I got a KPA100 kit in May 2003 as a birthday gift from
my wife. For a whole bunch of silly reasons, I didn't get around to building it for over a year. The good news about the delay is I was able to get the updates to the kit so that it went together with no need for changes. It's been running now for a month, and I have to say, once again, the engineering that went into this product is beyond exceptional. I've been working professionally in the communications electronics field for over 22 years, and I am not given to complementing electronic-engineering efforts unless warranted. It's warranted. The amp deck quality is every bit the equal of the radio underneath it, which is saying something. I am exceptionally pleased with the addition, which represents an excellent value. Bravo to the designers. Tip to builders: I normally do not delay building kits I get! And, I won't again - neither should you. Here's why: I made a conscious assembly modification to my KPA100. I inverted the orientation of the DC connector shrouds to be contrary to specs, on purpose. The reason for the mod was that I have many, many similar connectors on gel-cells, and nearly all of them are unfused (and there's a good reason for that, too, a topic for another day). By 'flipping' the K2/KPA100 DC cord connector mating configuration, I effectively made the now-custom connecting cable -- with its in-line fuses -- a part of the radio. The cable works only with the K2. The 'flip' prevents me from plugging in an unfused power source, on purpose. I know myself too well! What's the catch? Because I waited so long to finish the build, and because I failed to document the 'modification' ... I forgot what I had done. Not so many years ago, this would not have been a problem. No WAY would I have forgotten such an important thing, equal in my mind to remembering my anniversary! Yet I did forget, completely. The connectors ... not the anniversary. The anniversary is no problem; as long as I keep the batteries charged in my PDA, it happens every year. The KPA100, however, is a once-in-a-lifetime event. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |