The AM Forum

Hello,,
Does any body have any info on a Hunter Bandit 2000b? I could not find much on the internet except on eham. I want to use a Johnson Viking 2 as my transmitter. Any info would be greatly appreciated..
Thanks Mac

Hi Mac,

Is it some kind of amplifer?  I don't recall hearing the name.

Rick/K5IAR

Back in the '60s they used to advertise that amp in relatively small ads in the back of QST, 73 and CQ mag. We, my young ham friends and I, used to drool over it. Mostly because it looked way cool not because we had any idea what was inside or if was worth a darn.

Although maybe we were looking at the larger floor console model?

        _-_-WBear2GCR

Thanks to ya Bear, n4vgb and yes Rick its an amp. LOL  just didnt want to have to D/L the entire manual. Just wasnted to know if anybody had any experience with it,, quality,, and if I would be able to use a johnson viking 2 as my transmitter without damaging the amp.
Again thanks to all for the info,,,
Mac

You can use it with your Viking II, but there will be little benefit. The amp won't allow you to run much more than 150 watts output. The Viking alone will give you 100 Watts. The difference on most S-meters will be indistinguishable.

There's no point to using the Viking II to drive this thing. The amp was designed for SSB service. You would have to provide at least 6db attenuation on the Viking II output and, in the end, you wouldn't have any more power out. Even the manual says, "Bandit was especially designed for SSB and CW operation. Operators who wish to use the linear on AM or RTTY must reduce the input power considerably". It's not worth the time or effort unless you're running some imported transceiver where the low level AM output power is around 15 to 25 watts.

Thanks to all for your information,,,
I was talking to a guy about buying the amp,,, but your experiences have given me the info that I needed. I am looking to stay on AM. SO that amp is not for me. Again thanks to all that provided your knowledgable info on this,,,
Have a great weekend,,,,,,
 :)
Mac

I have a Hunter 2000B, with 4 572B's.  Marketed as 2KW PEP input.  Has a three position HV selector switch, I was never able to run at full B+ without arcing in the pi-net tune cap.  Best I could manage in the "middle" B+ position was about 500 watts out carrier and about 800 peak out on SSB.  So it MIGHT be a candidate for an AM linear with about 200 W out.

Seems to have reasonably beefy PS iron.  It's currently on a shelf in the Morton building awaiting more inspiration towards converting it to a 160 meter single-bander.  Probably with shunt B+ feed and a parallel tuned, link coupled tank.

Mark

..just picked up a hunter bandit today, at a 'fest...mine is the 2000a, but the dope sheet says it is supposed to have 2 3-400z....but, it is lined up for 4 572b's...so my guess, is the 2000a is the 572b rig, not the "b"...any ideas?...sk...

HUNTER BANDIT     cool name.........Fear and Loathing on SSB by Hunter Bandit..............

B has 4 572B's. C has 2 3-400's.

...on bama, the 2000a dope sheet says 4-572b's.....sk...

I remember the hunter being used as kind of a "poor man's' collins 30 L-1 desktop amp ( did I get that number right?) because it was roughly the same size, shape and general look of the S line or KWM-2 if one didnt look too hard. :P