Elecraft

KPA500 age

Classic

List

Threaded

9 messages Options

john@kk9a.com

KPA500 age

I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
older.

John KK9A

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]

Harlan Sherriff

Re: KPA500 age

John,
All I can say is my P3 is sn 2397 and the invoice shows a date of 11/21/2012.

Harlan
K4HES

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:11 PM, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
> give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
> The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
> older.
>
> John KK9A
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]

markmusick

Re: KPA500 age

In reply to this post by john@kk9a.com

John,
I purchased KPA500 serial #1523 in February 2014. It was one of the amps
that went on the T33A dxpedition in November 2013. Of the five amps on that
dxpedition 4 were in the low 1500s and one was in the low 1200s. I don't
know why they had one that had a much lower serial number than the others.
The dxpedition coordinator did tell me they got the amps about a year before
the dxpedition. So that puts my serial number in late 2012 or early 2013.
Elecraft provided the K3s and KPA500s on the dxpedition.
There should be no worry about the serial number or age of a KPA500. Unlike
the K3 that had many mods over its productive life, I can only think of one
mod on the KPA500 and that was to the 12 meter bandpass filter. There were
issues with some KPA500s on 12 and the upgrade fixed that. My KPA500 did not
experience the problem, but I had it upgraded in July 2014 just to be safe.
Other than that one upgrade, and you might ask if he has had it done, a low
serial number 1300 should be as good as one off the line today.
If the amp has not had the upgrade you can get the parts from Elecraft and
do it yourself or send the RF deck to Elecraft and they will do it for you.
You do not have to send the complete amp with power supply back to
California. All they need is the RF deck. This saves lots on shipping.

Mark Musick, WB9CIF

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
[hidden email]
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 7:12 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] KPA500 age

I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much older.

John KK9A

______________________________________________________________
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 Message
delivered to [hidden email]

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]

Nr4c

Re: KPA500 age

In reply to this post by Harlan Sherriff

And that indicates what exactly? Each item in the K-LINE has its own serial number series starting with "0001", except the K3S which started at "10001". There might be some zeros out there but I think these were not actually sold to customers.

Sent from my iPhone
...nr4c. bill

> On Jul 5, 2016, at 4:26 PM, Harlan Sherriff <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> John,
> All I can say is my P3 is sn 2397 and the invoice shows a date of 11/21/2012.
>
> Harlan
> K4HES
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:11 PM, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
>> give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
>> The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
>> older.
>>
>> John KK9A
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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
>> Message delivered to [hidden email]
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

Phil Wheeler-2

Re: KPA500 age

My KPA500 S/N 19XX arrived in spring of 2014 so, a
bit over two years ago.

But I doubt any unit as recent as 1300 will have
any age-related design deficiencies vs. a new KPA500.

Phil W7OX

On 7/5/16 1:58 PM, Nr4c wrote:

> And that indicates what exactly? Each item in the K-LINE has its own serial number series starting with "0001", except the K3S which started at "10001". There might be some zeros out there but I think these were not actually sold to customers.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> ...nr4c. bill
>
>
>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 4:26 PM, Harlan Sherriff <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> John,
>> All I can say is my P3 is sn 2397 and the invoice shows a date of 11/21/2012.
>>
>> Harlan
>> K4HES
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:11 PM, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>> I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
>>> give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
>>> The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
>>> older.
>>>
>>> John KK9A

k6dgw

Re: KPA500 age

I would agree that there is very little if anything in a KPA500 to
deteriorate solely from age, unless we're talking about hundreds of
years. That said, perhaps John is concerned that, if the seller is not
being truthful about the age, he may not be truthful about other things
as well, such as abuse. Just a guess, I suspect I'd be concerned.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016
- www.cqp.org

On 7/5/2016 2:24 PM, Phil Wheeler wrote:
> My KPA500 S/N 19XX arrived in spring of 2014 so, a bit over two years ago.
>
> But I doubt any unit as recent as 1300 will have any age-related design
> deficiencies vs. a new KPA500.
>
> Phil W7OX

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]

Harlan Sherriff

Re: KPA500 age

In reply to this post by Phil Wheeler-2

Oops. I read the question correctly, but appears I didn't engage brain.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 5, 2016, at 5:24 PM, Phil Wheeler <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> My KPA500 S/N 19XX arrived in spring of 2014 so, a bit over two years ago.
>
> But I doubt any unit as recent as 1300 will have any age-related design deficiencies vs. a new KPA500.
>
> Phil W7OX
>
>> On 7/5/16 1:58 PM, Nr4c wrote:
>> And that indicates what exactly? Each item in the K-LINE has its own serial number series starting with "0001", except the K3S which started at "10001". There might be some zeros out there but I think these were not actually sold to customers.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> ...nr4c. bill
>>
>>
>>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 4:26 PM, Harlan Sherriff <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>> John,
>>> All I can say is my P3 is sn 2397 and the invoice shows a date of 11/21/2012.
>>>
>>> Harlan
>>> K4HES
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:11 PM, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
>>>> give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
>>>> The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
>>>> older.
>>>>
>>>> John KK9A
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

efortner

Re: KPA500 age

In reply to this post by Phil Wheeler-2

I purchased one in September of 2015 and SN is 1783.
Earl, K4KAY

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [On Behalf Of Phil Wheeler
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 5:25 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 age

My KPA500 S/N 19XX arrived in spring of 2014 so, a bit over two years ago.

But I doubt any unit as recent as 1300 will have any age-related design
deficiencies vs. a new KPA500.

Phil W7OX

On 7/5/16 1:58 PM, Nr4c wrote:
> And that indicates what exactly? Each item in the K-LINE has its own
serial number series starting with "0001", except the K3S which started at
"10001". There might be some zeros out there but I think these were not
actually sold to customers.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> ...nr4c. bill
>
>
>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 4:26 PM, Harlan Sherriff <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> John,
>> All I can say is my P3 is sn 2397 and the invoice shows a date of
11/21/2012.

>>
>> Harlan
>> K4HES
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Jul 5, 2016, at 3:11 PM, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>> I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone
>>> here can give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the

low 1300s.
>>> The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is
>>> much older.
>>>
>>> John KK9A

______________________________________________________________
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 Message
delivered to [hidden email]

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]

john@kk9a.com

Re: KPA500 age

In reply to this post by john@kk9a.com

Thanks to all that responded to my question regarding the age of a KPA500
that I purchased last week. I received a lot of useful clues to the age of
this amp, amazingly one guy in Sweden had a KPA500 with a serial number
only 20 units higher. As I suspected, this amp was no where near one year
old as advertised and the seller has been unresponsive since 2 July when I
questioned him on the age. He was either mistaken or attempted fraud. If
mistaken and responsive we probably could have worked something out. To
those that stated there is nothing that ages in the amp and that there
have been few updates, I could not care less. I do not do business this
way, the amp has been shipped back and I have demanded a refund.

73,
John

On Tue, July 5, 2016 3:11 pm, [hidden email] wrote:
I hate to bother Elecraft with this question, I am hoping someone here can
give me an age estimate of a KPA500 with a serial number in the low 1300s.
The seller claims that it is a year old and I suspect that it is much
older.

John KK9A

______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [hidden email]