Upfront this email is long and outlines the frustrations with this amp that I
have never encountered with another piece of new Ham Equipment in my 27 years
of being licensed.
First indication of Problem:
I received this amp on 27 Feb at 10:55 when the situation started. I unpacked
the items and laid them out on the table with an anti-static mat in place. As I
inventoried the items, I discovered that I had two back plates and no face
plate. I started assembly of the amp and noticed that the hex nut for the RS232
(PC) connector was missing. I looked in the parts bag and it was not there
either. I sent an email to parts at Elecraft and received a phone call asking
to describe what was missing. I described in detail what was missing and
received a promise that correct parts would be shipped.
Front Plate and hex nut were shipped via USPS on 3 March and received in WV on
5 March. I installed the front plate and then opened the small envelope with
the hex nut. It was the wrong one. I sent another email to Parts at Elecraft
with an attached picture showing that the part sent was the wrong one.
The correct part was shipped 6 Mar and received 8 Mar. I installed and hooked
up the amp today (see comments below for todays adventure).
What has really caused the frustrations with this amp.
After the weekend ARRL Contest, I hooked the amp to the KX3 per the manual by
setting Tun Power to nor and PA MODE to on. The amp immediately came to life. I
adjusted the power knob and noticed that the power was now showing what the amp
would output versus the KX3 power. There was station on 20 RTTY that I wanted
to work so I set the output power to 45 watts which would drive the AL80B to
just between 400 to 500 watts. Tuner after the AL80B is a Palstar AT4K into a
Hexx Beam with an swr of 1.2 on 20M with tuner bypassed. I started up kcomm and
entered the stations call. I heard the AL80B amp keying each time I sent my
call. I tried several times with no contact with the station calling CQ. I
keyed again and noticed that the al80B was only showing about 30-40 watts
instead of 4-500. I immediately stopped sending call and exited kcomm, started
the KXPA utility program and found the fault table. It showed several faults
for hi swr of 99.9:1. How do you get an swr this high into
an antenna with an swr of 1.2? I went back into the kx3 menu and turned off
PA mode. I then set kx3 power to 10 watts and keyed with amp turned off. SWR
showing on KX3 was 1.3. I turned amp on and keyed up with another fault for Hi
SWR. I did work the station with my TS590, AL80B, Palstar tuner and hex with NO
SWR problems!!
I tried more bands with the same problems. I downloaded the Beta Firmware and
new utility and updated the firmware. Same problems and results. I swapped out
the coax between the KXPA100 and the AL80B. Same results. I swapped out the
coax that came with the KXPA cable package with a known good jumper to the amp
same results. I bypassed the AL80b and Palstar tuner direct to the hex. Hi SWR
faults. I tried dipole with Palstar same results. I added an LDG Auto tuner
after amp with same results.
I reloaded ver 1.04 of the firmware and tried again same results. I also
reloaded the beta a second time.
Today I hooked the amp back up after installing the correct hex and decided to
try some more trouble shooting. Today with the PA Mode on and running the
utility software, If I uncheck PA Bypass, which comes on with equipment turn
on, the PA Bypass comes back on. I can hear the relays clicking each time. If
I change PA Mode so I can manually turn the amp off and on the PA Bypass works
correctly. I changed the short piece of CAT 5 with a piece of fully shielded
CAT 6. Did not make a difference.
I saw on the reflector an individual having problems with tuner retuning during
a qso due to sensitive SWR . This is not my situation as mine does not have a
tuner and is a kit version. I also saw where an individual had a problem using
an LDG auto tuner. That is also not a symptom I am having as LDG tuner tunes
fine when you use at least 5 watts or so to tune.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have totally lost any faith or
confidence in the amp. As one of my friends told me it is probably time for it
go away.
Rich, K8VE
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