Hi all. I recently put a remote antenna switch in my HF system. This switch (a WA4MCM kit, RAAS-4a) is capable of reading band data from several radios, including my Elecraft K3S. For several years I have had a KPA-500 amplifier in line, working seamlessly with my K3S, band switching automatically, etc. In order to get band data for the new switch, I installed the "Y" cable that came with the KPAK3AUX Cable set that I purchased with the amp. After installing the new switch, everything works fine, with a couple of small "quirky" things. For the past year or so, I have had my amp set to automatically go into stand-by when I switch bands. After installing the new switch, I noticed that when changing bands, the amp no longer automatically goes to stand-by. Furthermore, after making a band change and transmitting for the first time on the new band (with the amp in "operate" mode), the amp will drop out of "operate" shortly after keying up. No error message or error beep happens, it just drops out. After manually putting the amp back in "operate" mode, everything was fine. After I noticed that, I just disabled the automatic switch to stand-by feature of the KPA-500, and that took care of that. Another interesting, and possibly more significant, anomaly I noticed after installing the new switch is according to the display on the amplifier, the amplifier is always on the 60 meter band, displaying "5.3 MHZ". I normally only display the temperature of the amplifier, but my son noticed this when he was operating from my station and changed the display. When he noticed this, we were operating a special event station and had operated on most bands other than 60 meters for quite some time with the amp apparently set for 60 meters, with no obvious ill effects.
The designer of the switch says that each band data channel only draws around 4 mA, with each channel buffered by a transistor switch in an attempt to isolate the band data voltage from the radio. In my working days in the entertainment industry, I would use a distribution amp to give me multiple audio outputs when needed. Is there such a "distribution amp" available for the band data signals? Would the Elecraft KRC2 accomplish this? I appreciate any input offered on my situation. 73, Ken, KJ9B ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
