Re: [Elecraft] KPA-1500 wish list

2019-11-20 Thread Jim Brown 

On 11/20/2019 8:06 PM, N4ZR wrote:

Yup, but old habits die hard!


Old dogs like us have to continue learning new tricks. :)  You've done a 
LOT of that helping to build and teach us all about RBN.


73, Jim K9YC

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Re: [Elecraft] KPA-1500 wish list

2019-11-20 Thread N4ZR 

Yup, but old habits die hard!

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at , now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 11/20/2019 2:09 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
The simple solution to this is to TX a dit before making the call. 
I've done this for years when working with auto-detect equipment like 
the KAT500, KPA500, and 87A. On SSB, the equivalent is to tap the mic.


73, Jim K9YC

On 11/20/2019 6:40 AM, N4ZR wrote:



I'd love to have 50-ohm resonant antennas on every band.  Short of 
that, there does not appear to be any way around the ATU's need  to 
identify which antenna is selected by the external switch, before it 
can decide which stored setting to apply. This takes a measurable 
amount of time, as much as one character of 30 WPM CW, and I'm told 
that until this process is completed, the amplifier is bypassed.  
I've observed, for example, that when I pounce on a CQer 
significantly far away from the frequency of my last QSO, the "N" in 
my call becomes "E", or goes away entirely, as heard by the other 
station.

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Re: [Elecraft] KPA-1500 wish list

2019-11-20 Thread Jim Brown 
The simple solution to this is to TX a dit before making the call. I've 
done this for years when working with auto-detect equipment like the 
KAT500, KPA500, and 87A. On SSB, the equivalent is to tap the mic.


73, Jim K9YC

On 11/20/2019 6:40 AM, N4ZR wrote:



I'd love to have 50-ohm resonant antennas on every band.  Short of that, 
there does not appear to be any way around the ATU's need  to identify 
which antenna is selected by the external switch, before it can decide 
which stored setting to apply.  This takes a measurable amount of time, 
as much as one character of 30 WPM CW, and I'm told that until this 
process is completed, the amplifier is bypassed.  I've observed, for 
example, that when I pounce on a CQer significantly far away from the 
frequency of my last QSO, the "N" in my call becomes "E", or goes away 
entirely, as heard by the other station.

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Re: [Elecraft] KPA-1500 wish list

2019-11-20 Thread K9MA 
When you QSY, without switching antennas, it seems to take half a second 
or so after you stop tuning for the ATU to switch. (Assuming it's been 
"trained".) As far as I can tell, after that delay the ATU is stable, so 
it shouldn't affect outgoing CW. However, as Pete says, when you switch 
antennas there can be a delay, since the only way the ATU knows you have 
switched antennas is the high SWR when you start transmitting. The 
solution is a way to tell the ATU that you have switched antennas BEFORE 
transmitting, for example, by tying it into the switch(es) which 
controls the external antenna relays.


Imagine this scenario: You hear a weak signal calling CQ, flip your 
antennas switch a couple time to figure out where it is coming from, and 
then you have about 100 ms to start calling. Otherwise it's too late. 
With two tribanders, this happens to me all the time. How can the 
KPA1500 ATU be made to switch that fast? It's relays certainly can; it's 
just a matter of getting that control signal to them.


I doubt there is any way to modify the KPA1500 to make this happen 
without changes to firmware.


73,
Scott K9MA

On 11/20/2019 08:40, N4ZR wrote:
I hope that the amp guys at Elecraft will reply to this thread.  I've 
been working with them for several weeks trying to address just this 
problem.  The latest beta firmware seems to handle it pretty well, so 
long as I make sure I've trained the ATU on every band segment.


I'd love to have 50-ohm resonant antennas on every band.  Short of 
that, there does not appear to be any way around the ATU's need to 
identify which antenna is selected by the external switch, before it 
can decide which stored setting to apply.  This takes a measurable 
amount of time, as much as one character of 30 WPM CW, and I'm told 
that until this process is completed, the amplifier is bypassed.  I've 
observed, for example, that when I pounce on a CQer significantly far 
away from the frequency of my last QSO, the "N" in my call becomes 
"E", or goes away entirely, as heard by the other station.


73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at , now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 11/19/2019 3:56 PM, K9MA wrote:
Bill is touching on an issue I've raised before: A way to select 
multiple ATU settings for the same frequency and antenna output. I 
had to build a tri-band tuner to switch between my two tribanders so 
they would both present the amplifier with the same impedance. The 
internal ATU would have been able to do that, if only there were a 
way to store and recall two different sets of settings. In the case 
of automated antenna switching systems like mine, there also has to 
be a way to electronically tell the amplifier which settings to use: 
Having to press a front panel switch is not acceptable, as that would 
require two operations to switch antennas, which is way too slow. (I 
sometimes have to flip the antenna switch several times during a call 
to determine which antenna to use.)


73,
Scott K9MA



On 11/19/2019 13:02, K8TE wrote:
Another issue not explicitly mentioned is using an external antenna 
switch
with different conjugate matches already trained withing the KPA1500 
ATU.
Those different matches mean when one selects a "new" (different) 
antenna

than already selected on a particular frequency (same band or not), the
KPA1500 doesn't know this fact until power is applied.  Then, due to 
a high

VSWR, the amplifier faults.

With just two antenna ports on the KPA1500, there are only two quickly
accessible tuning solutions per frequency if using both ports. If using
only one port and an external antenna switch, a common choice in many
stations, finding the correct tuning solutions can't be done fast 
enough to

prevent a fault.

As alluded to in previous messages on this topic, perhaps the solution,
unfortunately, is an external box that could contain the appropriate 
data so
that, when a new frequency/antenna combination, that has a 
previously tuning
solution, is selected, the external box will tell both the KPA1500 
ATU to
select the appropriate solution and transceiver to make appropriate 
power

level adjustments, both PRIOR to actually transmitting.

This is done (approximately, but with no power level changes) by the 
KAT500

in selecting one of the three antenna ports and the appropriate tuning
solution.  This assumes no other antenna choices on each of the 
three ports

for the same frequency.  The KPA1500/K3S combination is (currently) not
sufficiently "smart" to accomplish this.

Of course, if we had "perfect" antennas that provided resonant 
matches on
all bands/frequencies, we wouldn't be discussing this.  If we had 
those, we

wouldn't need the KPA1500 ATU either.  73, Bill, K8TE



--


--
Scott  K9MA

k...@sdellington.us

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[Elecraft] K2 For Sale

2019-11-20 Thread wes Bolin 
I have my K2 for sale. It is s/n# 509 but has been updated to latest from
the factory by Elecraft Tech Service (W8GFU).  I bought accessories but
have never gotten around to build and/or install them:  KSB2,KDSP2 (built),
KIO2,
K160RX,K2VCOSHLDKT,KAT2,KNB2,XFILMOD,K2KSB2,E850093,K2ATOBKT,E850006,BFOMODKT,E850138,HEIL
MH2 MIC,12V/2.9AH NEW BATTERY.
Also original manual, instructions and test results.  It looks good
cosmetically and I am asking  the Elecraft group $600 and I will ship it.
The DSP2 price is $225 shipped if someone wants the radio without it for
$450. I need to sell both pieces.   I am keeping my K2/100 with a
Loudenboomer Amplifier.  Thanks for looking, Wes
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[Elecraft] K4 Beta Testers

2019-11-20 Thread Leroy Buller 
I assume the K4 is being beta tested by a group of  hand picked ops.  Is
that tfue?  I know they are sworn to secrecy but will there be any
discussion later on as to their observations of the various configurations
of the K4?

Reading the material is fine, but there is nothing better than direct
testimony from a user.  This is NOT a political statement.

Lee K0WA
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA-1500 wish list

2019-11-20 Thread N4ZR 
I hope that the amp guys at Elecraft will reply to this thread.  I've 
been working with them for several weeks trying to address just this 
problem.  The latest beta firmware seems to handle it pretty well, so 
long as I make sure I've trained the ATU on every band segment.


I'd love to have 50-ohm resonant antennas on every band.  Short of that, 
there does not appear to be any way around the ATU's need  to identify 
which antenna is selected by the external switch, before it can decide 
which stored setting to apply.  This takes a measurable amount of time, 
as much as one character of 30 WPM CW, and I'm told that until this 
process is completed, the amplifier is bypassed.  I've observed, for 
example, that when I pounce on a CQer significantly far away from the 
frequency of my last QSO, the "N" in my call becomes "E", or goes away 
entirely, as heard by the other station.


73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at , now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 11/19/2019 3:56 PM, K9MA wrote:
Bill is touching on an issue I've raised before: A way to select 
multiple ATU settings for the same frequency and antenna output. I had 
to build a tri-band tuner to switch between my two tribanders so they 
would both present the amplifier with the same impedance. The internal 
ATU would have been able to do that, if only there were a way to store 
and recall two different sets of settings. In the case of automated 
antenna switching systems like mine, there also has to be a way to 
electronically tell the amplifier which settings to use: Having to 
press a front panel switch is not acceptable, as that would require 
two operations to switch antennas, which is way too slow. (I sometimes 
have to flip the antenna switch several times during a call to 
determine which antenna to use.)


73,
Scott K9MA



On 11/19/2019 13:02, K8TE wrote:
Another issue not explicitly mentioned is using an external antenna 
switch
with different conjugate matches already trained withing the KPA1500 
ATU.
Those different matches mean when one selects a "new" (different) 
antenna

than already selected on a particular frequency (same band or not), the
KPA1500 doesn't know this fact until power is applied.  Then, due to 
a high

VSWR, the amplifier faults.

With just two antenna ports on the KPA1500, there are only two quickly
accessible tuning solutions per frequency if using both ports. If using
only one port and an external antenna switch, a common choice in many
stations, finding the correct tuning solutions can't be done fast 
enough to

prevent a fault.

As alluded to in previous messages on this topic, perhaps the solution,
unfortunately, is an external box that could contain the appropriate 
data so
that, when a new frequency/antenna combination, that has a previously 
tuning
solution, is selected, the external box will tell both the KPA1500 
ATU to
select the appropriate solution and transceiver to make appropriate 
power

level adjustments, both PRIOR to actually transmitting.

This is done (approximately, but with no power level changes) by the 
KAT500

in selecting one of the three antenna ports and the appropriate tuning
solution.  This assumes no other antenna choices on each of the three 
ports

for the same frequency.  The KPA1500/K3S combination is (currently) not
sufficiently "smart" to accomplish this.

Of course, if we had "perfect" antennas that provided resonant 
matches on
all bands/frequencies, we wouldn't be discussing this.  If we had 
those, we

wouldn't need the KPA1500 ATU either.  73, Bill, K8TE



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