[Elecraft] KPA500 (another view)

[Arie Kleingeld PA3A]

There's no need to argue about 1500W or 500W. The 1500W will bring more 
signal across to the other receiver.
And whether you are succesfull with  500W or 1500W depends on how you 
use it.

The question is: why did Elecraft decide to bring a 500W PA and not the 
1500W version that was on display years ago. I donot know how they go 
about this, but what I can see is that a lot of discussion on the 
internet about this subject helps them to understand the needs of a 
group of customers. This is a good thing. And there is ofcourse the 
worldwide market with lots of competition of other manufacturers which 
have products on this market influences this. Mixed with sales 
potential, all this boils down to a set of design specifications (see 
some comments of Eric on this subject in the list). They probably 
decided that it should be 500W and the size of a K3 as important specs.

For myself:
Why do I have a K3? A nice rig for HF-contesting, better RX than other 
rigs on the market at the time that I bought it, and flexible like a 
FT1000 for example.
Why a KPA500? I want to be able to take it on a DXpedition and at home 
it will be a step up from 100W (but I will need a KAT500 for that).

Elecraft will continue to bring new products on the market for lots of 
reasons (one of them being the limited sales potential of a product; you 
have to come up with new ones to keep up your business).  I wonder what 
will be the next.

73,
Arie PA3A
K3 #1255
K2 #35xx