KPA1500

It was a valid question Bill, there was no reason for criticism.  Ham
radio is an aging group with many being 70+ years old. Some ops of any age
may have physical limitations. One of the attractions to the Elecraft line
is its small size and light weight. Good luck "creating the funds", I have
not figured out a way to do this yet:) I am sure that you will be able to
separate the package when it finally arrives and set the KPA1500 up in
your station.

John KK9A


From: Bill Johnson k9yeq
Date: Tue Feb 27 2018

Eric,  Thank you for the response.  I was looking at the issue of going an
additional direction when it arrives.  I understand the packaging and was
more interested in if it could be shipped in two cartons and you have
clearly answered that.  Others have "delicately" pointed out all the
possibilities including a reference to me being a man.  That one really
was silly.   I can manage.  I only asked for a simple answer and you gave
it straightforward.  I will probably order within the next week or so as I
am creating the funds as I type.

72 & 73,
Bill
K9YEQ, FT’er for K2, KX1, KX3, KXPA100,  KAT500, W2, etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft <eric at elecraft.com>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2018 7:53 PM
To: Bill Johnson <k9yeq at live.com>
Cc: Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>; Elecraft <elecraft at
mailman.qth.net>; Elecraft_K3 at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA1500

Hi Bill,

We ship the RF deck and Power Supply in two individual inner boxes that
are then packed with special foam corner inserts into a larger outside
shipping box. The foam inserts, air gap and the outer box provide the
extra protection needed for shipping via UPS etc. We lose that protection
if we ship it using just the two inner boxes on their own.

The easiest thing I would suggest is to simply open the top of the outer
box upon receipt and then easily remove the lighter two inner boxes
separately to move it. They lift out very easily.

Regards,

Eric
elecraft.com

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[Paul Baldock]

The manual on page 24 says:

Serial: A Kenwood, Yaesu, Elecraft K2, K3, K3S,
KX2, or KX3, or FlexRadio® transceiver that
responds to IF; FA; FB; FT; polls with frequency
and VFO information. The XCVR SERIAL connector is
configured as TTL-level RS-232

Is it really TTL?. I planned to use this
connected to the serial data line that goes
between my Kenwood TS-990 and PC, such that the
KPA1500 will catch the frequency data triggered
by my logging program. This works great with the
KPA500 which I assume  uses true RS232 levels. If
the KPA1500 does indeed use TTL levels will it
capture the data, and will it not corrupt the
RS232 levels between the PC and TS-990?

Thanks

- Paul  KW7Y
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[Don Wilhelm]

Paul,

It is possible that short runs of "RS-232" can operate on TTL levels.
There certainly is no problem at the 5 volt level, that is entirely
within the range of the + level valid RS-232 signals.

The possible problem is with the low level.  A proper RS-232 receiver
should ignore levels between -3 volts and +3 volts because it could be
in a range defined as noise.
However, all receivers are not designed to ignore a 0 volts low level.
The receiver on the KX2 and KX3 as well as the XG3 (and probably others
as well) will interpret 0 volts as a low level.

Note that the 'real' RS-232 spec is written for very long communications
lines.  Short lines (10 feet or so) can take liberties with the levels
if the receivers are such that they can tolerate those switching levels
yet will accept signals with the full RS-232 voltage swings.

Properly connected, you would need to have the KPA1500 TxD disconnected
and depend on the PC application to poll the radio while the KPA1500
'listens' in to get its frequency information.
Without the PC connection (and the KPA1500 TxD connected, the KPA1500
will poll the radio for that information.

RS-232 is point to point communications and not multipoint, although
there can be multiple receivers listening to the communications, there
can only be one driver.
Sort of like ham radio - everybody can listen, but if two operators
transmit on the same frequency, they will QRM each other and "data
corruption" occurs.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/28/2018 6:30 PM, Paul Baldock wrote:

> The manual on page 24 says:
>
> Serial: A Kenwood, Yaesu, Elecraft K2, K3, K3S, KX2, or KX3, or
> FlexRadio® transceiver that responds to IF; FA; FB; FT; polls with
> frequency and VFO information. The XCVR SERIAL connector is configured
> as TTL-level RS-232
>
> Is it really TTL?. I planned to use this connected to the serial data
> line that goes between my Kenwood TS-990 and PC, such that the KPA1500
> will catch the frequency data triggered by my logging program. This
> works great with the KPA500 which I assume  uses true RS232 levels. If
> the KPA1500 does indeed use TTL levels will it capture the data, and
> will it not corrupt the RS232 levels between the PC and TS-990?

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[Paul Baldock]

The KPA1500 will just be listening. There will be
no issue with the +6V from the TS-990 true RS232
being heard by the KPA-1500 and PC, however I am
concerned that the -6V from the true RS232 might
get clamped close to 0V by the KPA-1500 input and
so screw up communications between the TS-990 and
the PC. Hopefully the KPA1500 has a reasonable
input resistor and so clamping will be minimal.

- Paul

At 04:25 PM 2/28/2018, Don Wilhelm wrote:

>Paul,
>
>It is possible that short runs of "RS-232" can operate on TTL levels.
>There certainly is no problem at the 5 volt
>level, that is entirely within the range of the + level valid RS-232 signals.
>
>The possible problem is with the low level.  A
>proper RS-232 receiver should ignore levels
>between -3 volts and +3 volts because it could be in a range defined as noise.
>However, all receivers are not designed to
>ignore a 0 volts low level. The receiver on the
>KX2 and KX3 as well as the XG3 (and probably
>others as well) will interpret 0 volts as a low level.
>
>Note that the 'real' RS-232 spec is written for
>very long communications lines.  Short lines (10
>feet or so) can take liberties with the levels
>if the receivers are such that they can tolerate
>those switching levels yet will accept signals
>with the full RS-232 voltage swings.
>
>Properly connected, you would need to have the
>KPA1500 TxD disconnected and depend on the PC
>application to poll the radio while the KPA1500
>'listens' in to get its frequency information.
>Without the PC connection (and the KPA1500 TxD
>connected, the KPA1500 will poll the radio for that information.
>
>RS-232 is point to point communications and not
>multipoint, although there can be multiple
>receivers listening to the communications, there can only be one driver.
>Sort of like ham radio - everybody can listen,
>but if two operators transmit on the same
>frequency, they will QRM each other and "data corruption" occurs.
>
>73,
>Don W3FPR
>
>On 2/28/2018 6:30 PM, Paul Baldock wrote:
>>The manual on page 24 says:
>>Serial: A Kenwood, Yaesu, Elecraft K2, K3, K3S,
>>KX2, or KX3, or FlexRadio® transceiver that
>>responds to IF; FA; FB; FT; polls with
>>frequency and VFO information. The XCVR SERIAL
>>connector is configured as TTL-level RS-232
>>Is it really TTL?. I planned to use this
>>connected to the serial data line that goes
>>between my Kenwood TS-990 and PC, such that the
>>KPA1500 will catch the frequency data triggered
>>by my logging program. This works great with
>>the KPA500 which I assume  uses true RS232
>>levels. If the KPA1500 does indeed use TTL
>>levels will it capture the data, and will it
>>not corrupt the RS232 levels between the PC and TS-990?

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