[Elecraft] KPA500 S/N 177 is up and running

[Randy Farmer]

Title says most of what there is to say. I actually got the amp put 
together over the weekend but had to wait until tonight (Wednesday) to 
get it installed in the station and checked out. Everything works A-OK. 
I built my own K3 ACC cable using the DE9/DE15 connector shells supplied 
with my XV144 (I think -- they'd been hanging around a while) and found 
the jack screws were too long to make the connector cinch down to the 
KPA500 socket. I removed the screws and was good to go. Super fine QSK 
at any speed I can muster. With the amp in line, I've essentially got a 
500+ Watt K3!

Just like the KPA500 I fooled with at Ham-Com in June, pushing the AUX 
band button activates my transceiver band and puts the station on 2 
meters. The display says "1.8 MHz" but it does the right thing to pull 
in the XV144. Serendipity, I suppose. Now for a few spots and a few 
hours to make QSOs. This is going to be fun.

73...
Randy, W8FN