K3 to ALS600 Amplifier
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I am hooking up my new K3 to a ALS600 and would appreciate comments from anyone with this combo concerning connecting without ALC control and any relay delay settings in the K3
Jack W4GRJ |
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Using K3 + ALS600. About 40 Watts in gets about 425 Watts out from 2.3 to
4.1 MHz. No ALC. TX DLY = 020. Steve, W2MY -----Original Message----- On Behalf Of w4grj I am hooking up my new K3 to a ALS600 and would appreciate comments from anyone with this combo concerning connecting without ALC control and any relay delay settings in the K3 Jack W4GRJ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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In reply to this post by W4GRJ
On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:20:32 -0800 (PST), w4grj wrote:
>I am hooking up my new K3 to a ALS600 and would appreciate comments from >anyone with this combo concerning connecting without ALC control and any >relay delay settings in the K3 In general, ALC should NEVER be used to set drive level -- doing so will generally cause MASSIVE splatter and clicks. I have no experience with the ALS600, but I've used my K2/100, K3/100, TS850, and Omni V to drive Ten Tec Titans (tubes), Herc I (solid state), and Herc II (solid state) power amps. 1) There IS a delay built into the K3's circuitry that keys the power amp. The delay is adjustable, and the defalut settings work very well with most amps. You can easily change the delay with a menu setting. 2) To set the power level, simply start with low output from the K3 (I'd start with 10-20 watts) and bring up the output power of the K3 (using the Power knob) until you hit the recommended power output of the amp. My Ten Tec amps all produce full power with less than 50 watts drive. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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In reply to this post by W4GRJ
Jack - I've been using my K3 with my ALS-600 for about 18 months now. My
ALS-600 takes 65 watts drive to get full output, so I just put a 2dB attenuator in-line whenever the amp is turned on (relays switch in the attenuator automatically). That way I can leave my transmit power always set to 100 watts and not worry about the drive level. Info on my auto-switch attenuator is in the "Articles" section of my website at www.ad5x.com. I modified my ALS-600 for QSK operation. The QSK relays operate in less than 5ms, which is within the 8ms default delay of the K3. So this all works fine as well. Details on the ALS-600 QSK mod (which is very simple) are in the "Equipment Modification" section of my website. Phil - AD5X "I am hooking up my new K3 to a ALS600 and would appreciate comments from anyone with this combo concerning connecting without ALC control and any relay delay settings in the K3 Jack W4GRJ" ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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In reply to this post by W4GRJ
This is the exact combination I use. I also have the
MFJ-998 High Power autotuner for a rather simple "push button" station, albeit with less "automatics" than with my Kenwood rigs. It works just as well as my friend's Icom 7800/PW1 station, which is where my inspiration came from :) First, I agree with Jim concerning ALC. I have never used this connection with my ALS-600 (the version 2 kind) and any rig. I set the rear apron ALC pot to 50 % and with around 95 watts out from the K3 on 80m, with the front ALC pot set to 50%, I see the red ALC LED flicker every once in a while on peaks, especially during contest times when I run more dense modulation. DO NOT put more than 100w into the ALS600 input for any apreciable length of time unless you want to constantly replace the swamping resistor! You *will* fry it, even with the "fast" fan mod! Its a very simple hookup. Wire RCA cables thusly: K3 PTT out to, in my case, a Ameritron ARB704 key in (You dont *need* this box at all, but I owned it, and it has a nice big red light on it, and I have two rigs on my bench with two of these boxes in line, it they are to the left and right of my wattmeter and tell me which rig is keyed at a glance, so I use it!) then from the ARB key out to the 998's "tuner enable" then from the tuner key out to the ALS600 key in. Press on the footswitch, the red light goes on the K3 panel, the ARB704 and the ALS600. My Kenwoods have an interface to the Autotuner that forced a low power tune cycle from the front panel of the rig. The K3 doesnt have this feature, but I can get close to this with the K3/MFJ998/ALS600 combination. The ALS600 hates SWR above 2.0. I set the SWR bypass limiter on the MFJ998 to 1.9. If the SWR is above 1.9, the amp automatically bypasses driven by the tuner circuitry. If the tuner doesn not notice (sometimes it forgets), the amp will auto bypass on its own at 2.0. But, if I attempt to tune my antennas with the ALS600 being driven at full power, the tuner gives up and sends "QRP"! I dont want to bypass the amp all the time to tune, so to get around this, I use this proceedure: Bypass the K3 Internal tuner Set Tune Power out to exactly 10 watts globally on the K3 Set the MFJ998 to "Sticky Tune" Set the MFJ998 to autotune when SWR exceeds 1.5 Then, to emulate my Kenwood radio's tune cycle I do this: Memorize your antenna system into the tuner by starting a manual tune cycle every 10kHz across all the bands you operate by pressing and holding the Transmit button on the K3 then hitting the Tune button on the MFJ998. This sets the tuner's memories up for all the bands you plan on using with all the antennas you use for those particular bands. Dont worry, there is LOTS of memory space in the 998! In normal QRO operation, I do this: Go to a band, switching the K3 bandswitch then switching the ALS600 bandswitch (soon to be replaced by auto band switching from the K3 BCD outputs), then press and hold the Transmit (tune) button on the K3. This outputs a 10w carrier from the radio to the amp, which then outputs aproximately 40-50 watts to the tuner, which then looks up the frequency you are transmitting on in its memory and snaps the L/C combinations in line with your feedline in less than a second. Release tune by pressing and holding the Transmit button again. Youre all set to go! I have found that, with my "Version 2" ALS600, I can get full 500w cw - 600w PEP output with no more than 75-80w from the K3 (95w on 80m, where the ALS600 is traditionally soft). On RTTY, keeping the K3 around 70w and switching the ALS600 into RTTY mode gives me a cool 300w out and the amp never trips off for overtemp. I may develop a more elegant "autotuner interface" to the ALS600 using ideas and a couple of resistors plus a small reed relay from information gathered in the Kenwood AT300 manual... But I bet Phil AD5X beats me to this (I have his ALS600 QSK relay mod installed and it is WONDERFUL!) Regards Lu - W4LT Message: 6 Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:02:31 -0800 From: "Jim Brown" <[hidden email]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 to ALS600 Amplifier To: "Elecraft List" <[hidden email]> Message-ID: <[hidden email]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:20:32 -0800 (PST), w4grj wrote: >I am hooking up my new K3 to a ALS600 and would appreciate comments from >anyone with this combo concerning connecting without ALC control and any >relay delay settings in the K3 In general, ALC should NEVER be used to set drive level -- doing so will generally cause MASSIVE splatter and clicks. I have no experience with the ALS600, but I've used my K2/100, K3/100, TS850, and Omni V to drive Ten Tec Titans (tubes), Herc I (solid state), and Herc II (solid state) power amps. 1) There IS a delay built into the K3's circuitry that keys the power amp. The delay is adjustable, and the defalut settings work very well with most amps. You can easily change the delay with a menu setting. 2) To set the power level, simply start with low output from the K3 (I'd start with 10-20 watts) and bring up the output power of the K3 (using the Power knob) until you hit the recommended power output of the amp. My Ten Tec amps all produce full power with less than 50 watts drive. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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Lu, Thank you
for a very complete description of your K3 operation with ALS600. I am confused
about your control of the ALS600 ALC controls on the back and the front since
there is no ALC connection from the K3. What is the effect of the ALC controls
in this case? From: Lu Romero - W4LT
[via Elecraft] [mailto:[hidden email]] This is the exact combination I
use. I also have the View message @ http://n2.nabble.com/K3-to-ALS600-Amplifier-tp4199219p4204417.html
No virus
found in this incoming message. |
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In reply to this post by W4GRJ
The ALS600 manual says that the rear apron control sets the control voltage
for the ALC and the front panel control fine tunes it. You could probably set both of these full open, but I chose to set them mid way. The ALS SET pot on the front of the amp can be turned counter clockwise and the amber light marked ALC will flicker to a point and then stay on. As you continue to turn it counter clockwise, the amp output is reduced. I don't really use this anymore, but when I had a hunk of wire that loaded on 160, sometimes I was able to squirt some RF out before the amp tripped off by turning this pot counter clockwise. But I never mess with it anymore since I have surrendered to the gods of suburban living and don't have the space for a useable 160 antenna. It's a vestige, I guess. And I like to follow manuals, which says to have the ALC light blink every once in a while. Regarding the TX Delay, I never answered that. The original ancient open frame TR relay in this amp is crap. Its slow and it wakes the dead every time you trip it. You cant do VOX, let alone QSK! I use a microHAM MicroKeyer 2 with this rig and a MicroKeyer 1 with my TS570. These have PA PTT delay timing adjustments and I used to set those for the amp/rig PTT sequencing, or else I would end up hotswitching the amp. The new TR relay is more than fast enough so that you don't need the MK sequencer anymore, just set all the delays to zero and everything works as it should. But the BEST thing you can do for your ALS600 is to install AD5X's QSK Relay mod. It is absolutely the best thing I have done for my ALS600 and makes it into a REAL FULL QSK amplifier, which, when teamed with the K3 QSK, is as flawless as any TenTec I have ever used, the previous QSK "Gold Standard" in my book. With the MicroKeyer on SS keying and the new relays in the amp, all you hear are little soft clicks, not the SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! of the original TR Relay, and full QSK works FB too! -lu- Message: 31 Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:12:32 -0800 (PST) From: W4GRJ <[hidden email]> Subject: [Elecraft] [K3] RE: K3 to ALS600 Amplifier To: [hidden email] Message-ID: <000801ca8343$08584310$1908c930$@org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Lu, Thank you for a very complete description of your K3 operation with ALS600. I am confused about your control of the ALS600 ALC controls on the back and the front since there is no ALC connection from the K3. What is the effect of the ALC controls in this case? No virus found in this outgoing message Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (6.1.0.25 - 6.13960). http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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