‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  
700 W FOR SAFE RTTY OPERATION IS ABOUT RIGHT, AS THE ALS 1306 IS
ESSENTIALLY TWO COMBINED ALS 600 AMPLIFIERS.  I TRANSMITTED 700 W FOR THE
60 SECONDS THAT MY DUMMY LOAD COULD TAKE THIS POWER LEVEL WITHOUT
OVERHEATING.  DURING THAT TIME THE ALS 1306 FANS DID NOT SPEED UP, AND NO
THERMAL ALARM WAS GIVEN.  OF COURSE THIS IS NOT A PERFECT TEST, BUT DOES
INDICATE A GOOD STARTING POINT.  THE AMPLIFIERS PROTECTION CIRCUITRY WILL
LET YOU KNOW IF YOU OVERDO IT.  SOME THO

KEYING OF THE ALS 1306 VIA THE K3 ACCESSORY CONNECTOR.  THE FIRST PROBLEM
IS THAT THE ALS 1306 KEYING INPUT WAS MEASURED AT 13 MA.  THIS IS ABOVE THE
10 MA MAXIMUM KEYING CAPABILITY SPECIFIED BY ELECRAFT FOR THEIR ACCESSORY
CONNECTOR.  FURTHER, MY LOWER BAND ANTENNA IS A 43 FOOT VERTICAL, SO I USE
AN MFJ 998 AUTO TUNER WITH THIS ANTENNA SYSTEM.  THE MFJ 998 INTERRUPTS THE
AMP KEY LINE WHEN THE SWR IS HIGH OR WHEN THE MFJ 998 IS TUNING, A FEATURE
FOUND ON OTHER AUTO TUNERS AND HIGH END SWR METERS.  FOR THIS FEATURE TO
WORK, THE AMP KEY LINE CANNOT CONNECT DIRECTLY TO THE ALS 1306 BAND DATA
AMP KEY INPUT.  I BUILT MY OWN VERSION OF A K3 INTERFACE CABLE THAT DOES
NOT INCLUDE AMP KEYING, AND ALSO BRINGS OUT THE K3 ALC INPUT.  AMP KEYING
IS PROVIDED BY A STANDARD PHONO CABLE THAT CONNECTS THE K3 PHONO AMP KEY
OUTPUT THROUGH THE MFJ 998, AND THEN ON TO THE ALS 1306 RELAY INPUT JACK.
SEE QST IN DEPTH ON THE ARRL WEBSITE FOR DETAILS ON THIS CABLE.
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS FCC COMPLIANCE AND IMD TESTING WAS PERFORMED IN
THE ARRL LAB, WITH THE RESULTS SHOWN IN TABLE 1.  I CONDUCTED SOME
ADDITIONAL TESTING AT MY STATION, WITH THE RESULTS SHOWN IN TABLE 2.  MY

BAND VOLTAGE NOT CI V, ELECRAFT AND YAESU BCD BAND DATA, AND KENWOOD RS
232.  NO SPECIAL SETUP IS NEEDED.  JUST CONNECT THE APPROPRIATE INTERFACE
CABLE BETWEEN YOUR TRANSCEIVER AND THE ALS 1306, AND THE AMPLIFIER WILL
SENSE THE BAND DATA INFORMATION AND TRACK YOUR TRANSCEIVER.  INCIDENTALLY,
ICOM BAND VOLTAGE DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN 15 AND 17 METERS, OR 12 AND
10 METERS, SO THE ALS 1306 BAND INDICATION MAY NOT CORRESPOND TO THE ICOM
BAND SELECTED.  IT DEPENDS ON WHETHER THE PREVIOUS BAND IS BELOW OR ABOVE
15/17 OR 12/10 METERS.  THE ALS 1306 USES THE SAME FILTERS FOR 15 AND 17
METERS, AND FOR 12 AND 10 METERS, SO THE AMPLIFIER WILL OPERATE FINE EVEN
IF THE INDICATION IS WRONG ON THESE BANDS.  FINALLY, A PROBLEM OCCURS WHEN
ATTEMPTING TO SIMULTANEOUSLY USE THE ALS 1306 RS 232 KENWOOD INTERFACE AND
OTHER RS 232 DEVICES.  FOR EXAMPLE, YOU MIGHT ALSO WANT TO USE THE RS 232
BAND INFORMATION WITH A COMPUTER LOGGING PROGRAM OR A CONTROLLER TO
AUTOMATICALLY SWITCH A BAND PASS FILTER OR ANTENNA SWITCH.  IN THESE CASES,
THE ALS 1306/KENWOOD BAND TRACKING INTERFACE DOES NOT WORK.  MFJ IS WORKING
ON A FIRMWARE UPDATE TO ADDRESS THIS.  AS I HAVE AN ELECRAFT K3, I ACQUIRED
THE AMERITRON DB DB15HE CABLE.  AFTER RECEIVING THE CABLE, I FOUND THAT IT
WAS NOT OPTIMUM FOR MY APPLICATION.  WHILE THE DB DB15HE PROVIDES THE
ELECRAFT BCD BAND DATA INFORMATION TO THE ALS 1306, IT ALSO PROVIDES DIRECT
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ