My KPA-500 rests comfortably on top of my KAT-500 right beside my K3s
and P3( and K3 held in reserve). My modes of operation are principally
digital, either meteor scatter, PSK31, RTTY, and WSJTx and its many
variations. All of these are what I would term 100% duty cycle. For
meteor scatter I run the KPA500 at 350W usually and the transmission
periods vary from 15 seconds to a full minute. I hear a few pings and
creaks from the heatsink but only rarely do the fans get to mode 4 and
when they do, it only lasts for 15 to 20 seconds after transmission
ceases. On PSK31 and JT65(HF) the amplifier is not used as the rule of
thumb is 25 to 30 Watts. On RTTY for short contest exchanges, the
amplifier is run to its limit. The KPA-500 was purchased in April of
2014 so it has seen some service, particularly on meteor scatter and
ionospheric scatter. I do dumb things on occassion and the amp
faithfully faults out and I realize what I have done. I have owned many
rigs and amps in my 62 years of ham radio and I personally rate my
Elecraft station as superior to all the others, names withheld to
protect the innocent.
Just my two cents.....
Jim, W4ATK
K(s)-Line, K2, K3 (might be interested in a K1 just to make the
collection complete).
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