Help choosing a 500 watt amp for my husband

**ACerrato1** · Sun 26th Sep 2010, 13:19

Hi everyone,

My husband is a ham and I'd like to get him a present for our anniversary. He just upgraded his license to General and he'd like an amplifier that puts out about 500 watts, but he'll settle with 375. He's got an ICOM-7000. I'm looking for a good amplifier thats in the price range of $300-$500. Can anyone make any good recommendations?

Thanks!!!!

**K7KBN** · Sun 26th Sep 2010, 21:41

Need more information - HF, VHF or UHF? (What band or bands does he plan to use with the amplifier?)

**W7TAL** · Tue 28th Sep 2010, 16:53

What bands dose he plan on using and does he want somthing new or vintage?

**N1GFS** · Mon 11th Oct 2010, 00:50

I have found the Ameritron ALS-600 with the linear power supply to be a carefree amp to use. The downside, it is more expensive than you put in your note, at least new it would be. It's solid state, with great protection circuitry to help avoid making a silly band switch and blowing your amp. It readily produces 500w (rated at 600) on all the HF bands. (I had to install a small add on kit to use it on 10M and 12M. For a first amp, something like this will be a lot more user friendly than the tube amps, although there are more of them available, and a good used selection that will be less expensive initially. I say initially, because depending on the amp, the tubes can be expensive, and sometimes hard to find. (Some are readily available, others are more difficult. That should factor into the decision if you look at a tube amp.)

Hope that helps!

**AE6ZW** · Thu 5th May 2011, 02:10

I am not sure, but since he has ICOM-7000 radio, he probably like to have solid state amplifier, there are two type of amplifier , one is vacuum tube type and another type is solid state type. vacuum tube type is often cheaper, but it has high voltage inside , it is sort of dangerous to work on it, and tube has limited life, I suggest to get solid state amplifier, Tokyo High power makes good 400-500 watts solid state amplifier , you want to get one with automatic antenna tuner build in. choosing amplifier is very specific to type of antenna, type of mode , type of house wiring ( voltage ) , so it may be difficult to choose right one for your husband without his consultation. I would spend $1500 to $2000 and get solid state one, IC-7000 is $1500 radio, so it like buying another one.