[Elecraft] KPA3 Fails Calibration

[Bruce W1UJR]

Confirmed the problem, the K3 is working just fine now, the issue appears to be my power supply. 
For some reason it cuts off when the K3 power level gets near on the 6 meter band.

Sorry to sound the alert, had just installed the KPA3 unit and did not occur to me to suspect the power supply as the unit ran calibration on the other bands very well. 
When it faulted the one time on 75 meter I began to suspect RF getting into the power supply protection circuits.

Ran on the battery last night, into a dummy load, solid 100 + watts on every band, with no problem.

It's all good!


Cordially,
Bruce J. Howes W1UJR
www.W1UJR.net




On Jan 23, 2011, at 7:55 PM, Bruce James Howes wrote:

> Think I found the problem.
> 
> Yes, running on a dummy load.
> 
> Not the K3 Utility software, does the same with the update.
> 
> Seems to be a power supply issue, why it bothers so on 50 MHz 
> I am not sure, but I also got it to do it on the 75 meter band once,
> think the overload protection in the supply is just triggering.
> 
> I'm charging up a battery now for the real test, will know
> tomorrow.
> 
> Rig worked just fine, ran the New England AM QRP this
> afternoon on 3.880 MHz - 3:00PM EST, just fine.
> 
> Thanks for the help and suggestions.
> 
> 
> Cordially,
> Bruce J. Howes W1UJR
> www.W1UJR.net
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 23, 2011, at 4:00 PM, Joe Planisky wrote:
> 
>> Hi Bruce,
>> 
>> You ARE connecting the rig to a dummy load for the calibration and not to an antenna, right?  (Just checking the obvious first, no offense intended.)
>> 
>> 73
>> --
>> Joe KB8AP
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Jan 23, 2011, at 11:39 AM, Bruce James Howes wrote:
>> 
>>> Good suggestion Greg!
>>> 
>>> Tried in manually, same issue.
>>> 
>>> Think it is a power supply problem, RF may be getting into my power supply, shutting it off.
>>> Manually I get up to 50 watts, then the K3 shuts down, fine on the other bands, so not a a current draw issue.
>>> I'll need to lash up a battery for additional testing, but wager that is it.
>>> 
>>> Will report back to the group.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Cordially,
>>> Bruce J. Howes
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jan 23, 2011, at 2:31 PM, Greg wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Bruce.  Try it manually and see if it works.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Bruce W1UJR <w1ujr at mac.com> wrote:
>>>> Hello all,
>>>> 
>>>> Just installed the KPA3 100 watt PA into my K3.
>>>> While running through the TX Gain Calibration program in the K3 Utility I received an error.
>>>> 
>>>> Did the 5 watt cal no problem, but when it was doing the 50 MHz calibrate the K3 shut off
>>>> and displayed the error below in the K3 Utility window.
>>>> 
>>>> Thinking this an aberration, I attempted 3 more times, each time the K3 shuts off during
>>>> the 50 MHZ cal period.
>>>> 
>>>> I used my nifty Elecraft W1 power meter to measure RF, on all bands 50+ watts, the 5/6 LEDs on the W1
>>>> were present on all bands, including 50 MHZ, as the K3 Utility runs the RF test on the 50 MHz,
>>>> the K3 shuts off.
>>>> 
>>>> I just upgraded to the new firmware before adding the KPA3, not sure if this is related to that
>>>> or not.
>>>> 
>>>> Suggestions?
>>>> 
>>>> ERROR MESSAGE FROM K3 UTILITY FOLLOWS
>>>> 
>>>> at 24.930 MHz
>>>> Calibrating at 29.000 MHz
>>>> Calibrating at 52.000 MHz
>>>> StartTune: Unexpected response '' to 'TQ;'. State 139
>>>> StopTune: Unexpected response '' to 'TQ;'. State 77
>>>> RestoreKAT3: Unexpected response '' to 'MP;'. State 224
>>>> RestorePower: Unexpected response '' to 'PC;'. State 87
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Cordially,
>>>> Bruce J. Howes
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>> 
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>