KPA500 Cable

[kd1na]

Phil,
The KPAK3 AUX Cable is about 3 feet long. I found that it was too short for my station. It is great if you stack the K3 and linear on top of each other but other configurations the cable can be too short. I cut up an old parallel printer cable which was shielded and had enough conductors. I bought the DB-15 plug and connector and using the cable schematic in the KPA-500 manual built mine about 5 feet long. It works  great.

Assembly took me about 4 hours. It is not quite involved as the K3 but there is a lot of assembly. It is worth getting the kit.

73
Dave KD1NA



Finally I am getting around to seriously consider getting the KPA500.  But, a couple of questions:

(1)  How long is the KPAK3AUX cable?  From one diagram (image) on the web site it does not look much longer then 1.5 feet.  Is the short length required for timing issues?  With the way my shack is set up right now, I could not place the KPA500 right next to the K3.

(2)  The difference in cost from kit to factory built is $400.  Does this rather high cost reflect the complexity of the "building" process or merely the cost of the amp (at $2000).  I did the K3 build in what I would consider average time of about 8 hours.  How does the KPA500 compare to the K3 in complexity and build time.

(3)  The PC serial interface is direct to the PC (Mac in my case) via a serial to USB cable, correct?  I mean, it does not interact with other equipment (serially connected) such as the K3 or P3, true?

Thanks for your help.

73, phil, K7PEH

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[Jim Brown-10]

On 12/29/2011 9:58 AM, David Robertson wrote:
> I cut up an old parallel printer cable which was shielded and had enough conductors. I bought the DB-15 plug and connector and using the cable schematic in the KPA-500 manual built mine about 5 feet long. It works  great.

Sometimes it can make life easier if you figure out which conductors are
needed for your application.  I needed to connect the KRC2 to my K3.
Studying the manual, I realized that all that was needed was one signal
conductor and a return. I built the cable using a DB15, a DB9, and a
suitable length of RG174.  I haven't seen the value in using an AX cable
for the KPA, but if I did, knowing that would make far easier to build it.

73, Jim K9YC
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