[Elecraft] Linear thoughts

[David Mackey]

Getting back to Eric's original question, I suggest that the main appeal of the KPA500 is its easy interoperability with the Elecraft product line, and that this should be the baseline feature for a new high powered amp. Yes the KPA500 can be used very easily with other transceivers, but it's probably best with Elecraft transceivers. "Like having a 500 watt transceiver" or 1500 w going forward. I have used the KPA500 with a TS590S on a trip to V4 and it is very nice, but not with all the ease of use I would have had with a K3.

So far as overall architecture i.e. separate power supply, etc, I think this depends on the nature of other future companion products for such an amp.  Those of us outside Elecraft have not seen these yet, so our speculations are only in the context of existing products. Many of these decisions are probably already made by those at Elecraft with this knowledge. 

I suggest that Elecraft has a history of introducing products which do not obsolete their existing products, but rather expand their line into new niches of the market. It is reasonable to assume that they will continue to do this. Based on this assumption, while the K3/KPA500 products are nice on the operating desk at home, they are also easily transported (ideal for DXpeditions), a new line of K products might be a bit larger with primary focus on the operating desk and more advanced built-in displays. With the existing K3 line in place they would not necessarily need to be very portable. A companion higher power linear might have a bit more room inside for larger PS and/or auto tuner. 

Looking at an autotuner vs. built-in PS, I currently operate a K3S with an SPE 1.3K-FA amp. It comes close to the high power transceiver concept, except due to the unique ALC Elecraft approach, I can't rely on the usual SPE's ability to use the ALC to throttle back transceiver drive levels. Its easy to set drive levels manually with K3 so no big problem. I just have to remember to do it. It would be nice to have this capability just like the KPA500 provides. The SPE is a nice small amp not much larger than a KPA500 and includes an antenna tuner and PS. However, like most built-in tuners, it gives up some capability. It does not like to deal with mis-matches over about 4:1. Considering that this is at about the 1500w level, this limit is understandable in the size of the amp. I try to keep my antenna SWRs within this constraint. I also have the autotune option in my K3S which, unlike most built-in tuners, deals nicely with SWRs of up to 10:1, but of course at the 100w level. Given the choice of a built-in high power autotuner able to deal with SWRs in say the 6 or 7:1 range vs built-in PS, I would remote the PS. If a 10:1 tuner was offered but in a larger package, I would remote everything except a control head for the amp and tuner. Not a long distance maybe of to 10 ft. 

Having a separate KAT1500 auto tuner in the line is another possibility, but it would have to have some features over the Palstar  HF- Auto or Kessler AT- Auto.

73, Dave, K1KA


David Mackey
K1KA at comcast.net