Hi Ed,
I have a Hercules II. I bought it used. When I first got it, it would
not switch to all of the bands. I don't remember now which bands did
not work. I opened it up and followed the band selection wiring, and
found some very tiny PCB traces on one of the boards that is right
behind, and parallel to, the front panel. One of those PCB traces was
gone, and bridging the gap with some "wire wrap" type wire fixed the
problem. I have not had any other problem with the amplifier. I like it
a lot.
I used the amp in a contest once and found that the 9420 power supply
got hotter than I would like. This may have been because the idling
collector current was running a bit high. I adjusted the bias to
specifications, and have not used the amplifier in a high duty cycle
mode since then. I suspect that the power supply may still get hotter
than I would like in that kind of operation, and I intend to fit it with
a fan someday. The 9420 can be set up for either 120 VAC or 240 VAC. I
recommend wiring it for, and running it on 240 VAC.
Over all I think it is a great amplifier. Puts out almost as much as a
SB-200 without as much noise or heat, and it works on all the bands 160
to 10. Full Ten-Tec keying loop QSK too. Does not have the glow of a
pair of 572B though.
DE N6KB
I have a chance to purchase a Hercules II linear amplifier and matching power
supply. Are there any comments and/or suggestions from the group regarding
this particular amplifier?
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