> 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: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] 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" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-)) > To: "Elecraft" <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > 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:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
