[Elecraft] KPA500 Problem

[Kevin der Kinderen]

Hmm... alright then. Jim sent me an email with the same conclusion. I need
to recheck all my cabling.

I'm a bit surprised that's the conclusion as simply bypassing or turning
off the amp but leaving it connected made the problem go away. I have some
good cable on there now but can replace each one of them to try it out.
I'll report back later on. I really hope it is just this.

Kev





On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 5:19 PM, Michael Walker <va3mw at portcredit.net>
wrote:

> Hi Kev
>
> Don is 100% right.
>
> I would change all the cables and then test with the amp alone and the
> tuner alone to narrow it down.
>
> I spent 3 days debugging an Acom A1000 issue only to finally out I had a
> bad jumper cable.
>
> Mike va3mw
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 5:05 PM, Don Wilhelm <donwilh at embarqmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Kev,
>>
>> That behavior can be caused by a coax jumper, either loose or faulty in
>> some way.  Make sure the PL-259s are tight and if you can substitute the
>> jumpers with known good ones - particularly the one between the KPA500 and
>> the KAT500 and the one between your transceiver and the KPA500.
>> There are as many problems caused by cables as are caused by equipment.
>> Some cable problems have no apparent problem at lower power, but rear
>> their ugly head at higher power.
>> You could also have a higher power problem with your antenna.  Switch to
>> an alternate antenna or dummy load if possible (tune the KAT500 into the
>> dummy load) as a test.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>>
>> On 11/13/2017 4:41 PM, Kevin der Kinderen wrote:
>>
>>> Waiting on an answer from Elecraft but thought I'd also check with the
>>> group here.
>>>
>>> I have a Flex 6500 with KAT500/KPA500 combo. It's been working great
>>> until
>>> very recently. Within the past couple of days I was intermittently
>>> reading
>>> high SWR when the amp is in operate. In standby or off everything looks
>>> good. As of last night it's not so intermittent.
>>>
>>> In receive when I switch from standby to operate I'm only receiving the
>>> strongest of signals. Everything else disappears almost like the antenna
>>> was disconnected.
>>>
>>> When switching between standby and operate I hear a relay clicking. I'm
>>> not
>>> sure but it doesn't seem to be as loud a click as I normally hear but I
>>> can't be sure.
>>>
>>> With the amp powered down and the Flex set to 100 watts out everything
>>> seems to be working fine. I'm afraid my amp is going to take a trip. Any
>>> ideas for things to check?
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Kev K4VD
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>