KPA500 Software Page

See the bottom of this page to get the latest KPA500 f/w downloader - KPA Utility,  and KUSB Drivers.

Beta Firmware Revisions

MCU 1.29  February, 2013

Beta releases will not be recognized by the KPA500 Utility automatically.

*Required by KPA500-Remote Software

Download: ftp://ftp.elecraft.com/KPA/firmware/beta/
Extract ZIP contents to your KPA500 Utility Firmware folder.

  • Corrected problem with Auxbus not completing transmission on shutdown thus keeping power-off hanging, waiting for the Auxbus to complete. This only occurred if Auxbus was active when user pressed power button to shut down.

  • 2) Found and corrected a situation where faulty ADC reads would occur. Such reads are now properly ignored.

  • Improvement with SWR fault checking code.

  • Added ^PO; command to enable / disable Power On Operate from serial control. The format of the command is:
    ^PO; - gets the state of the parameter.
    ^POn; - sets the state of the parameter. n = 0 to disable, 1 to enable.
    The response is:
    ^POn; where n indicates the parameter state, 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled.

  • An inbound serial character while eeprom was being written could cause serial IO to become disabled. This is now corrected with an improved EEPROM write function that causes interrupts to be disabled for an absolute minimum time.

  • Improved power-on algorithm for K3 state detection.

 

Current KPA500 Firmware Revisions

MCU 1.23  January 4, 2013

Production Release (shipped with new KPA500s)

This release will automatically be recognized by KPA500 Utility.

Please use latest KPA500 Utility to load.

Note: For KPAK3AUX cable use between the KPA500 and K3, K3 Firmware Version 4.36 or later must be loaded.

New Features and Changes:

  • Added display hold of peak current and minimum voltage when PK Hold is set to enabled (PKHOLD 1).

  • When the K3 is powered on after the KPA500  the KPA500 now properly communicates its standby/operate mode to the K3 for power control.

  • Corrected potential low pass filter selection data error.

  • Serial port data overrun condition is now detected and cleared automatically.

  • Fixed possible LCD display corruption when amplifier is powered down from the rear panel.

 

 

KPA500 Utilities and Drivers

Use this software to load the latest firmware into your K3.

 

KPA Utility:

Elecraft KUSB Serial to USB Cable

Elecraft offers the KUSB serial-to-USB cable for USB only computers etc.   Our cable was originally provided using a Prolific chip set but since approximately July of 2010 we have been shipping KUSB cables which use the FTDI chip set.

Before plugging in either of these cables to any of your computer's USB ports, you will need to have installed the correct drivers for your computer's operating system.   Drivers are available for most Windows, Mac, and Linux OS's.  Note that latest Windows 7 operating system already has the proper drivers included for the FTDI chip set and will automatically install them if you just plug the FTDI cable into a USB port.


 Although both of these cables shipped with a mini CD, the drivers on this mini CD are not up to date.  Please follow the links below for the latest versions of the drivers.  Be sure to select the correct Operating System version.

 

Connecting the KPA500 to a Computer

The KPA500 uses a standard RS232 port implemented via a female DB9 for interfacing to external devices and programs.

If your computer has a standard serial port, all you will need is a straight through serial cable with a male DB9 on one end and the proper connector (usually a female DB9 or DB25) on the other end to plug into your computer's serial port and you are all set.

Many modern computers no longer have serial ports but instead use USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports for connecting to external devices. Elecraft provides the KUSB - USB to Serial adapter to connect the K3 to these computers. See above for the KUSB Drivers