Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. Taking this one step further, the KPA-500 may have an updated design - after all the ALS-600 is a close copy of Granberg's 20 year old design (Motorola Engineering Bulletin # 104) - but other than the microprocessor control in the KPA-500, the bill of materials should be fairly similar for the KPA-500 and the ALS-600. The FETs in the KPA-500 will be slightly more expensive (2 x $87 in the KPA-500 vs. 4 x $36 in the ALS-600 for Q=1000) but the differences should be offset at least in part by easier assembly and calibration. I would expect the KPA-500 to sell for no more than 20% above the street price of the ALS-600 with linear supply. Any more than that is difficult to justify ... after all, a watt is a watt. 73, ... Joe Subich, W4TV -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Luis V. Romero Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 11:51 PM To: 'Jim Brown' Cc: 'Elecraft' Subject: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-)) I wrote that statement, Jim: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. I'm not in this to have a pretty shack to impress my friends with lots of lights, gingerbread and ham status symbols. If I were into that, I would take out a 2nd mortgage and buy a 7800/PW1. :) Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. After all, I do own a rather well equipped K3. But with two kids in college and a mortgage payment in today's economy, what I have does an admirable job. I did have to do final QC on my ALS600, and I did have to integrate a band decoder to it to switch bands from the radio, and I did have to install Phil AD5X's marvelous little QSK board, but the K3/ALS600/MFJ998 combination I currently operate does exactly what it needs to do with little fuss and surprisingly high reliability at a very reasonable price point. While its true that you get what you pay for, as I used to say when I was in TV and purchased EFP cameras instead of the 5 times more expensive studio versions of the same thing for my station. Nobody at home can see the difference. It would be nice to have a matching amp and panadapter to go with my K3. The Panadapter is well priced for what you get, what it is, and for its computer-less feature set, and I will probably end up with one of those next year. The KPA500, in my personal environment, is not. Again, my opinion, and your mileage will indeed vary. Matching boxes are not high on my priority list because, well, You cant hear the difference at home. -lu-w4lt- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:59:58 -0700 From: Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) To: Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: 2010041917.2a58c58...@gw1.nlenet.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:16:58 -0400, Terry Posey wrote: ALS600 with the Linear Power supply, AD5X Full Break In mod and an external bandswitching accessory plus an MFJ998 would come in considerably under the $2,000 price. Do I understand that you are equating MFJ with Elecraft? That's quite a stretch! While I have great respect for W8JI's engineering, that does not extend to MFJ's manufacturing, and Ameritron has common ownership with MFJ. :) I can also buy at least twenty different models of 100 watt HF transceiver for much less than the cost of a K3. Yet I OWN two K3s. I just returned from Visalia. The exhibit hall included large booths showing Icom and Yaesu rigs. The Elecraft booth was JAMMED from the minute the doors opened until they closed. The Yaesu and Icom booths had only modest traffic, and were oftn next to deserted. 73, Jim K9YC __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
Did I read that the two finals in the KPA500 were push-pull? 73, Guy On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 2:21 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV li...@subich.com wrote: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. Taking this one step further, the KPA-500 may have an updated design - after all the ALS-600 is a close copy of Granberg's 20 year old design (Motorola Engineering Bulletin # 104) - but other than the microprocessor control in the KPA-500, the bill of materials should be fairly similar for the KPA-500 and the ALS-600. The FETs in the KPA-500 will be slightly more expensive (2 x $87 in the KPA-500 vs. 4 x $36 in the ALS-600 for Q=1000) but the differences should be offset at least in part by easier assembly and calibration. I would expect the KPA-500 to sell for no more than 20% above the street price of the ALS-600 with linear supply. Any more than that is difficult to justify ... after all, a watt is a watt. 73, ... Joe Subich, W4TV -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Luis V. Romero Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 11:51 PM To: 'Jim Brown' Cc: 'Elecraft' Subject: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-)) I wrote that statement, Jim: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. I'm not in this to have a pretty shack to impress my friends with lots of lights, gingerbread and ham status symbols. If I were into that, I would take out a 2nd mortgage and buy a 7800/PW1. :) Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. After all, I do own a rather well equipped K3. But with two kids in college and a mortgage payment in today's economy, what I have does an admirable job. I did have to do final QC on my ALS600, and I did have to integrate a band decoder to it to switch bands from the radio, and I did have to install Phil AD5X's marvelous little QSK board, but the K3/ALS600/MFJ998 combination I currently operate does exactly what it needs to do with little fuss and surprisingly high reliability at a very reasonable price point. While its true that you get what you pay for, as I used to say when I was in TV and purchased EFP cameras instead of the 5 times more expensive studio versions of the same thing for my station. Nobody at home can see the difference. It would be nice to have a matching amp and panadapter to go with my K3. The Panadapter is well priced for what you get, what it is, and for its computer-less feature set, and I will probably end up with one of those next year. The KPA500, in my personal environment, is not. Again, my opinion, and your mileage will indeed vary. Matching boxes are not high on my priority list because, well, You cant hear the difference at home. -lu-w4lt- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:59:58 -0700 From: Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) To: Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: 2010041917.2a58c58...@gw1.nlenet.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:16:58 -0400, Terry Posey wrote: ALS600 with the Linear Power supply, AD5X Full Break In mod and an external bandswitching accessory plus an MFJ998 would come in considerably under the $2,000 price. Do I understand that you are equating MFJ with Elecraft? That's quite a stretch! While I have great respect for W8JI's engineering, that does not extend to MFJ's manufacturing, and Ameritron has common ownership with MFJ. :) I can also buy at least twenty different models of 100 watt HF transceiver for much less than the cost of a K3. Yet I OWN two K3s. I just returned from Visalia. The exhibit hall included large booths showing Icom and Yaesu rigs. The Elecraft booth was JAMMED from the minute the doors opened until they closed. The Yaesu and Icom booths had only modest traffic, and were oftn next to deserted. 73, Jim K9YC __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
Did I read that the two finals in the KPA500 were push-pull? That's typical of these designs. The Grandberg design uses the four MRF-150s in parallel/push-pull (two FETs on either side). 73, ... Joe, W4TV -Original Message- From: guyk...@gmail.com [mailto:guyk...@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Guy Olinger K2AV Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:06 AM To: Joe Subich, W4TV Cc: lrom...@ij.net; Jim Brown; Elecraft Subject: Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-)) Did I read that the two finals in the KPA500 were push-pull? 73, Guy On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 2:21 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV li...@subich.com wrote: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. Taking this one step further, the KPA-500 may have an updated design - after all the ALS-600 is a close copy of Granberg's 20 year old design (Motorola Engineering Bulletin # 104) - but other than the microprocessor control in the KPA-500, the bill of materials should be fairly similar for the KPA-500 and the ALS-600. The FETs in the KPA-500 will be slightly more expensive (2 x $87 in the KPA-500 vs. 4 x $36 in the ALS-600 for Q=1000) but the differences should be offset at least in part by easier assembly and calibration. I would expect the KPA-500 to sell for no more than 20% above the street price of the ALS-600 with linear supply. Any more than that is difficult to justify ... after all, a watt is a watt. 73, ... Joe Subich, W4TV -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Luis V. Romero Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 11:51 PM To: 'Jim Brown' Cc: 'Elecraft' Subject: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-)) I wrote that statement, Jim: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. I'm not in this to have a pretty shack to impress my friends with lots of lights, gingerbread and ham status symbols. If I were into that, I would take out a 2nd mortgage and buy a 7800/PW1. :) Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. After all, I do own a rather well equipped K3. But with two kids in college and a mortgage payment in today's economy, what I have does an admirable job. I did have to do final QC on my ALS600, and I did have to integrate a band decoder to it to switch bands from the radio, and I did have to install Phil AD5X's marvelous little QSK board, but the K3/ALS600/MFJ998 combination I currently operate does exactly what it needs to do with little fuss and surprisingly high reliability at a very reasonable price point. While its true that you get what you pay for, as I used to say when I was in TV and purchased EFP cameras instead of the 5 times more expensive studio versions of the same thing for my station. Nobody at home can see the difference. It would be nice to have a matching amp and panadapter to go with my K3. The Panadapter is well priced for what you get, what it is, and for its computer-less feature set, and I will probably end up with one of those next year. The KPA500, in my personal environment, is not. Again, my opinion, and your mileage will indeed vary. Matching boxes are not high on my priority list because, well, You cant hear the difference at home. -lu-w4lt- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:59:58 -0700 From: Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) To: Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: 2010041917.2a58c58...@gw1.nlenet.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:16:58 -0400, Terry Posey wrote: ALS600 with the Linear Power supply, AD5X Full Break In mod and an external bandswitching accessory plus an MFJ998 would come in considerably under the $2,000 price. Do I understand that you are equating MFJ with Elecraft? That's quite a stretch! While I have great respect for W8JI's engineering, that does not extend to MFJ's manufacturing, and Ameritron has common ownership with MFJ. :) I can also buy at least twenty different models of 100 watt HF transceiver for much less than
[Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
I wrote that statement, Jim: I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level, and taking into account the value of my time if I had to build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion. I'm not in this to have a pretty shack to impress my friends with lots of lights, gingerbread and ham status symbols. If I were into that, I would take out a 2nd mortgage and buy a 7800/PW1. :) Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. After all, I do own a rather well equipped K3. But with two kids in college and a mortgage payment in today's economy, what I have does an admirable job. I did have to do final QC on my ALS600, and I did have to integrate a band decoder to it to switch bands from the radio, and I did have to install Phil AD5X's marvelous little QSK board, but the K3/ALS600/MFJ998 combination I currently operate does exactly what it needs to do with little fuss and surprisingly high reliability at a very reasonable price point. While its true that you get what you pay for, as I used to say when I was in TV and purchased EFP cameras instead of the 5 times more expensive studio versions of the same thing for my station. Nobody at home can see the difference. It would be nice to have a matching amp and panadapter to go with my K3. The Panadapter is well priced for what you get, what it is, and for its computer-less feature set, and I will probably end up with one of those next year. The KPA500, in my personal environment, is not. Again, my opinion, and your mileage will indeed vary. Matching boxes are not high on my priority list because, well, You cant hear the difference at home. -lu-w4lt- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:59:58 -0700 From: Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) To: Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: 2010041917.2a58c58...@gw1.nlenet.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:16:58 -0400, Terry Posey wrote: ALS600 with the Linear Power supply, AD5X Full Break In mod and an external bandswitching accessory plus an MFJ998 would come in considerably under the $2,000 price. Do I understand that you are equating MFJ with Elecraft? That's quite a stretch! While I have great respect for W8JI's engineering, that does not extend to MFJ's manufacturing, and Ameritron has common ownership with MFJ. :) I can also buy at least twenty different models of 100 watt HF transceiver for much less than the cost of a K3. Yet I OWN two K3s. I just returned from Visalia. The exhibit hall included large booths showing Icom and Yaesu rigs. The Elecraft booth was JAMMED from the minute the doors opened until they closed. The Yaesu and Icom booths had only modest traffic, and were oftn next to deserted. 73, Jim K9YC No virus found in this outgoing message Checked by PC Tools AntiVirus (6.1.0.25 - 6.14780). http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/ __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:51:08 -0400, Luis V. Romero wrote: Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. Almost all of us have had to get by with what we could afford for most, if not all, of our lives, and most of us still do. I've been a ham since 1955. The first rig I bought new was a Heath Apache in 1958 -- two summer's worth of jobs. The secons was a Ten Tec Omni A in 1980. The third was a K3 in 2008. I've also owned a few new VHF rigs. Every other piece of ham gear I own was used by at least one other ham before me. But it's all good stuff -- products of top quality, well engineered. 73, Jim K9YC __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:51:08 -0400, Luis V. Romero wrote: Maybe I'm cheap, maybe not. Certainly, for some of us, the small size is worth some premium. Those who are comparing the KPA500 to a ALS-600 should take note that it's less than 1/3 the volume, and about the same weight as the ALS-600S. 73, doug __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Re： News from Visalia! (:-))
A number I heard was $2000., but I have to admit, I don't recall who said it. I didn't ask about K2 interfacing, but since it's got the serial port interface, I suspect it'll work fine. Apparently it can follow the transceiver by either reading the serial port or by watching the drive frequency (frequency counter). Note that all of this is preliminary, and anything can change to some degree. Oh, and it's got front panel band buttons, one for each band, and using them changes the band on the K3, also. So now, band buttons for your K3. And it's possible that Elecraft won't actually produce a tuner themselves, but will make interfacing informattion available for others to do something that will work cleanly. 73, doug Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:08:58 +0800 (HKT) From: Johnny Siu vr2...@yahoo.com.hk Hello Doug, Any idea about the likely pricing. I am really looking for a linear that I can service it myself. Can I suppose KPA500 will work with both K2 and K3? 73 Johnny VR2XMC - éµä»¶å件 å¯ä»¶äººóðõ Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 fa...@panix.com æ¶ä»¶äººóðõ cr...@powersmith.net å¯æ¬(CC) elecraft@mailman.qth.net å³éæ¥æóðõ 2010/4/18 (æ¥) 5:49:44 AM 主é¡óòú Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) Rumor level now- The modular jack on the back is currently undefined, but is NOT just an extension of the K3 ACC connection. An ATU connnected there was mentioned. And, as I said, there's a button with an ATU label. The most knowledgeable person is no longer here, but the active devices are apparently a pair of 750W devices running at 60VDC. And it MAY deliver power without a ATU as well as some units that have an ATU. Delivery- end of this year. that's all for now. 73, doug From: Craig D. Smith cr...@powersmith.net Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:13:23 -0600 Only room for so much stuff in a K3 sized box. I like the built-in Power Supply and the 500 W design point. And, I'm even thankful that there isn't a built-in tuner, as it holds out the possibility of an external 500W Elecraft tuner! Make it remotable, capable of driving a balanced or unbalanced load and weatherproof, please ;) __ 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
[Elecraft] Re： News from Visalia! (:-))
Hello Doug, Any idea about the likely pricing. I am really looking for a linear that I can service it myself. Can I suppose KPA500 will work with both K2 and K3? 73 Johnny VR2XMC - 郵件原件 寄件人﹕ Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 fa...@panix.com 收件人﹕ cr...@powersmith.net 副本(CC) elecraft@mailman.qth.net 傳送日期﹕ 2010/4/18 (日) 5:49:44 AM 主題： Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) Rumor level now- The modular jack on the back is currently undefined, but is NOT just an extension of the K3 ACC connection. An ATU connnected there was mentioned. And, as I said, there's a button with an ATU label. The most knowledgeable person is no longer here, but the active devices are apparently a pair of 750W devices running at 60VDC. And it MAY deliver power without a ATU as well as some units that have an ATU. Delivery- end of this year. that's all for now. 73, doug From: Craig D. Smith cr...@powersmith.net Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:13:23 -0600 Only room for so much stuff in a K3 sized box. I like the built-in Power Supply and the 500 W design point. And, I'm even thankful that there isn't a built-in tuner, as it holds out the possibility of an external 500W Elecraft tuner! Make it remotable, capable of driving a balanced or unbalanced load and weatherproof, please ;) __ 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
