[Elecraft] KPA500 Interface with Kenwood TS-590

[Randy]

Doug:

 

I just got a KPA500 and spent the last few days getting it going.  I am
using a TS-480 but ran into the same RS-232 problem you mention.  After
investigating I finally figured out what was going on.

 

The problem is, when my KPA500 powers up it ALWAYS initializes BOTH of its
RS-232 ports to 38.4k.  The menus may look like 19.2k, 9600, etc. but there
appears to be a bug in the KPA firmware that causes it to ignore the correct
values you have set in the menus.  The solution is that you must go into the
KPA menu and change the baud rates to something else and then back again to
the desired speed.  Or, you can set the radio to use 38.4k and the speed
problem won't come up.  Unfortunately if you are using a SteppIR antenna
like me, the SteppIR won't work at 38.4k, it only goes up to 19.2k.

 

So for the time being I am running the SteppIR off the TS-480 RS-232 port
and relying on RF sensing for KPA band switching.

 

And there is another problem.  There is a menu setting for SER POLL.  It
must be set to ON, at least for my TS-480.  Unfortunately it always
initializes to OFF, regardless of what the menu says.  Solution is to go in
to the KPA menu for that item, turn it off, then back on.

 

Power cycling the KPA always resets the ports on my KPA to 38.4k and the SER
POLL to OFF, no matter what state it was in at last power off and no matter
what the menus say.

 

If you do these things your RS-232 band control should work fine, mine does.
By the way, you can do the changes in speed and polling thru the PC port
(initially at 38.4k of course) or thru the menu buttons on the KPA.
Speaking of the PC port, mine will lock up after a few minutes for no
apparent reason and I lose PC control of the KPA.  XCVR port remains
unaffected.  I can run the Elecraft utility program on my PC and watch it
poll the KPA.  After a while it just quits.   Solution is to power cycle the
KPA (then reset the ports, etc.) to reset the port.

 

A tweak of the KPA firmware should fix all this. 

 

I ran into another problem.  The KPA ALC does not appear compatible with my
TS-480.  All sorts of strange power problems.  All Ok when I pull the plug.
Are you using ALC successfully with the 590?  I made a table of values for
drive level versus KPA power output.  When I change bands on the TS-480 I
must remember to go in and set its power to the value needed by the KPA for
that band, anywhere from 28 to 37 watts.  Fortunately the TS-480 has 1 watt
steps available in its power control and I can set it just right.  I just
need to remember to do it every time I change bands.  Hopefully I can
resolve this in the near future.

 

 

Randy, W7HR

Port Orchard, WA