Topband: Preamplifiers

[Andy YO3JR]

Hi,



Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?

I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

Anyone familiar with this preamps?

Looking forward for replies.

Thanks in advance!

Best regards, Andy YO3JR





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[Mike Waters]

This is what I use:
www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

Post by Andy YO3JR
Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

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[Jim Brown]

Post by Andy YO3JR
RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

That's what I use, it's quite robust, very high dynamic range and
overload point, but they don't put the schematic for their stuff in the
user manuals, which is a huge black mark in my book. Makes it a PITA to
troubleshoot when you have a problem -- you've got to trace everything out.

73, Jim K9YC
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[Eddy Swynar]

Post by Andy YO3JR
Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
Best regards, Andy YO3JR

Hi Andy,

All I ever used here was an old AMECO-brand pre-selector that I paid $10.00 for, I believe, at a Hamfest...

If signals get too loud & distort, all I do is reduce the gain on the thing. Works perfectly for me, even if it isn't "...politically correct" in to-day's Topband scene...!

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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[Charlie Cunningham]

Hi, Eddy

I used one of the old Ameco vacuum tube preamp/pre-selectors, that I
borrowed from my friend, bill, K4CIA, for my KAZ terminated receiving loops
several years ago. It was great! - had plenty of gain and because it was
vacuum tube, it wasn't susceptible to damage from transmit RF picked up in
the loop. I no longer have the KAZ loop, but I'm going to build another one.
Bill had a second newer JFET version o fthe Ameco, that I bought from him.
I expect I'll have to take more care with protecting the JFET device. T he
old vacuum tube Ameco pream work great onn 160, 80, 40 and 30m, where I used
it. F course I didn't need it with the 5-band quad for the higher bands -
mostly on loop on 160, where the antenna gain was low, but it was a very
quiet antenna, and I heard things on 160 that I couldn't hear before. I ran
the Ameco into the receive antenna input on my FT-1000MP. Worked great!

73,
Charlie, K4OTV\

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-***@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Eddy
Swynar
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 5:56 PM
To: Andy YO3JR
Cc: ***@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers

Post by Andy YO3JR
Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage
antennas on 80/160m?
Best regards, Andy YO3JR

Hi Andy,

All I ever used here was an old AMECO-brand pre-selector that I paid $10.00
for, I believe, at a Hamfest...

If signals get too loud & distort, all I do is reduce the gain on the thing.
Works perfectly for me, even if it isn't "...politically correct" in
to-day's Topband scene...!

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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[Eddy Swynar]

Post by Charlie Cunningham
Hi, Eddy
I used one of the old Ameco vacuum tube preamp/pre-selectors, that I
borrowed from my friend, bill, K4CIA, for my KAZ terminated receiving loops
several years ago. It was great! - had plenty of gain and because it was
vacuum tube, it wasn't susceptible to damage from transmit RF picked up in
the loop. I no longer have the KAZ loop, but I'm going to build another one.
Bill had a second newer JFET version o fthe Ameco, that I bought from him.
I expect I'll have to take more care with protecting the JFET device. T he
old vacuum tube Ameco pream work great onn 160, 80, 40 and 30m, where I used
it. F course I didn't need it with the 5-band quad for the higher bands -
mostly on loop on 160, where the antenna gain was low, but it was a very
quiet antenna, and I heard things on 160 that I couldn't hear before. I ran
the Ameco into the receive antenna input on my FT-1000MP. Worked great!
73,
Charlie, K4OTV\

Hi Charlie,

Yes, they do, indeed, work great for me, too...

I have both the AMECO nuvistor version here that I place before my old back-up Drake R-4---and which I got for a mere five bucks at a Hamfest!---as well as the solidstate version that I had before my K9AY loops & Beverage antenna.

As I mentioned before, if overly strong signals happen to overload either one, I merely reduce the gain on them.

Why any Ham who sees these wonderful old devices practically being GIVEN away at 'fests doesn't pick them up, is beyond me---I guess the more "proper" thing to do anymore is to whip out the ol' VISA card, & to buy a more modern "designer" pre-amp!

~73!~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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[John Kaufmann]

I have used the RPA-1 and various Clifton Laboratories units (although not
specifically the Z10043). Both are excellent. I have not tried a KD9SV
preamp.

I particularly like the Clifton Laboratories products
(http://cliftonlaboratories.com/). Although they are not as well known as
the others, their products are excellent and have outstanding performance
specs. There is extensive documentation online for everything they
make--schematics, measurement data, etc. Also the support from Jack
(K8ZOA), who runs the company, is outstanding. He is very good at answering
questions and he has even customized some of his products for my
applications.

73, John W1FV

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-***@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Andy
YO3JR
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 4:09 PM
To: ***@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: Preamplifiers

Hi,



Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?

I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

Anyone familiar with this preamps?

Looking forward for replies.

Thanks in advance!

Best regards, Andy YO3JR





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[d***@starpower.net]

Hi Andy ,

I use preamps from three different manufacturers in my station :

- DX Engineering RPA-1 $143.95
- Clifton Labs Z10043 (or Z10042) Norton Preamp $100.00 (with enclosure)
- Advanced Receiver Research P1-30/20VD $69.95

I use W3LPL bandpass filters in front of every preamp because
of the extreme out-of-band signal levels in my multi-multi station.

All three types of preamps perform very well, I've detected no
practical difference in performance among the three types of preamps
used on my Beverages and 8-circle receiving arrays.

The Clifton Labs Norton preamp is clearly superior on 15 and 10
meters because it appears to be unconditionally stable. The same is
not true of the ARR preamps which self-oscillate on 15 and 10 meters
when fed through a band pass filter. I've never observed the self-
oscillation problem with ARR preamps on 160 through 20 meters.

73
Frank
W3LPL



----- Original Message -----

From: "Mike Waters" <***@gmail.com>
To: "Andy YO3JR" <***@gmail.com>
Cc: "topband" <***@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 9:17:32 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers

This is what I use:
www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

_________________
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[Michael Walker]

I was going to mention both Clifton Labs and the Active-Antenna.eu site.

Mike va3mw

Post by d***@starpower.net
Hi Andy ,
- DX Engineering RPA-1 $143.95
- Clifton Labs Z10043 (or Z10042) Norton Preamp $100.00 (with enclosure)
- Advanced Receiver Research P1-30/20VD $69.95
I use W3LPL bandpass filters in front of every preamp because
of the extreme out-of-band signal levels in my multi-multi station.
All three types of preamps perform very well, I've detected no
practical difference in performance among the three types of preamps
used on my Beverages and 8-circle receiving arrays.
The Clifton Labs Norton preamp is clearly superior on 15 and 10
meters because it appears to be unconditionally stable. The same is
not true of the ARR preamps which self-oscillate on 15 and 10 meters
when fed through a band pass filter. I've never observed the self-
oscillation problem with ARR preamps on 160 through 20 meters.
73
Frank
W3LPL
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 9:17:32 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers
www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html
73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

_________________
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[Jeff AC0C]

Z10043 used here.

It's sold by Jack Smith K8ZOA who is an instrumentation and test engineer -
which means all of his stuff is wrung out to the max. In the preamp
business, there are a lot of loosely defined claims but with Jack's preamps,
if you want a specific or special test performed on your unit (for example,
trimmed for optimal NF) he can arrange it.

73/jeff/ac0c
www.ac0c.com
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie

-----Original Message-----
From: ***@starpower.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 9:10 AM
To: topband
Cc: ***@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers

Hi Andy ,

I use preamps from three different manufacturers in my station :

- DX Engineering RPA-1 $143.95
- Clifton Labs Z10043 (or Z10042) Norton Preamp $100.00 (with enclosure)
- Advanced Receiver Research P1-30/20VD $69.95

I use W3LPL bandpass filters in front of every preamp because
of the extreme out-of-band signal levels in my multi-multi station.

All three types of preamps perform very well, I've detected no
practical difference in performance among the three types of preamps
used on my Beverages and 8-circle receiving arrays.

The Clifton Labs Norton preamp is clearly superior on 15 and 10
meters because it appears to be unconditionally stable. The same is
not true of the ARR preamps which self-oscillate on 15 and 10 meters
when fed through a band pass filter. I've never observed the self-
oscillation problem with ARR preamps on 160 through 20 meters.

73
Frank
W3LPL



----- Original Message -----

From: "Mike Waters" <***@gmail.com>
To: "Andy YO3JR" <***@gmail.com>
Cc: "topband" <***@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 9:17:32 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Preamplifiers

This is what I use:
www.w0btu.com/W0BTU-broadband-preamps.html

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.

_________________
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[Don Kirk]

You might consider building a W7IUV preamp. It is a very easy to build
boradband preamp that you can build using double sided circuit board in
which you can easily cut in the pattern on one side of the circuit board
using a Dremel tool, and the opposite side is the ground plane. I created
a website to document my builds of this preamp, and here is my website URL
in which I provide the artwork for the circuit board, along with parts
placement. On my website I also provide a link to the W7IUV website where
you can find the most current schematic.

http://sites.google.com/site/rxpreamps/

This preamp can handle very strong input signals without being harmed.

Gain approximately 20 to 22 dB.

73,
Don (wd8dsb)

Post by Andy YO3JR
Hi,
Can someone recommend me a good preamplifier for the beverage antennas on
80/160m?
I found on the market a few like Z10043 Norton Amplifier, KD9SV dual band
preamp, RPA-1 from DX Engineering.
Anyone familiar with this preamps?
Looking forward for replies.
Thanks in advance!
Best regards, Andy YO3JR
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[Andrew Ikin]

Andy,

The Clifton Labs Norton and the RPA-1 are both Push-pull designs and thus
have high >+80dBm second order intercepts. This is essential to avoid BCB
mixing products affecting TB.
Single ended amplifiers like the W7IUV may need some pre BCB filtering.

73

Andrew Ikin G8LUG


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