I’ve been looking for a more powerful amplifier for 6 meters. A big part of that drive has been to get ready for the next Sporadic E season in an effort to work the last 18 grids I need for the FFMA Award. I would have loved to find a suitable Tokyo Hy-Power amplifier that matched the HL-350Vdx 2 meter amplifier that I’ve added to the shack. But I haven’t seen anything for sale that would really work. For example, shipping a 6 meter tube amp or HF+6 amp from Japan doesn’t really work.

eBay Amplifier Search

I found the 2 meter amp on eBay, which worked out well. Plus, I’ve sold a bunch of my 222, 432, and roving gear via eBay. I got really lucky and sold all my satellite gear locally. So I’ve been looking at the new items posted on eBay for quite some time.

Recently, an M2 6M-1K2 appeared. It was located in Canada and had some modifications made to allow drive at 7 watts to the full 1.2 kilowatts. Plus, it was the RF deck only without the built-in power supply. Not only that, but it also provided a 10 dB 100-watt attenuator for use with a normal transceiver. For my use, that all worked perfectly and fit especially well with my SDR/preamp setup.

M2 6M-1K2 at K5ND

As I watched the bidding I was astounded at the low bids. Of course, the unit was very specific in how it could fit into an existing ham shack. Plus, the prices were all in Canadian dollars, which made it look higher priced than it was.

As the days wound down in the auction, I looked at some reviews, including QST’s review, and I found Lance’s W7GJ instructions on using this same amplifier for his EME Expeditions. Here’s the overview and detailed photos. That convinced me that I could make this work. I won the auction, and delivery was pretty quick.

50 VDC Power Supply

W7GJ recommends the Meanwell switching power supplies. Since I don’t have 220 VAC in the ham shack, I chose the Meanwell RSP-2000-48 which provides 50 VDC and 42 amperes from 120 VAC. That means I don’t run this amp at 1 kilowatt but keep it to no more than 500 watts. Of course, I bought the power supply on eBay, used, with some scratches on it saving more than half the price of a new one. It works great.

Lowering the power output means that I need to drive the amp with about 2 watts rather than the 4 watts the previous owner used. Currently, I’ve added a 6 dB attenuator to the 10 dB unit provided in the sale. I’m debating getting a single 15 or 20-dB attenuator. I need to match the IC-9100 power output to drive both the 2 meter and 6 meter amplifiers without adjusting the power on the rig. The next steps are already apparent.

Here are some photos of the setup. I hope it helps me work a few more grids and get closer to the FFMA Award.

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I’ve also added a volt/ammeter that I picked up on eBay to help monitor the amplifier’s operation. I used a plastic box purchased from Amazon, with a bit of cutting and filing to fit the meter. There’s also a separate box for the shunt resistor on the power supply output.