that would be a good upgrade?
2.  Would this have a detrimental effect on tube life?
3.  Or would you recap again with factory components?

--Scott

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