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Reviews For: Kantronics KPC-3 Plus

Category: Packet TNCs & Digital Multi-mode Controllers

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Review Summary For : Kantronics KPC-3 Plus
Reviews: 27MSRP: 179.00
Description:
VHF/UHF TNC
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kantronics.com/kpc3+.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00274.2
KD7PLU Rating: 2002-11-24
Customer Service = Failure Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The first KPC3+ I picked up have a nice printed owner's manual. The cost was $168.00. It grounded out under the DB-9 side and smoked a breadboard run. I soldered a jumper-wire on and so far it works well. The board has one little rubber foot under it, and if the rear com-port screwes come loose, it will touch the case and smoke. Suggestion: run electrical tape aling the bottom, rear-edge of the breadboard.

The diagram in the printed manual shows the mic and spkr plugs in reverse size, but the digram is labled correctly. Don't just use your eyes because you'll wire them backwards like I did. :-)

New KPC3's come with a CD-ROM instead of a book. The price of the unit didn't go down, and you will notice the PDF manual has ALL the diagrams MISSING! Kantronics customer support basicly told me to stick it and made no response to my question 'Are you going to update the online PDF and insert the complete diagrams?"

The modem is good. Customer support is poor. In fact, Eddie Murphy had a better attitude in 48-hours than the smartAs* that replied to my email/

I like the internal 9v battery backup option and the unit works great once configured. Don't use the trial edition of the Windows Packterm unless you want to do a hardware reset on your modem.

73 - KD7PLU
KG4QWF Rating: 2002-04-15
A perfect little TNC for APRS Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the little KPC3+ from Universal Radio back in February after scouring the web for anything I could find related to APRS. My decision was based on the many shacks I found to be using the Kantronics TNCs. The firmware version I received was 8.3 (the latest as of this writing).

Even before the TNC arrived (it was on backorder for more than a month), I had several versions of set up files, hook up diagrams and full documentation. I waited to build the cables I needed because the KPC3+ ships with everything except the radio connector.

I initially had problems getting the TNC to communicate with anything but PacTerm (which was included on CD with the package). After a post to the Kantronics BBS, I received the help I needed to resolve this issue in less than 24 hours. (Seems that PacTerm, by default, leaves the TNC in HOST mode, which most (all) other programs can't use.)

The KPC3+ can be configured as an APRS tracker or digipeater, and is very easy to set up. You can solder your own 9-volt battery pigtail to the motherboard, and run the TNC portable. (you can even turn off the status LEDs from within the software to preserve battery power.) Some may not like the idea of completely disassembling a brand new product to add a feature that could have been included, but I keep a soldering iron hot for just such occasions.

2 telemetry input ports are available, and report voltages of 0-5 volts in steps from 0-255. A remotely logged on user could query the ports for their values using the ANALOG command. Two digital ouput ports are also onboard, and can be pulsed programmatically. Power options are varied. You can power the rig from either of the serial ports, from an internal battery or from the barrel plug power input.

I really only have 2 gripes. First, no printed manual arrived with the TNC, only a PDF file on the CD. Since it's a few hundred pages, it's just not practical for folks like me to print it out. I've only printed a few sections that I refer to all the time. The other gripe is the internal clock. It's really lousy at keeping time, and loses the setting after a power off. Kantronics offers a clock chip as an additional feature, but costs another $25.

I'm not reviewing the device for other modes of operation because I haven't used them. Please consider this review a two-thumbs up only for the APRS capability if that's what you're looking for.

KD7NCS Rating: 2001-10-10
Hard to use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had a really bad experience with my unit. I seemed to be a better deal than the TNC-2 clone that RadioShack.com has. However, it only worked for about a day and a half, and I could not log on to any of the local nodes.

Actually, all of my problems occured after I ran the free software demo that came with the unit (not the Packterm program supplied for the Kantronics style TNC's). After I ran it, I could not communicate with the TNC or the Comm port. it took some fiddling around with the bios to bring it all back, but even then the TNC would not talk to my computer.

I will say that when I returned it, the guys at Ham Radio Outlet were really great about it. They will definitely get more of my business.

I ended up getting the TNC-2 clone from Radioshack.com, and it has worked flawlessly. It's not as small as the Kantronics unit, but it is easy to use and very reliable.
M5KVK Rating: 2001-06-10
Great little TNC Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been on packet more or less since the beginning with a variety of TNCs. For packet only (rather than multi-mode, for which I have a PK-232) the KPC-3 Plus cannot be beaten.
It is small and light but still packs a punch.
W1EMJ Rating: 2001-05-06
Worked great for a while Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine worked great for a while and then quit. Company would not repair unless I agreed to pay almost as much as a new one just to look at it.
Not happy with reliability of company service dept. Got sick of looking at it dead in the box so added it to the local landfill. Have heard others have had better luck so I guess I just got a bad one.
KG7IL Rating: 2001-02-02
The APRS choice Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The manual is great reading for those that love configurable devices, The jumpers offer many configurations of power input location or battery mode, power consumption, Analog input and ouput.

As an APRS rig, it can't be beat.. see http://kg7il.foxinternet.net/ham/aprs/swdata.htm for information to change the beacon rate determined by if your car is running or not...

Add this TNC to your list, even if you already have one or two...

No problems, well documented and feature packed for 1200 bps operation.
IK1QHB Rating: 2001-01-12
without problem Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had two KPC 3 along the years; one of it is in my shack since 1987....
never any problem. I think it's a fine choose and not expensive. Good TNC.