[Elecraft] KPA500 problems

[Bob Naumann]

Phil,

As a THP dealer, I am very concerned about your comment:  

"Just think if you had bought a THP or Ameritron Amp and had to deal with
problems".

I am only aware of THP going out of their way to assist their customers as
much as possible through their dealers and through their paid
dealer-independent technical support staff here in the USA.

Granted, one of the dealers of THP is not known for hallmark customer
service, but the other one (mine) has taken care of customers of both
dealers in all cases in a way that is generally on par with what you and we
all expect from Elecraft and other reputable manufacturers/dealers. So, if
you have a beef with THP, I would like to hear about the facts.

As in this case, Elecraft should be notified of the problem and given the
opportunity to correct it. I see in subsequent emails they have responded
and will do whatever is necessary to correct this error.

That all said, we are all human and make mistakes sometimes. It seems that
ham radio manufacturers and dealers are consistently held to a much higher
standard than humanly possible.

73,

Bob W5OV
Array Solutions



-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Phil Hystad
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 9:58 PM
To: ai6ii
Cc: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 problems

Mike,

Sorry for your bad experience.  But, aren't you glad that you are dealing
with
Elecraft who will do a good job of responding to your problems.  Just think
if
you had bought a THP or Ameritron Amp and had to deal with problems.

Hope to hear about the ultimate problem and fix.

I do think that Friday the 13th possibly
marked you with bad karma.

phil, K7PEH


On May 27, 2011, at 7:30 PM, ai6ii wrote:

> It is out of great frustration that I write this. What's up with Elecraft
> and the KPA500? I was so excited when KPA500 arrived May 11th. It was a
> culmination of six months of waiting and saving and finally it was here!
> Having previously built my K3, P3 and W2, this time I chose to get it
> factory built, mostly because I would be operational a month or two so
> sooner. BUT when I set it up everything worked great except for 20 meters.
> It failed to put out anything more than 270W on 14.MHz. I contacted Dale
at
> Elecraft and we went through some 'over the phone' tests. He said he would
> need to talk with the engineers and called me back later in the day with
> more tests to run. Bottom line.it needed to be returned. He said it looked
> like a problem with the low pass filter. I boxed it up, paid USPS the $50
to
> send it back and waited. So far, okay, a little disappointing, but okay. I
> am not superstitions, but that was Friday 13th.
> 
> 
> 
> So yesterday I received the KPA500 back with a letter explaining the low
> output on 14 MHz was due to three failed capacitors in the low pass
filter.
> They were repaired and an upgrade/mod was also performed: "Front Panel VDD
> 5A Bypass Cap" (I haven't a clue what that means.) It had been bench
tested
> for four hours and "KPA500 SN0026 meets or exceeds all factory
> specifications". Great. Good to go.
> 
> 
> 
> And this is when it gets bad. I set all the cabling back up including the
> 1KW dummy load and turn the amp on..nothing. I check the rocker switch in
> back .nothing. Looking for troubleshooting info in the manual, I notice
the
> instructions for setting up 115 vs. 220 voltage, and open the fuse box. Ah
> hah! No fuses .surprising because when I first got the amp it had fuses in
> place. There were a set of fuses included in the original packaging so I
> inserted them..turned it on.nothing.checked the fuses they were blown. And
> of course this is at 5:15 pm on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. I
> though I would get a few hours of hamming in with the new amp. No such
luck.
> I'll go get a couple more fuses tomorrow and try again, but I am not
> hopeful. I have to wait until Tuesday to call which means I have no one to
> talk to about this. That's why I am posting this hard luck story, out of
> frustration. This is one Elecraft enthusiast who is really bummed out. I
> hope you have better luck. I am surprised mine is so bad.
> 
> 
> 
> ..mike AI6II
> 
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