Mating KPA500 ot Kenwood TS 590.

[stephen arnold-2]

Has anyone attempted to mate the Kenwood 590 with the KPA 500?  The KPA's owner's manual under "cabling" on page 7, suggests a RS232 9-pin cable will successfully  connect the two units, but does not specifically state that the RS232 is carrying ALC from the Ts 590 to the KPA 500.  I have used the RS232 cable, am getting some drive, but cannot raise the 500's output past 50 watts outs which is what I am inputting from the Kenwood unit.

Steve KB9AVS
K3 and KPA 500

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[Dick Dievendorff]

The serial connection provides the amplifier with frequency information and
is optional.  The amp will bandswitch on transmit as needed.

You'll need the amplifier key line as well.   ALC may or may not be needed.
But the amp key line is a must, and it's not on the serial cable.

Dick, K6KR


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of stephen arnold
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 11:41 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Mating KPA500 ot Kenwood TS 590.


Has anyone attempted to mate the Kenwood 590 with the KPA 500?  The KPA's
owner's manual under "cabling" on page 7, suggests a RS232 9-pin cable will
successfully  connect the two units, but does not specifically state that
the RS232 is carrying ALC from the Ts 590 to the KPA 500.  I have used the
RS232 cable, am getting some drive, but cannot raise the 500's output past
50 watts outs which is what I am inputting from the Kenwood unit.

Steve KB9AVS
K3 and KPA 500

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[Barry Simpson]

Hi Stephen

I am using my TS-590 (and K3) very successfully with my KPA500. I have a
few pointers which may be of interest to you.

I am not using any band information cabling from the TS-590. I let the
KPA500 RF sensing take care of that.

I have made up the simple solid state amplifier switch for the TS-590 which
is housed in the Din plug shell. That is my sole connection to the KPA500.
I did try the ALC but it is a waste of time because it is very slow acting.
As such, you need to control the RF output from the TS-590 manually and
this requires a different setting for each band for consistent amplifier
output. However, a good starting point is around 20W.

You will also need to adjust the carrier level to ensure there is no ALC
action (on CW) otherwise you will see a huge spike on keying the first
character, particularly on 10m. A good carrier starting point is 15 but my
needs much less on 10m.

It is easy to do the adjustments and watch the power out LED display on the
KPA500. You will know when you have got it right.

I also did adjustments for SSB and I am happy with those.

I leave both the K3 and TS-590 connected to the KPA500 at all times. That
way, it is easy to switch rigs simply with my antenna switch without having
to fiddle with changing any cables.

73

Barry Simpson  VK2BJ

On 7 January 2012 19:40, stephen arnold <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Has anyone attempted to mate the Kenwood 590 with the KPA 500?  The KPA's
> owner's manual under "cabling" on page 7, suggests a RS232 9-pin cable will
> successfully  connect the two units, but does not specifically state that
> the RS232 is carrying ALC from the Ts 590 to the KPA 500.  I have used the
> RS232 cable, am getting some drive, but cannot raise the 500's output past
> 50 watts outs which is what I am inputting from the Kenwood unit.
>
> Steve KB9AVS
> K3 and KPA 500
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
>

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