KPA500 and KTA AUX Cable/Remote

[DAVID INGEBRIGHT]

Just assembled the two units and am very pleased with the Elecraft products. My question is since I do not have the KPA and KTA  connected to a K3 (it's a K'Wood TS-480), do I really need the aux cable between the KPA and KTA? Looks like it contains some band info but not sure if the $40 cable is really necessary. But I am also running the setup by remote control (RRC-1258) and I am having to leave the KPA on STBY all the time so I can communicate via the RS232 interface. I see that pin 8 of the AUX connector is a power on pin if you pull it low momentarily. I have a webswitch and have a pair of contacts where I could do this. Has anyone done this? Does it really power off the KPA and power it back on?
Thanks //Dave WB7ELY
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[ANDY DURBIN]

"My question is since I do not have the KPA and KTA connected to a K3 (it's a K'Wood TS-480), do I really need the aux cable between the KPA and KTA?"

Aux cable not required and would, to the best of my knowledge, do nothing in your configuration.   What you probably can do is have the KPA500 poll the TS-480 with IF, FA, and FB and have the KPA500 and KAT500 listen to the replies.  (I only say probably because I assume, but don't know, that the TS-480 supports IF, FA and FB responses.  It works for TS-590 and TS-890).   Elecraft sell a serial cable for exactly this purpose.  Be aware though that KAT500 will only follow VFO A if you use this configuration.  KPA500 will follow the TX VFO regardless of whether that is A or B.

Sorry, but I have no experience with the power up pin.

73,
Andy, k3wyc
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[ANDY DURBIN]

"Does it really power off the KPA and power it back on?"

The KPA500 states are:

Unpowered - power not connected or rear power switch off.  It does not respond to anything.
Powered but Off - Power is connected and rear power switch is on.  Responds to a few serial commands including power up (I assume also responds to power pin)
STBY - front panel switch is selected On and standby mode is active
OPER- front panel switch is selected On and operate mode is active

Firmware loading mode not included in list.

See KPA500 Programmer's Reference for more detail.

73,
Andy, k3wyc

________________________________
From: Andy Durbin
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2019 8:59 AM
To: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Subject: KPA500 and KTA AUX Cable/Remote

"My question is since I do not have the KPA and KTA connected to a K3 (it's a K'Wood TS-480), do I really need the aux cable between the KPA and KTA?"

Aux cable not required and would, to the best of my knowledge, do nothing in your configuration.   What you probably can do is have the KPA500 poll the TS-480 with IF, FA, and FB and have the KPA500 and KAT500 listen to the replies.  (I only say probably because I assume, but don't know, that the TS-480 supports IF, FA and FB responses.  It works for TS-590 and TS-890).   Elecraft sell a serial cable for exactly this purpose.  Be aware though that KAT500 will only follow VFO A if you use this configuration.  KPA500 will follow the TX VFO regardless of whether that is A or B.

Sorry, but I have no experience with the power up pin.

73,
Andy, k3wyc
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[Elecraft mailing list]

Dave;

You do not need the AUX IO cable. You do need to connect the PTT lines from the transceiver to the cat, then from the KAT to the KPA. Both KPA and KAT will work quite well with RF sensing for frequency.

If you wish to add frequency control from the transceiver, you can connect both KPA and KAT to the TS-480 RS-232 stream. Since you are running a remote station, you most likely do not want the KPA to send prompts to the transceiver for the proper data, but rather allow the computer to handle this.

And, yes, the AUX IO pin works quite well to power on and off the KPA. It is essentially in parallel with the front panel button, which means it must be pulsed and not held or the kPA will not complete its power on sequence. The KPA Programming specification details the commands the KPA responds to both in normal operation and while in soft power-down (bootstrap mode). You can power up the KPA either witth the AUX IO power pin or with a serial port command. I believe it is a single character, be sure to check the specification for details.

73!
Jack, W6FB

> On Oct 21, 2019, at 8:43 AM, DAVID INGEBRIGHT <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Just assembled the two units and am very pleased with the Elecraft products. My question is since I do not have the KPA and KTA  connected to a K3 (it's a K'Wood TS-480), do I really need the aux cable between the KPA and KTA? Looks like it contains some band info but not sure if the $40 cable is really necessary. But I am also running the setup by remote control (RRC-1258) and I am having to leave the KPA on STBY all the time so I can communicate via the RS232 interface. I see that pin 8 of the AUX connector is a power on pin if you pull it low momentarily. I have a webswitch and have a pair of contacts where I could do this. Has anyone done this? Does it really power off the KPA and power it back on?
> Thanks //Dave WB7ELY
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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]

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