Michael: The KPA500 defaults to power up in STANDBY but is programmable to power up in OPERATE mode. Someone must have changed yours.
The KPA500 can also be programmed to switch to standby on band changes. It defaults to selecting STANDBY or OPERATE per the last band change. When connected to a K3 using the KPAUX cables, the amplifier and the radio communicate and the radio will reduce power when you switch the amp to OPERATE. I run mine in Power up: STANDBY, Band change: Switch to STANDBY. Its harder to do stupid things in this configuration. I'd rather accidentally transmit at 100w than blow the amp up. Also, my KAT500 tuner can auto bypass the amp if the SWR reaches 2.5:1 threshold to protect the amp. This is also programmable. The menu settings for all of this are in the KPA500 Operations Manual on page 19. BTW, there is no T/R relay to click in the amp. It uses PIN Diode T/R switching. When you key the amp, and if you have it connected to the same PTT as the radio, you should see an asterisk (*) in the LCD window that tells you the amp is "keyed". You may have blown up the input attenuator. Or the RF deck. Or both. As a machine I used to work with said when its power supply was overheating: "$$$ UP IN SMOKE!". 73 Lu Romero - W4LT From: Michael Walker <[email protected]> To: Andy Durbin <[email protected]> Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Killed the KPA500 :) Message-ID: <CA+33ts5vyMXY7o1vHi=8honax4cklskhhfyr8te4-qyf8se...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" I have the schematics, as someone was kind enough to send them to me. Yes, I forgot the KPA500 powers up in Operate. It is the only Amp I own that does this. I will mention it to Elecraft when I chat with them later today and suggest the default should be the other way around. Mike va3mw ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
