I am currently considering the purchase of a LA-1k amplifier to support my Kenwood TL-921 which does not cover 6 Meter. Can anyone provide me with any experience with the LA-1K and heavy duty cycle activities such as the Fldigi modes? Bill K KC2VUT All Gave Some Some Gave All

I just developed a problem for some unknown reason. Every band every transmission when I unkey thr LA-1k will remain in transmit and kills my receive of course. SWR 1.2 and display shows TX AMP but no power is coming out. Must me sensing a marginal ground some where. Before I contact Palstar I thought I would try and see if anybody has any ideas. Placed dummy load on each coax port and does say thing. Got a OVERDRIVEN error a couple of times using a 20 watt qrp rig for the exciter. Replaced PTT key line. Dont use a ALC line. Thanks Ferrell N4FRL

Looking at a used LA1k anything specific I should be aware of ? 2019 vintage if that matters :) -- David -W7GEL

Hello all, Just got a used LA1K yesterday. Anyone got info on serial numbers? Just curious how old it is. S# 30659. Also, I noticed in the book it mentions a switch on the side of the amp for 120/240. Mine seems to be absent of this switch. I have both power cords, I used the 120 cord and the amp came on. Any info on this? Thanks Billy Parkinson KG5RQZ WRYA510 HH 11724 COR RACES 306

I was operating the CQWW SSB contest yesterday on 10M. My SWR is fine on that band, as shown my by almost 100 Q's before having a problem. Then it just went into bypass mode and when I reset it to operate, it put out perhaps 200 watts. This has happened before and Palstar replaced one of the LDMOS. My antenna is a fan dipole up in the trees and the wind was blowing, so conceivably the swr could vary over time, but the amp has high swr protection that would cut off xmit if the SWR went above 2:1, I would think. Anyone else have an LDMOS failure and what did you determine caused this problem? How did you prevent it from happening again? I'm new to solid state amps, so wonder if this is to be expected compared to old tube amps. Thanks, Frank W4TG

Anyone have a working email address for Palstar. The 2 one the website bounce back. Steve W7CM

Philip, Thank you very much for your input.. I'll give the K4D more thoughts.. just wish that Elecraft would implement analog-looking meters (like those on my FTDX101D) in their K4 transceivers. Unlike the problematic LA-1K, my KPA1500 has absolutely no issues since day-one! Hope one day soon you will add a KPA1500 to your amps collection. Oh btw, you can see both the LA-1K and KPA1500 on my QRZ page. 73 Ray KJ5MI

Hello I have a M2 KT36XA flat on the 3 bands. When I use the LA1K on CW with more than 180 watts, it trips, SWR start jumping. Using any other AMP is no problem. Any ideas? Cheers, Philip CE4PS

Dear Group: Attached should be a short pdf document with details. Version One. Others are encouraged to provide details about connecting their transceiver. Thanks for assistance provided. 73 James N8TT

Hello, I am new to the group. I ordered my La1k about two months ago. It was supposed to ship about two weeks ago but I have not heard from PALSTAR. I have tried to send emails, both to support and info but my emails come back to me. When I call I get a busy signal. Anyone know what's going on? Am I just being too impatient? I'm very willing to wait but it would be easier if I could contact someone. I don't usually have an extra 3,800.00 dollars just sitting in my bank account. To be honest I am afraid I might have some other unexpected expense pop up that I will have to spend the money on! Ughhhh.. Pete Marsh AL7PI Wasilla Alaska

All of a sudden I no longer have any power out in OPR Mode. Example: SWR is near flat; using 20 watts out from my Yaesu FTdx101MP the LA1K, in STBY mode, shows 20 watts out and so does the HF-Auto; all as it should. Now switch the LA1K to OPR mode and it switches to Tx as usual, but now it shows no power out at all, and the HF-Autos power out drops to 9 watts. Weird! All bands and modes behave the same way. Any ideas? Thanks, Steven, N7NF

Hi Mike. I have a lightly used LA-1K that has not been used since I put my Elecraft KPA1500 in service. I also have a LDG AT1000ProII autotuner. Both units were operating normally when last used They are excess to my needs and I am interested in finding them new homes. My email is N1SFM@.... I am in NH. 73. Sam N1OVA

I've come to the conclusion that the LA-1K must be a damn good amp due to the fact there are not many posts in this group!

Don't take this the wrong way Ray, but given the response is you shouldn't be using the LA-1K at all on those bands due to legal limits - 100W on 60m and 200W on 30m - I don't see any value of your request asking them to resolve it. OTOH, I think it makes sense that Palstar blocked 11m amplification - this is the responsible thing to do - and eliminates an entire market/sale to a "target audience of abuse" by hams and CBers alike who push illegal power on that band. Following the same logic, vehicle manufacturers should set hard speed limits on cars so that you can't travel above the speed limit ever, as well. Just like I don't think vehicle makers should own responsible driving, I don't think Palstar should own enforcing hams knowing the rules and obeying them. As a group of device owners, let's try to keep our requests to the manufacturer to things that matter and resolve usability issues. So thanks for raising awareness, but no thanks on your suggested amp behavior enhancement. -------------- David AF6HO On Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 02:37 AM, tuneupmagic (null) wrote: Rick, VE3PP, pleased be advised in my 7-Jun-2023 post https://groups.io/g/la1k/message/1316 I shared with this group I'd brought to Mark Ward's attention (Palstar's technician) that the LA-1K would put a licensed amateur radio operator solely at risks of violating FCC rules and regulations when making 60M/30M over-the-air transmissions (regardless of permissible power output levels) with the LA-1K in its present configuration. In his reply to my said email notification, Mr. Ward advised me on 1 June 2023, stating "I will forward your comments to Paul on the separate band annunciators for 30M/60M. This would be a display change, with antenna switching capability." As of this writing (nearly a year later!!) Palstar still hasn't released the expected firmware update to address the issues. As the saying goes.. hurry up and wait, my friend. 73 Ray KJ5MI

I have used the LA-1K for some time now, basically on MARS frequencies outside of the HAM Bands, including the 60-meter band. Lately I have had issues with the LA-1K not using the correct band (not auto selecting). It gets confused with the certain frequencies including the 60M frequencies and does not know to use 40 or 80 to tune. It would be very helpful to have a 60-meter selection on the amp. I am also using 1.08S Stephan Barott N7QDZ

I took delivery a couple weeks ago of a new LA 1K amp from Palstar. As the title says it was delivered with firmware 1.09E. The latest firmware available for download on the Palstar website is 1.08S. Does anyone have information on what enhancements or fixes are in version 1.09E?

a new amp works great on all bands but 15m.. swr 1.2 . with 45w output only 650w. any ideas