Additional Note (12-Sept) – for those of you who have thought about EME on 6m, this might be the perfect amplifier… coupled to a single antenna and using WSJT, realistic EME might be possible. We’ll try and report back in another segment.  Or… how about high-power 6m DSTAR..?? It’s legal… yet another thing to try..!!

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okay… color me crazy, but when I’m on a roll there’s nothing that can stop me.

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As all of you know, I’ve completely gutted my HF station of Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood equipment (with the exception of EMCOMM-1, which will continue to have Kenwood equipment (TS-570 and TS-480). But the home stations have all been converted to Elecraft. Sorry… just remembered that I still have an IC-7000 for the car, as well as a Yaesu FT-100D for the bus…. but you get the picture..

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I am in love with the philosophy of the Elecraft company and how they release hardware products, firmware and software – and how they treat their customers. Wayne Burdick (N6KR) and Eric Swartz (WA6HHQ) are very involved in soliciting user feedback and requests, even though they are the founders and owners of the company. I see Wayne and Eric on the email reflector virtually every day, answering questions, providing advice, engaging in discussions and nurturing the community that they’ve built. The community of Elecraft users worldwide is the tightest-knit group of amateurs that I have ever seen. In many cases, I’ve had questions and have either found the exact answer on the nabble.com reflector that Elecraft wisely created long ago, or have made an inquiry and received an accurate response within 24 hours (often within a few hours). An individual in Wake Forest (W3FPR – Don) has been an absolute gem – giving advice to folks around the world, as a genuine world-class expert on the K1, K2, KX1 and even the K3 line of products. Don has even helped me on a number of occasions, having worked on both my K2 and my KX1 – reviewing my construction technique, making suggestions and correcting mistakes I might have made – he’s a wonderful resource and I’m most grateful to have access to him (at a very reasonable cost, I might add). Most of these individuals do it because they are passionate about the product and more-than-willing to share their experiences and knowledge – I love that attitude.

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I was able to see the (relatively) new KPA500 solid-state amplifier the other day – amazingly it’s exactly the same size as the K3 and only weights 26 pounds with the built-in power supply. Although the name connotes that it’s rated at 500w, that’s actually the Minimum power. Most folks are getting in excess of 650 and the firmware appears to limit at 700 in order to preserve the IMD characteristics of the unit. Let’s see – if we use 650w as a realistic number, that means that the unit is only about 4db below full legal limit of 1500w output – but remember, it’s TWENTY-SIX POUNDS… unlike either of my Alphas, which tip the scales at over 70 pounds EACH. Unless you’re an organized DXpedition, lugging around an Alpha-99 or Alpha-87A would be impractical (especially since you’re really supposed to remove the transformer, which ALONE is about 45 pounds). By contrast, I could easily pack the K3/P3 combination in my carry-on luggage (total of about 13 pounds), and pack the KPA500 in a roll-on Pelican case as check-in baggage (total of about 35 pounds, but ON WHEELS). The Pelican could also transport the power supply for the K3/P3 combination, as well as feedline, connectors, Wire Antennas, etc.  Another case would house constructible antennas like a HexBeam or the BuddiPole system, or the new antennas from N6BT (Tom Schiller, of former Force-12 and Team Vertical fame). Tom’s new antennas are killers – and we’ll be reviewing some of them in the next couple of months.

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So the KPA should be arriving this coming week – and as in all other Elecraft kits – should come together like a dream. At $2,000 for the kit (which only takes about 6 hours to assemble), it has got to be one of the most reasonably priced solid-state HF amplifiers out there, but even more importantly, the integration of the KPA500 with the K3 is really outstanding. The two form a SEAMLESS 500 watt RADIO SYSTEM – with full bi-directional communication between the boxes – truly superb engineering.

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The KAT500 Auto Antenna Tuner (companion to the KPA500) should be out by early 1Q2012 (possibly sooner, according to Eric). Like other Elecraft tuners, it will handle 10:1 SWR on most bands, will be 160m-6m and will be able to handle 1kw+ power after tuning all day long. I’m looking forward to getting the KAT500 when it becomes available. According to Eric, the price will be competitive with other vendors’ models in the same Power Range (I actually mentioned a pretty tight price range and he concurred, but I should allow him or Wayne to announce, since that information was gained in a private conversation and things are always subject to change when you’re 3-5 months out from product availability). The KAT500 is in engineering test now and they’re still “tuning” the firmware (pun intended), although much of the logic and algorithms have been taken from the time-proven KAT100 and other tuners they’ve been manufacturing for years now.

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Next week – we’ll talk about the new upgrades to the P3 PanAdapter – these will rock your world, if you have a P3, or if you are contemplating the purchase of a P3. And remember, the P3 works with ANY radio IF frequency (you specify).. it can also work as a Spectrum Analyzer (if you know the secret.. )