Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

On 5/4/2024 9:21 PM, Jorge Diez - CX6VM wrote: So there is my question, if for such an expensive piece of equipment, there could be something of better quality, if not, I apologize, we will have to live with these things. The only things that Elecraft should do to prevent lightning damage are

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Hi again, Your grounding sounds good. I suspect the USB connection used by Elecraft was standard, and not something that was lightening proof, so yes, any manufacturer can do more, the question is why increase the cost of the amp to everyone, when there is little chance the protection will e

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Hi Dave I have a panel like yours, each antenna to a discharger, on a copper sheet. Nothing has happened with the coaxial and antenna switch I have several rods that make the ground and a copper bar behind the desk and all the equipment is connected to the ground The lighting came through the an

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Jorge, I can only go by what you said: "Last week I experienced a lightning strike" That sounds a lot like a direct discharge into the shack, so I am responding to your comment, if that is not correct, please help me understand what actually happened... Lightening is strange, it can take ou

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Supported myself during college at the local TV station ... very late 1950's. Station was on a ridge, we got lots of lightning strikes on our tower. The grounding ["earthing"] of the entire station was super extensive. We still occasionally lost equipment, mostly the smaller uwave equipment out

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Probably a great device, but why would Elecraft risk infringing someone else’s patent and increasing the price of the K4 by an extra $100, rather than letting the individual decide if they need and buy their own? 73, Alan - G4GNX South Coast UK Elecraft K4D / KPA500 / KAT500 / IC-9700 > On 5

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

hi Dave I don't know what to tell you, I imagine that a direct discharge into the shack would have burned everything. I had 6 USB cables connected to the laptop, they burned the USB of a box of GHE that costs $160 and the USB of the KPA1500 that costs +$7000 rotor controls and other PCs did not

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Hi Jorge, That device would not stand a strike... As per the US Weather service, (https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-power), a typical lightening bolt runs around 300,000,000 volts, at 30,000 amps. That device is speced for 4000 volts... For Elecraft to protect the amp against a ligh

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Dave I am not an engineer and I don't know anything about electronics either, but I am very receptive to the solutions that many radio friends give me. which made me think if the kpa1500 or k4 usb was built with something like this, https://www.blackbox.com/en-ca/store/product/detail/USB-to-USB-I

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

I can’t see where a more robust USB connector would affect remote operation via a LAN cable. Better isolation can be obtained by installing a WiFi dongle. 73, Alan - G4GNX South Coast UK Elecraft K4D / KPA500 / KAT500 / IC-9700 > On 4 May 2024, at 17:57, Jorge Diez - CX6VM wrote: > > of co

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Jorge, I would imagine if you approach Elecraft with that mindset, their thoughts will be you should take care of your own lightening protection. 73, and thanks, Dave (NK7Z) https://www.nk7z.net ARRL Volunteer Examiner ARRL Technical Specialist, RFI ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

of course that we need to take care of many things, very good grounding, gas arrestors, single antenna grounding panel, etc, etc but, after my bad experience, I expect that a expensive product that is designed, in many cases, to be installed remotely, has been, for example on the USB connector, bu

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

I don’t think you can expect Elecraft to take care of any safety issues, especially with lightning. You could install a remote camera to keep an eye on things, along with smoke detectors and some form of extinguisher, such as those now available for 3D printers. To protect from lightning, you’d

Re: [Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Wayne What worries me is having a very expensive device like a K4 connected in a remote place, to the antennas, power and internet How to avoid damage to the equipment? Last week I experienced a lightning strike and the I/O module of my KPA1500 was damaged, what has Elecraft thought to ensure th

[Elecraft] K4 Remote: My QTH vs. a friend's, many miles to the north

Now that Remote is available to all K4 owners, we'd love to hear how you're using it. For me, Remote has added an unexpected new dimension to HF QRP operation. At my home station in the SF Bay area, I have a mediocre antenna farm (OCF dipole and a 16' vertical). Nothing rotates. Nothing change