KPA-500 Reliability

[James Rogers]

My KPA-500 rests comfortably on top of my KAT-500 right beside my K3s
and P3( and K3 held in reserve).  My modes of operation are principally
digital, either meteor scatter, PSK31, RTTY, and WSJTx and its many
variations. All of these are what I would term 100% duty cycle.  For
meteor scatter I run the KPA500 at 350W usually and the transmission
periods vary from 15 seconds to a full minute. I hear a few pings and
creaks from the heatsink but only rarely do the fans get to mode 4 and
when they do, it only lasts for 15 to 20 seconds after transmission
ceases. On PSK31 and JT65(HF) the amplifier is not used as the rule of
thumb is 25 to 30 Watts. On RTTY for short contest exchanges, the
amplifier is run to its limit. The KPA-500 was purchased in April of
2014 so it has seen some service, particularly on meteor scatter and
ionospheric scatter. I do dumb things on occassion and the amp
faithfully faults out and I realize what I have done.  I have owned many
rigs and amps in my 62 years of ham radio and I personally rate my
Elecraft station as superior to all the others, names withheld to
protect the innocent.

Just my two cents.....
Jim, W4ATK
K(s)-Line, K2, K3 (might be interested in a K1 just to make the
collection complete).
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[mcduffie]

> My KPA-500 rests comfortably on top of my KAT-500 right beside my K3s
> and P3( and K3 held in reserve).  My modes of operation are principally
> digital, either meteor scatter, PSK31, RTTY, and WSJTx and its many
> variations. All of these are what I would term 100% duty cycle.

Pretty much the same here.  KPA on top of KAT, but I run a TS-590 for the radio.
Love the setup.  I also work WSJTx and WSJT10 modes on MS and Es on six and ten.
Duty cycles are "high" but I wouldn't consider them 100%.  More like 50%.  i.e.
5 sec on, 5 sec off, 15 sec on, 15 sec off, 30 sec on, 30 sec off.  The fan does
get to stage 4 fairly easily on six meters (for me).  I run 430-480W out most of
the time.  I kick the manual fan setting to stage 4 when I start a run and if it
takes too long, it will go stage 5 the last few seconds of each transmission and
stay there until a few seconds (5 normally) after the end of transmission.  When
I'm done with the QSO, I move the fan back to normal.  Starting with it on 4
just delays the onset of stage 5.

I work very little JT65 and no PSK.  I do work JT9g on ten meters and JT9h on
six meters, but mostly JTMSK or FSK441 on six.  The radio stays at 27 watts at
all times.

> I have owned many rigs and amps in my 62 years of ham radio and I personally
> rate my Elecraft station as superior to all the others, names withheld to
> protect the innocent.

I'll echo Jim here too, but my years only total 56 in HR.  The KPA500 was what
finally got me to turn loose of my "I'll NEVER sell it" Johnson Thunderbolt that
I used for so many years.

> Just my two cents.....
> Jim, W4ATK

...and mine.
Gary - AG0N
Ex WV6MDL/WA6MDL/WA7UPI/WB0KKM
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