[Elecraft] Mating KPA500 ot Kenwood TS 590.

[Barry Simpson]

Hi Stephen

I am using my TS-590 (and K3) very successfully with my KPA500. I have a
few pointers which may be of interest to you.

I am not using any band information cabling from the TS-590. I let the
KPA500 RF sensing take care of that.

I have made up the simple solid state amplifier switch for the TS-590 which
is housed in the Din plug shell. That is my sole connection to the KPA500.
I did try the ALC but it is a waste of time because it is very slow acting.
As such, you need to control the RF output from the TS-590 manually and
this requires a different setting for each band for consistent amplifier
output. However, a good starting point is around 20W.

You will also need to adjust the carrier level to ensure there is no ALC
action (on CW) otherwise you will see a huge spike on keying the first
character, particularly on 10m. A good carrier starting point is 15 but my
needs much less on 10m.

It is easy to do the adjustments and watch the power out LED display on the
KPA500. You will know when you have got it right.

I also did adjustments for SSB and I am happy with those.

I leave both the K3 and TS-590 connected to the KPA500 at all times. That
way, it is easy to switch rigs simply with my antenna switch without having
to fiddle with changing any cables.

73

Barry Simpson  VK2BJ

On 7 January 2012 19:40, stephen arnold <twosailors at bnin.net> wrote:

>
> Has anyone attempted to mate the Kenwood 590 with the KPA 500?  The KPA's
> owner's manual under "cabling" on page 7, suggests a RS232 9-pin cable will
> successfully  connect the two units, but does not specifically state that
> the RS232 is carrying ALC from the Ts 590 to the KPA 500.  I have used the
> RS232 cable, am getting some drive, but cannot raise the 500's output past
> 50 watts outs which is what I am inputting from the Kenwood unit.
>
> Steve KB9AVS
> K3 and KPA 500
>
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