| Wzmacniacz SPE Expert 1K-FA |
sp5it pisze: Problemy z serwisem. Kto ma i musiał naprawiać, ten wie. A wzmak pada i to nie są pojedyncze przypadki. M No te wzmacniacze są naszpikowane elektroniką na maxa. To nie są proste układy do naprawiania przez byle kogo, tak jak zwykłe lampowe PA. Byle kto tego nie naprawi niestety. Wadą w expertach, są padające przekaźniki zwłaszcza jak ktoś pracuje na telegrafii w trybie BK. oraz słabe tłumienie IMD o czym niżej i generowanie zakłuceń na pasmie. Przy dłuższej pracy spada też moc. Warto sie dobrze zastanowić przed zakupem bo wzmacniacz ten jest bardzo drogi, a serwis z tego co pisza na zagranicznych forach jest bardzo kiepski. Warto zapisać sie na forum użytkowników experta bo tam wszystkie bolaczki sa opisywane na bierzaco. Zaletą jest to że są idealne na stacje zdalne bo pełna automatyka, nie trzeba rozgrzewać działają cały czas, sa małe i lekkie idealne na wyprawy. a tu mały przedruk na temat wad expert-ów. Google translator ładnie przetłumaczy kto nie zna angielskiego... ON4VP pisze tak: During the past three years I owned two 1K-FA's. The first one that I've got was 24 months old and after a while started suffering from sticking relays. Some reading in yahoo groups and forums learned me that over a hundred owners suffered the same issues. The problem got worse when full break in cw was used. The switching time was to fast on the relays and the burned in. Repairs were in order and after the relays were changed I sold the amp. I still got the Acom1000 to keep me going. The second 1K-FA I got mid 2012. This was the latest rev3 version. Even after my bad experience with the first 1K-FA I still liked the solid state idea and the benefits like the built in tuner and 4 outputs plus 2 inputs. But also the second amplifier started having troubles. After a few weeks I noticed that the reflected power on the 20 meter band was getting to high. Even on a dummy load and perfectly matched antennas I got a reflected power over 120 watts when applying 600 watts. SWR was 1:1 I got in touch with both the dealer and the factory in Italy. First I like to express my gratitude to hamshop.nl. This dealer really helped out wherever he could. His service was great. I ended up sending the amplifier back to Italy where it stayed for over 4 weeks. It was sent back to me with a simple note that there was no problem found and I had to check my antenna system. The amp at that time was even under warranty. I ended up selling the amp again telling that the 20 meter in ssb was no problem but under full load could go into protection. After both experiences I lost my faith in both the product and the factory, not in the dealer. Over more than a decade I had two Acom 1000 amplifiers and while owning the second Expert I got myself a brand new Acom2000a. SPE Italy stated that I had problems in my antennas and/or transmission lines. I replied that even on a dummy load the test came out negative and my Acom2000a was working just fine on the same system putting out more than twice the amount of power. But they kept telling me that nothing was wrong with the amplifier. Fact: the next owner ran into the same problems and also sent it back. SPE should reflect on that! Personally after owning two Experts these are my findings regardless of the problems I had: 1/ Small and lightweight are a bonus. 2/ Design is not up to full power all the time. 3/ Running it at 1/2 power is imho the best way. 4/ Noise levels are high once heats start building up. 5/ Loud relays, why not using silent vacuum relays. 6/ Company's attitude is not that great. So far I've been in contact with 1K-FA owners and operators that suffered from blown finals, displays that turned blank, relays that stick and REV power that's to high. These, to me, are flaws in the design. On top of that I was left in the cold while my amp was still under warranty, something that closed the door for me. The few nice things, to me, don't add up against all the negative things. After being a SPE user for almost 3 years I don't think I ever get another Expert in my shack. I'll stick to my beloved Acom's ! All things considered, I think 2 out of 5 seems pretty fair. The design needs help, the company need to reflect on how to threat customers under warranty. Others will not agree, I can understand. But I can no longer recommend the product. i kolejny Jim, K4ZMV I bought my SPE 1K-FA from SteppIR in December, 2009. My exciter for the amplifier is a K3. The initial set up and programming of the 1K-FA was very simple and straight forward. The amp requires 25 watts or less of RF to drive it to full output. I used the amplifier for ten months without any problem to speak of. I did notice that the 1K-FA is very sensitive to temperature and will reduce power as the temperature rises. I am a CW only operator and primarily a DX'er, so not much of a problem to me. In August, 2009, I noticed that the T/R relay was sticking (not releasing to receive). I called SteppIR and was informed that the T/R relay would only switch at 15 ms. I had my K3 set to 8 ms. There is no information from SPE or SteppIR regarding that problem. I was advised to set my switching speed to 15 ms and the problem 'might go away'. Well, it did not and I was advised to ship the amplifier to SteppIR in Bellevue, Washington. The shipping cost was over $100. Even though the amp was still under warranty, I was responsible for the return shipping. SteppIR received the amplifier on September 15, 2010. I know that only because UPS notified me via email of delivery. After hearing nothing for three weeks, I called and was told SteppIR was waiting for parts from SPE. I called again a week later and was informed that SPE had still not sent any parts. I was told that they could replace the T/R switch, but they would not guarantee the problem would not occur again and that I needed an upgrade kit with firmware. I opted for the upgrade. I still have no idea when I will get the amplifier back. The SPE 1K-FA cost me $4095, plus shipping. I would expect better support for that amount of money. I also know that SteppIR has a number of 1K-FA's waiting for repair for the same reason and for other computer related problems. It would be my advice to some one thinking about purchasing an SPE amplifier to consider other amplifiers in the same price range. Jim, K4ZMV oraz K8JH I have been a ham for 40+ years and had high hopes for the SPE, but have been disappointed. I have owned a lot of equipment and believe myself to be a decent operator who takes care of his equipment. I do not have a history of having equipment problems or needing repairs. However, after having to return this amp for repair the second time in a year, I have decided it's time to sell. Each time it went in they said it had been over-driven too many times. I am normally careful, but I admit that over a year's time, there were occasions where I forgot to reduce the drive from my transmitter. However, an amplifier like this, claiming to be of the highest caliber, should be designed to withstand mistakes and protect itself. It claims to have safety protections, but in reality there is a problem with the design of these if they are this sensitive to occasional over driving. I have had a dozen amps of other makes over the years and have never had one fail or need repair. These are simply way to sensitive, at least for my use. I have sold mine and will not buy another. I own 2 of the 2K-FA. These amps have been reliable. The main reason that I bought these amps were the claimed IMD specifications. The claim was -36Db 3rd order. It was disappointing to read the various test reports on this amp with such a poor IMD specification well below specifications. When you own a amp with poor IMD performance and then consider how interfacing the typical ham transceivers ALC to this amp, the final distortion products are far from ideal. This problem came to my attention when several hams in the neighborhood complained about my splatter on 17 meters. We checked the amp on several bands and compared the SPE with the tube amplifiers of past. The SPE was especially bad on the higher bands. It was producing a poor quality signal with a lot of raspy edges which is indicative of a amp with poor IMD suppression. The radios used were a FT5000MP and a Hermes SDR with final amp as described below. Both of these radios have better IMD performance than the SPE. While I welcome technology moving forward, I dont support technology that has inferior specifications just for the sake of technology sake or being new. The last thing the ham bands need is hundreds of solid state amps with poor IMD specifications causing problems up and down the bands. My radio is Hermes SDR with IMD specifications of -50Db 3rd order. My PA is a homebrew Russian KIT using the same FETS. It has IMD specifications of -40db 3rd order. The end IMD performance using 2 of these models is 15db better IMD performance than the SPE Expert. For such an expensive amplifier per watt I would have expected better performance or at least expecting the amplifier to meet its claimed specifications. For me a clean amplifier is the alpha 9500 which is head and shoulders above this poor IMD solid state amplifier. There is an alternative way to be lazy but clean. While SPE makes good amplifiers it really needs to clean its act up. I will be moving these SPE amps on to try the new Tokyo High Power amp to see if they can have better IMD performance. This power amplifier generates spuriouses into the receiver. This can under some circumstances degrade RX performance when you are listning on very week signals. The amount/level of the spuriouses depends somewhat on how you use the power amplifier but this also differs between different units. The impact is of course also dependent of the noise levels on the bands. The problem is demonstrated in a video on YouTube. Use the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDJDev_mvS0 73 de SM6ENG albo to: I have been having a problem with my SPE Expert 1K amplifier for the last couple of years. Normally, I can operate for anywhere between 30 minutes & 1 hour and then the power was suddenly start dropping down to 0, or just a few watts. However, today when I switched on the amplifier would only produce a couple of watts with a drive of 10 W. If anybody knows what's causing this them please enlighten me http://www.g0vqy.co.uk i opis małego serwisowania  https://on6uq.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/two-element-short-40m-beam/ A w teście ARRL wzmacniaczy expert na szarym końcu na pozycji 27 QST Magazine Product Reviews - Key Measurements Summary - HF Power Amplifiers (page 5/7) http://www.remeeus.eu/hamradio/pa1hr/productreview.pdf |
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