Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
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Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
 
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I have a KPA-1500 amp in our station, and I use it on a daily basis in a remote configuration to operate our station. Fan noise is not an issue here because we are not in the same location as the amplifier. Further, we do mostly digital modes (MSK144, FT8, Q65, etc.) which are high duty cycle. I mostly use the remote app to force the fan speed to a higher level than the factory fan curve to help keep the amp cool. It would be nice if the KPA-1500 FW had a few fan profiles to choose from to help keep the amp cool when running high duty cycle modes. This way, operators such as myself who do a lot of high-duty cycle modes could keep their KPA-1500’s cooler and extend the life of the amplifier.
Best and 73, Fred (AB1OC) President, Nashua Area Radio Society ARISS Mentor and Telebridge Station [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> Visit Nashua ARS Website – https://www.n1fd.org<https://www.n1fd.org/> Visit our Blog – https://stationproject.blog<https://stationproject.blog/> ______________________________________________________________ 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] |
Re: Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
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Hello Fred,
I use the programmable function keys for this: PF1= ^fc2; PF2= ^fc0; Fan speed 2 is usually enough to keep the heatsink temp below 70C. ---- 73, Mike Cizek W0VTT -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Fred Kemmerer Sent: Friday, 12 March, 2021 07:53 To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500 I have a KPA-1500 amp in our station, and I use it on a daily basis in a remote configuration to operate our station. Fan noise is not an issue here because we are not in the same location as the amplifier. Further, we do mostly digital modes (MSK144, FT8, Q65, etc.) which are high duty cycle. I mostly use the remote app to force the fan speed to a higher level than the factory fan curve to help keep the amp cool. It would be nice if the KPA-1500 FW had a few fan profiles to choose from to help keep the amp cool when running high duty cycle modes. This way, operators such as myself who do a lot of high-duty cycle modes could keep their KPA-1500’s cooler and extend the life of the amplifier. Best and 73, Fred (AB1OC) President, Nashua Area Radio Society ARISS Mentor and Telebridge Station [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> Visit Nashua ARS Website – https://www.n1fd.org<https://www.n1fd.org/> Visit our Blog – https://stationproject.blog<https://stationproject.blog/> ______________________________________________________________ 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] |
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Fanticipator, a free Windows app from K8UT, also has some helpful
capabilities in this regard. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network web server at <http://beta.reversebeacon.net>. For spots, please use your favorite "retail" DX cluster. On 3/12/2021 9:06 AM, Mike Cizek W0VTT wrote: > Hello Fred, > > I use the programmable function keys for this: > > PF1= ^fc2; > PF2= ^fc0; > > Fan speed 2 is usually enough to keep the heatsink temp below 70C. > ---- > 73, > Mike Cizek W0VTT > > -----Original Message----- > From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Fred Kemmerer > Sent: Friday, 12 March, 2021 07:53 > To: [hidden email] > Subject: [Elecraft] Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500 > > I have a KPA-1500 amp in our station, and I use it on a daily basis in a remote configuration to operate our station. Fan noise is not an issue here because we are not in the same location as the amplifier. Further, we do mostly digital modes (MSK144, FT8, Q65, etc.) which are high duty cycle. I mostly use the remote app to force the fan speed to a higher level than the factory fan curve to help keep the amp cool. It would be nice if the KPA-1500 FW had a few fan profiles to choose from to help keep the amp cool when running high duty cycle modes. This way, operators such as myself who do a lot of high-duty cycle modes could keep their KPA-1500’s cooler and extend the life of the amplifier. > > Best and 73, > > Fred (AB1OC) > President, Nashua Area Radio Society > > ARISS Mentor and Telebridge Station > > [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> > Visit Nashua ARS Website – https://www.n1fd.org<https://www.n1fd.org/> > Visit our Blog – https://stationproject.blog<https://stationproject.blog/> > ______________________________________________________________ > 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] 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] |
Re: Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
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In reply to this post by Mike Cizek W0VTT
Thank you, Mike, for the helpful suggestion. I do something similar here. The problem is that it's easy to forget that you have increased the fan speed during long idle periods when you are not in the same room as the amplifier. This results in unnecessary wear on the fans. I'd like to have the benefits of the automatic fan curve but also to have a choice of more aggressive automatic fan curves to handle high duty cycle modes like FT8, etc.
Best and 73, Fred (AB1OC) ARISS Mentor and Telebridge Station [hidden email] Visit Nashua ARS Website – https://www.n1fd.org <https://www.n1fd.org/> Visit our Blog – https://stationproject.blog <https://stationproject.blog/> On 3/12/21, 9:06 AM, "Mike Cizek W0VTT" <[hidden email]> wrote: Hello Fred, I use the programmable function keys for this: PF1= ^fc2; PF2= ^fc0; Fan speed 2 is usually enough to keep the heatsink temp below 70C. ---- 73, Mike Cizek W0VTT -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Fred Kemmerer Sent: Friday, 12 March, 2021 07:53 To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500 I have a KPA-1500 amp in our station, and I use it on a daily basis in a remote configuration to operate our station. Fan noise is not an issue here because we are not in the same location as the amplifier. Further, we do mostly digital modes (MSK144, FT8, Q65, etc.) which are high duty cycle. I mostly use the remote app to force the fan speed to a higher level than the factory fan curve to help keep the amp cool. It would be nice if the KPA-1500 FW had a few fan profiles to choose from to help keep the amp cool when running high duty cycle modes. This way, operators such as myself who do a lot of high-duty cycle modes could keep their KPA-1500’s cooler and extend the life of the amplifier. Best and 73, Fred (AB1OC) President, Nashua Area Radio Society ARISS Mentor and Telebridge Station [hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> Visit Nashua ARS Website – https://www.n1fd.org<https://www.n1fd.org/> Visit our Blog – https://stationproject.blog<https://stationproject.blog/> ______________________________________________________________ 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] |
Re: Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
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On 3/12/2021 6:33 AM, Fred Kemmerer wrote:
> I do something similar here. The problem is that it's easy to forget that you have increased the fan speed during long idle periods when you are not in the same room as the amplifier. This results in unnecessary wear on the fans. My neighbor K6XX is the mfg engineer for Elecraft amps. This summer, Bob lost his home and large contesting station to a wildfire, and borrowed my KPA1500 for a weekend contest. When he returned it, he noted that one of my fans had excessive wear and was jammed with dust. Since I use the amp a lot on 6M with digital modes, it can run really hot, especially with long MS QSOs, so I did what you did -- setting the fan speed very high from the start. Bob advised me to set the default speed to zero and let the amp speed it up as required. I've since been doing that, and while the temp gets up to 90C, the amp seems happy. 6M is the most challenging for this amp because the devices are least efficient, so I limit my power to about 1kW on 6M using long intervals (like Q65-60 or -120). 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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] |
Re: Suggested Enhancement for KPA-1500
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I use my KPA1500 for contesting... and it's never hot... but I do worry
about the fans wearing out. At one point I asked Elecraft if they had a "Fan Kit" for it that I could keep in stock here in the Caribbean just in case one went south in the middle of a contest... Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ email: [hidden email] -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. https://www.avg.com ______________________________________________________________ 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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Dr. William,
In your case I would recommend that you have a spare fan or two. I retired two years ago from full time radio broadcast engineering. Technology has really changed everything. But starting 10 years ago, I ordered spare fans for every critical item in the broadcast chain. other engineers in town though i was nuts, but i was the one they called when they lost a fan. (Markup was usually lunch!). A typical Nautel transmitter today may have 30+ fans in it. Fans and power supplies. 90% of broadcast equipment failure is the power supply. I have a KPA-500, and I am not worried about its power supply. But those wall warts and even the cheap inside power supplies today are the reason i still get paid to be on call for stations. But for your piece of mind, I would have a set of fans on hand. Tom Bosscher K8TB (yes, my K3 is # 53!) On 3/12/2021 2:45 PM, Dr. William J. Schmidt wrote: > I use my KPA1500 for contesting... and it's never hot... but I do worry > about the fans wearing out. At one point I asked Elecraft if they had a > "Fan Kit" for it that I could keep in stock here in the Caribbean just in > case one went south in the middle of a contest... > > > Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ > > email: [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] |
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