On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 06:14 PM, Paul wrote:
Using the tribander in the last SSB contest when I wondered up to the high end of 15 I didn¡¯t notice I was getting too far from resonance and SWR went to 2:1
What is the resonance frequency of your tribander on 15M, Paul NO0T? 73, Ray KJ5MI
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Looks like you must be really unlucky Ray.
Been using my LA-1K for years now and it¡¯s been flawless. ? I run 30 watts drive and 1KW out into my 6 meter LFA on CW, SSB, FT8, MSK 144 and Q65.
Using the tribander in the last SSB contest when I wondered up to the high end of 15 I didn¡¯t notice I was getting too far from resonance and SWR went to 2:1, it went to bypass to protect the finals.? Just as designed - woohoo! Gotta love it - dummy proof.
73 Paul
On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 3:54 PM tuneupmagic (null) via <tuneupmagic= [email protected]> wrote: Al,
When I saw your comment earlier today about your LA-1K "kicking out into BYPASS for some unknown reason" I responded in my post /g/la1k/message/1250 writing in part "My experience doing SSB voice is that the amp¡¯s protection schemes could be unnecessarily set on the conservative side."
I have two (2) homebrew monoband verticle dipole antennas (one 20M, the other 40M) connected by way of an antenna switch to my Ameritron ALS-600S bought brand new in 2016 to pair it with my brand new IC-7300 bought sight unseen from Gigaparts when the Icom first hit the street.? When operating SSB voice on both 20M and 40M with that configuration for years, driven the amp with 60+ watts at time, there were absolutely zero issue with the ALS-600 kicking out into bypass, as long as the human operator (me) remembered to manually switch to the correct antenna.? The ALS-600 can take it like a man!
However, operating with the same monobanders (driven by my FTDX101D at even 40W) the LA-1K has let me down TNTC (too numerous to count) in the middle of a SSB voice transmission going into BYPASS for one reason or another.? Human not at fault with the LA-1K amp's automatic antenna switching.? I believe the LA-1K protection circuitry is way too conservative, and needs to be optimized to match the performance of my dirt cheap Ameritron ALS-600S.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Al, When I saw your comment earlier today about your LA-1K "kicking out into BYPASS for some unknown reason" I responded in my post /g/la1k/message/1250 writing in part "My experience doing SSB voice is that the amp¡¯s protection schemes could be unnecessarily set on the conservative side." I have two (2) homebrew monoband verticle dipole antennas (one 20M, the other 40M) connected by way of an antenna switch to my Ameritron ALS-600S bought brand new in 2016 to pair it with my brand new IC-7300 bought sight unseen from Gigaparts when the Icom first hit the street.? When operating SSB voice on both 20M and 40M with that configuration for years, driven the amp with 60+ watts at time, there were absolutely zero issue with the ALS-600 kicking out into bypass, as long as the human operator (me) remembered to manually switch to the correct antenna.? The ALS-600 can take it like a man! However, operating with the same monobanders (driven by my FTDX101D at even 40W) the LA-1K has let me down TNTC (too numerous to count) in the middle of a SSB voice transmission going into BYPASS for one reason or another.? Human not at fault with the LA-1K amp's automatic antenna switching.? I believe the LA-1K protection circuitry is way too conservative, and needs to be optimized to match the performance of my dirt cheap Ameritron ALS-600S. 73, Ray KJ5MI
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Ray,
I agree, and do not put too much faith in the reading on the
amp. My Rig Expert tells me 1.02:1, but when connected directly
to the amp it does show 1.0 SWR. Also my digital SWR/Power meter
shows 1.02.
This started as a response to the OP that he is not alone in
seeing high temps from this amp in a digital mode. I wish I
could solve that, as I do not think that asking it to put out
100W for 2 or 3 minutes of constant signal is all that bad. If
you were using it in AM at it's limit it would be doing 250W
(carrier), and I don't know about you guys, but I often talk
more than 2 minutes at a stretch.? ;-}? Fortunately I only do
digital or SSB.
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Al,
I wouldn't put too much faith on the ability of the LA-1K being able to determine SWR with any degree of accuracy.
Observations made in March 2023:
The LA-1K on STBY mode indicated a 1.6:1 SWR operating LSB on 50.125 MHz, fed by my FTDX101D transceiver RF output = 100W.? But, the SWR meter of my FYDX101D indicated 1.2:1 as can be seen on my YouTube video clip:
Btw, my RigExpert AA-55 Zoom indicated a 1.28:1 SWR at 50.125 MHz.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Nope, just 1 piece of
coax from the back of the amp to the antenna - a double bazooka
swr is 1.02:1 resonant.
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I found that the band sensing of the LA-1K was not fast enough for FT8 on some bands. I cured that by cabling the amp to the radio.? I also run 500 watts on FT8 all the time. I watch the temp and give it a rest when it hits 60c.
Steve W7CM
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The typical BYPASS SWR as I recall. I worked on that problem for over a year and got nowhere. Even Mark at Palstar was baffled, just kept telling me it had to be an antenna problem somehow, but it ended up
being something else. Wish I knew exactly why it was doing it, but I do know what I did to get it to stop, and it had nothing to do with the antenna.
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Al are you using a lightening arrester in the line to the antenna?
Paul NO0T
The typical BYPASS SWR
as I recall. I worked on that problem for over a year and got
nowhere. Even Mark at Palstar was baffled, just kept telling me
it had to be an antenna problem somehow, but it ended up being
something else. Wish I knew exactly why it was doing it, but I
do know what I did to get it to stop, and it had nothing to do
with the antenna.
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The typical BYPASS SWR
as I recall. I worked on that problem for over a year and got
nowhere. Even Mark at Palstar was baffled, just kept telling me
it had to be an antenna problem somehow, but it ended up being
something else. Wish I knew exactly why it was doing it, but I
do know what I did to get it to stop, and it had nothing to do
with the antenna.
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What error messages popped up on the LA-1K when it kicked out?
My experience doing SSB voice is that the amp¡¯s protection schemes could be unnecessarily set on the conservative side.
73, Ray KJ5MI?
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On May 3, 2023, at 8:56 AM, Al - KD2PNR via groups.io <ahw609@...> wrote: ?I can't speak directly about FT-8, but I have tried to use my amp on other digital modes (using fldigi), and have experience a couple of different issues. For a long time it would keep kicking out into BYPASS for some unknown reason. The antenna is resonant, and I tried it straight, as well as through my HF-AUTO, and the same behaviour. Ultimately I discovered that if I set up the levels differently in the transceiver it would stop kicking out. I am only looking for about 100 watts, so I only drive it with 5W. Now that it has stopped that behaviour I can use it, but the temperature climbs like a rocket! Keep in mind that many of the other modes require longer continuous transmissions, and so after about a minute it is up over 50, and a 2 minute transmission puts it in the red (over 70). In the end I think this amp is not really suited to any digital work, and I now just go direct at 25W. Given I got this amp for some SSB use, and decidedly being able to run 100-200W in digital modes, I am disappointed. My expectation was that trying to run a 1KW amp at 100W would not be any strain on the amp at all. Good luck with FT-8, maybe with it's shorter transmission times it will work for you.
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I can't speak directly about FT-8, but I have tried to use my amp on other digital modes (using fldigi), and have experience a couple of different issues. For a long time it would keep kicking out into BYPASS for some unknown reason. The antenna is resonant, and I tried it straight, as well as through my HF-AUTO, and the same behaviour. Ultimately I discovered that if I set up the levels differently in the transceiver it would stop kicking out. I am only looking for about 100 watts, so I only drive it with 5W. Now that it has stopped that behaviour I can use it, but the temperature climbs like a rocket! Keep in mind that many of the other modes require longer continuous transmissions, and so after about a minute it is up over 50, and a 2 minute transmission puts it in the red (over 70). In the end I think this amp is not really suited to any digital work, and I now just go direct at 25W. Given I got this amp for some SSB use, and decidedly being able to run 100-200W in digital modes, I am disappointed. My expectation was that trying to run a 1KW amp at 100W would not be any strain on the amp at all. Good luck with FT-8, maybe with it's shorter transmission times it will work for you.
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I'm not aware of any problems with FT8.
Best Regards, and 73
On 5/2/2023 6:28 PM, Olen Persons via
groups.io wrote:
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Gents
Today I started using my LA1K and HF Auto
Tuner with my IC 7300 running FT 8. I noticed the amp running
around 50c after a while so I put it in stand by for a while
and resumed operation. Does anyone know if the LA1K has any
problems with FT 8 operation?
?
W4EZR
Olen Persons
?
?
?
Mine is 2yrs old purchased direct from
pal star, never a glitch.? I drive it with 40 watts from a
ten tec omni7 and get 800 to 1k out.? Ant is a zero 5 40
meter vert fed with 213 coax. Swr is pretty flat across 40
and 15 meters. Great amp
?
On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 4:29 PM
tuneupmagic (null) via
<tuneupmagic=[email protected]>
wrote:
Gents, points well taken... There
goes to show.. consumers are definitely at a major
disadvantage relying solely on publicly available
feedback relating to user experiences with various
products marketed in the open market.? Oh btw, I am
keeping my LA-1K, same way I did my 2016-vintage
Ameritron ALS-600S, for their respective good
attributes.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Gents Today I started using my LA1K and HF Auto Tuner with my IC 7300 running FT 8. I noticed the amp running around 50c after a while so I put it in stand by for a while and resumed operation. Does anyone know if the LA1K has any problems with FT 8 operation? ? W4EZR Olen Persons ? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Michael Kelly Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 4:50 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [la1k] POWER SWITCH FAILURE ? Mine is 2yrs old purchased direct from pal star, never a glitch.? I drive it with 40 watts from a ten tec omni7 and get 800 to 1k out.? Ant is a zero 5 40 meter vert fed with 213 coax. Swr is pretty flat across 40 and 15 meters. Great amp ? On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 4:29 PM tuneupmagic (null) via <tuneupmagic=[email protected]> wrote: Gents, points well taken... There goes to show.. consumers are definitely at a major disadvantage relying solely on publicly available feedback relating to user experiences with various products marketed in the open market.? Oh btw, I am keeping my LA-1K, same way I did my 2016-vintage Ameritron ALS-600S, for their respective good attributes.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Mine is 2yrs old purchased direct from pal star, never a glitch.? I drive it with 40 watts from a ten tec omni7 and get 800 to 1k out.? Ant is a zero 5 40 meter vert fed with 213 coax. Swr is pretty flat across 40 and 15 meters. Great amp
On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 4:29 PM tuneupmagic (null) via <tuneupmagic= [email protected]> wrote: Gents, points well taken... There goes to show.. consumers are definitely at a major disadvantage relying solely on publicly available feedback relating to user experiences with various products marketed in the open market.? Oh btw, I am keeping my LA-1K, same way I did my 2016-vintage Ameritron ALS-600S, for their respective good attributes.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Gents, points well taken... There goes to show.. consumers are definitely at a major disadvantage relying solely on publicly available feedback relating to user experiences with various products marketed in the open market.? Oh btw, I am keeping my LA-1K, same way I did my 2016-vintage Ameritron ALS-600S, for their respective good attributes.
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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Agree 100%.? Buyer's remorse can be a painful ordeal, for some.? Please suffer your angst privately.
73, Jerry Webb, KB1N ?
On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 2:09?PM K8MCN Kelly < k8mcn@...> wrote: Ray, I think the entire group has determined by your several posts, that you are no longer a Palstar fan. Since we have received your point of view I think this entire thread of Palstar bashing has run its course? Enjoy your??Elecraft KPA1500..73
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Ray, I think the entire group has determined by your several posts, that you are no longer a Palstar fan. Since we have received your point of view I think this entire thread of Palstar bashing has run its course? Enjoy your??Elecraft KPA1500..73
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Remember Ameritron?? They are now part of the MFJ family -- jokingly called Mighty Fine Junk back in Texas where I first got my no-code ticket.? Hams around here warned me about Amerition's solid-state amps when I bought my brand new Ameritron ALS-600S to pair with my brand new IC-7300, that I would be extremely lucky if I happened to receive one from Ameritron without issues.? But, I bought the ALS-600S anyway because it's so cheap!!? Long story short, a year later its T/R relay failed!? After swapping out the defective T/R relay with a much more reliable one (recommended by another Hams) all is well; took me all afternoon to perform that remove/replace action.
But, I had absolutely no ideas that the nearly USD $4,000 LA-1K would develop problems for me twice in just four (4) short months.? I guess, we simply can't take the words of YouTuber's review such as this one on the LA-1K at launch.
Since I am already an extremely satisfied owner of the Elecraft KX2, acquired during their 2018 Thanksgiving sales not long after launch, I can base it on my own experience, as opposed to questionable online reviewers, in deciding on a reputable ham radio equipment manufacturer to build my full-legal-limit amplifier.
Scheduled delivery of my brand new Elecraft KPA1500 is this Friday; acquiring the beauty with free shipping right before their almost 6% price increase!
73,
Ray
KJ5MI
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I purchased my LA-1K direct from Palstar in late December of last year. It's about 4+ months old. The power switch does not light up, but it works fine in powering up the amp. I'm not sure I need it to light up since it's obvious when the amp is on as the front panel screen is brightly illuminated. I might contact Mark for a new one just to have it if I ever want to replace it. Joe WW8X
On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 3:12?PM Ron - WD8T < rpemers@...> wrote: So, it's not a power switch failure but just the bulb inside.? I wonder if it's incandescent or LED?? I received my amp directly from Palstar in September of 2022 and have had zero issues with it.??
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Paul