[Elecraft] kpa 1500

[Bob Wilson, N6TV]

On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 12:17 PM Randy (Art) <wb8art at gmail.com> wrote:

> Another issue I wonder if someone has found an elegant solution to connect
> or devices to the ACC connector as with the enhanced cable to the KPA 1500
> I
> need access to other ports.  We need a splitter/breakout device.
>

Hi Randy,

Yes, that's exactly what I designed the Y-BOX <https://bit.ly/Y-BOX> to
do, and it is still in production.

In addition to an Elecraft amplifier, lots of folks want to connect other
devices to the K3 ACC port at the same time, such as automatic band
decoders and antenna switches, FSK digital keyers, SO2R boxes, RemoteRig
boxes, etc.  You can try to use 15-pin Y-cables with all wires connected,
but they create a lot of clutter behind the radio, and proper Y-cables are
hard to find (most are made for VGA monitors, so they omit the VGA +5V
line, Pin 9, but that is one of the critical Elecraft Band Data pins).

The "breakout box" feature of the Y-BOX makes it easy to connect other
devices to the AUX port pins using simple RCA connectors, such as some FSK
Keyers (Mortty or WinKey v3), the SteppIR Tuning Relay Interrupt cable, or
a second footswitch.

The Y-BOX Version 2 ads a dedicated "AMP AUX" connector, with only selected
pins wired, wired exclusively for the Elecraft KPA500 / KAT500 / KPA1500.
The Elecraft KPAK3AUX cable set is *not* needed if you use the Y-BOX,
though it will work fine too.  But connect any stock $10 - $12 15-pin cable
to that port, and it works the same, plus it provides one more feature not
supported by the Elecraft AUX cable.  (Reminder:  VGA monitor cables must
*never* be used, with or without the Y-BOX, because they short too many
pins together.)

The Y-BOX v2 adds two internal jumpers.  One jumper allows you to power on
or off an attached KPA500 or KPA1500 using a K3 macro.  This feature is not
supported by the Elecraft cables unless you modify them. This uses DIGOUT1
Pin 11 on the K3 side and PWR ON Pin 8 on the amplifier side.

The other Y-BOX jumper can be used to open the keying line in the 15-pin
cable (Pin 10), which is what you must do when using any of the SteppIR or
N8LP Tuning Relay Interrupt safety devices to prevent high power from
damaging the antenna while it is tuning.  Normally you would have to attach
the male/male "tuning relay interrupt" adapter supplied with the KPAK3AUX
cable set to the back of the K3 to open the keying line in the 15-pin AUX
cable, otherwise the tuning relay interrupt won't work and you can damage
the antenna.  Using a Y-BOX and a simple stereo cable, the Tuning Relay
Interrupt is inserted in series with the keying line in the AUX cable, so
you only need one 15-pin cable to the amplifier.  Separate RCA phono
"Relay" between the amp, SteppIR Controller, and radio is not needed.

FYI, I can provide another box called The Serial Box <https://bit.ly/S-BOX>
(S-BOX and S-BOX-USB) which provides rig control and simultaneous amplifier
frequency tracking, plus computer-generated CW / PTT keying for a KX2 or
KX3 using a single USB cable (equivalent to setting CONFIG:PTT-KEY to
RTS-DTR in the K3, which is not an option on the KX2 or KX3).   It also
works with most non-Elecraft rigs and amplifiers, SteppIR controllers,
Kessler AT Autotuner, etc.

Finally, connecting a KPA500 or KPA1500 to a FlexRadio is now fully
supported via the S-BOX-USB V2, though I haven't updated my web site with
the details yet.

73,
Bob, N6TV
https://bit.ly/Y-BOX
https://bit.ly/S-BOX