Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft Service

2022-04-21 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
Tim N9PUZ has an excellent point. Manufacturers of any long-lived electronic 
equipment have a neverending battle with component obsolescence. Say an FPGA 
goes end-of-life and there is no pin-compatible part. This is a problem that I 
have had professional experience with -- and which AFAIK has no good solution 
without taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in engineering costs. In 
another instance, a jellybean processor was declared end-of-life and the entire 
product line (dozens of products) had to be redesigned to keep it 
manufacturable. I doubt that Elecraft (or Flex, for that matter) has the funds 
for a lot of that sort of workaround.
It's possible to take some engineering measures against component obsolescence, 
e.g. to design with multiple-source components.


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[Elecraft] KPA1500 gain jumping on 160

2022-04-06 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
Has anyone else seen the kind of gain jumping on 160 shown here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjfksHwLz9w
The exciter is a K3, and I generated the drive signal by putting it into TUNE 
mode. The KPA1500 is feeding directly into a dummy load, so the antenna, etc. 
is not the cause.
I believe I heard about a "160 gain reduction mod" to correct this problem, but 
I can't recall where I saw it.
73, -Steve WX2S
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA1500 wattmeter adjustment

2022-02-06 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
If you dig into the QST reviews, you'll find out that the LP100 did not quite 
meet its spec of 5% accuracy on all bands at all power levels and modes. But 
then, neither did the LP500 nor the W2.
The old Array Solutions Powermaster II came closer than any of those three. it 
was within 5% everywhere except at 5 watts CW at 50 MHz.

http://www.telepostinc.com/Telepost.pdf
http://www.telepostinc.com/LP-500_QST_review.pdf
The W2 was reviewed in the July 2010 QST.
The Array Solutions Powermaster (not the II) was reviewed in the January 2006 
QST.
73, -Steve WX2S




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Re: [Elecraft] New wattmeter plans?

2022-01-16 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
Chuck, I'm glad you're happy with it. But the fact that KV5J is selling a 
separate box to update the W2 kind of argues for my point that the W2 needs a 
design refresh. Read the reviews on eHam and you'll see what I mean. 
https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=14820
For reference, here's KV5J's site: 
https://kv5j.com/store/product/digital-display-unit-for-elecraft-w2-watt-meter
My guess is that Elecraft will update the W2 when they can't get components to 
manufacture it any longer, and if they still want to sell wattmeters at that 
time. Same as any electronics manufacturer does.

73, -Steve WX2S


Chuck GuentherSat, 15 Jan 2022 10:01:28 -0800In terms of modernizing the 
Elecraft W2, I'm surprised no one so far has mentioned the excellent digital 
display unit offered by KV5J. The combo works great.73,
Chuck  NI0C



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Re: [Elecraft] New wattmeter plans?

2022-01-14 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
Bob, I own a Bird 43 and a few slugs. Problems for station use: It's not 
autoranging, doesn't directly measure SWR, and it's a bit cumbersome to leave 
on a shelf top. I tried yesterday and I didn't have a good place for it where 
it wouldn't be in the way of something.

73, -Steve WX2S
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[Elecraft] New wattmeter plans?

2022-01-12 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
I bought a W2 today, because my Meterbuilder MB-1 wattmeter's directional 
coupler died and the product seems to be an orphan. But I wonder if Elecraft 
has any plans to bring out an updated wattmeter. The W2's design is ten years 
old, and the LED bargraph displays are getting a bit long in the tooth.
Any rumors, or more than rumors?

73, -Steve WX2S
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Re: [Elecraft] KPA1500 reflected power faults

2022-01-12 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
 Problem found. It was an intermittent fault on a bidirectional coupler for a 
wattmeter. It finally failed hard. When I took the coupler out of circuit, the 
amp behaved itself.
73, -Steve WX2S

On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 11:33:44 AM EST, Steve Masticola 
 wrote:  
 
 Hi, all,
My KPA1500 is throwing a lot of reflected power faults at power levels above 
500 watts. The symptom is that the output power (as indicated by the power 
LEDs) zooms up and then the amp faults. An external MB-1 power meter indicates 
2000 watts or more peak output when this happens.

I know the usual culprits (poor ground, RF in the shack, surge suppressors), 
but I wonder if other owners are still having these problems, despite attempts 
to fix.
73, -Steve WX2S





  
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[Elecraft] KPA1500 reflected power faults

2022-01-11 Thread Steve Masticola via Elecraft
Hi, all,
My KPA1500 is throwing a lot of reflected power faults at power levels above 
500 watts. The symptom is that the output power (as indicated by the power 
LEDs) zooms up and then the amp faults. An external MB-1 power meter indicates 
2000 watts or more peak output when this happens.

I know the usual culprits (poor ground, RF in the shack, surge suppressors), 
but I wonder if other owners are still having these problems, despite attempts 
to fix.
73, -Steve WX2S





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