[Kenwood] Power level control on TS-430S

[Rob Stampfli]

I have a TS-430S that I'm trying to use as an exciter for a linear
amplifier.  The 430 is a delightful little transceiver, but it lacks
a power level control on SSB -- it only has a mike gain adjustment,
which by itself does a poor job of throttling PEP output levels.
I don't want to be constrained to running the amp full bore all the
time, however.

At first, I thought I could use the amp's ALC to control the 430.
After fabricating a harness and connecting it, I found it works
well for dialing the power down on CW, but I am still seeing near
full PEP out of the amp in voice peaks, even with the amp's ALC SET
turned to it's most sensitive setting.  I believe this is because
the 430 is not responding fast enough to the ALC the amp is sending
it.  Thus, even though increasing the amp's ALC sensitivity causes
the 430 to throttle back and reduces average talk power, it still
allows near full power momentarily during the onset of the voice
peaks.  (Interestingly, though, people still claim the audio sounds
good.)

As a test, I wired a 9V battery across a pot allowing me to feed
a fixed ALC voltage into the 430.  The front panel meter shows the
430's ALC was responding to the battery voltage, and the constant
ALC seemed to help reduce the voice peaks on normal spoken voice,
but sounds with sharp attacks, such as when I'd click my tongue
into the mike, still produced near 100W peaks even with the ALC
dialed to full scale.

I've run out of ideas.  Short of building a high-power T-network
to put between the 430 and the amp, can anyone suggest anything
else to try?

Thanks in advance,
Rob