Having an issue with my KPA500 and a non-elecraft radio. I’ve got an Icom IC-705 connected to my KPA500 and KAT500. By dropping the 705’s output power to 4 watts and pressing Tune on the KAT500 with the amp in OPER mode, I’m able to get the tuner to give me a good match on just about all bands to my Zerofive Flagpole Vertical. Then, turning the power level up to max (10 watts) on the IC-705, the amp gives me anywhere from 210 to 250 watts output, depending on the band. And that’s fine for me right now.
However, what I’m seeing is that when the amp is in OPER mode, my receive signal strength drops way, way off to the point I have to go full AF volume to hear signals. If I put the amp in STBY, signal levels go back to normal. I also notice that the amp fan doesn’t take too long to crank up to high speed, and the PA temp is sitting around 67 C. I also have a K3. When I power up the K3 and switch the antenna over to the K3 on the same band as the IC-705 - there is no drop in signal level on it when switching between OPER and STBY on the amp. And, yes, when I’m using the IC-705, I press the corresponding BAND button on the amp. OK - some further info: if I have the K3 sitting on the same band as the IC-705 this does not happen - going from STBY to OPER on the amp makes no difference on receive level on the IC-705. But if I power off the K3, the IC-705 reverts to its partially-deaf state. Somewhere long ago in a far distant galaxy, I recall Jack W6FB mentioning that the K3 pulls some signal to zero when it is powered off. I suspect that may be what is happening here but for the life of me I can’t recall the exact conversation. I’d like to get to the point where I can run the IC-705 with this tuner and amp without having the K3 in the equation, as the K3 will be going on the sale block in the near future, in anticipation of a K4D delivery. Any ideas? Jack - are you listening? :-) Jim / K7TXA ______________________________________________________________ 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
