[Elecraft] PROs/CONs on KPA100

[Bill Coleman]

On Jan 21, 2007, at 3:18 PM, Darrell Snedecor wrote:

> If you have the KPA100 option installed I would be interested in  
> hearing
> your take on it.  I'm mainly interested in the things that you  
> found out
> (good and otherwise) after you installed it as opposed to what you
> considered before buying it.

I have the KPA100. I was surprised at how easy it was to build. It  
went together relatively quickly, and it worked the first time.

I've run the KPA100 really hard for SSB and CW contests at 100 watts.  
It gets quite warm, but works effectively. On 160m, it tends to draw  
a bit too much current from my power supply, so I'll back down to  
85-90 watts.

One disappointment is that the KPA100 isn't designed for 100% duty  
cycle. On RTTY contests, I can only run 20-30 watts without  
overheating the PA. I've added a supplemental cooling fan that sits  
on top of the KPA100 right between the transistors. With this, I can  
run 50 watts without problems.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901