I have a weird problem that I could use help on. I have limited experience with antennas, so the answer could be something simple I have overlooked.
I am using a K3/100 with the ATU. I recently installed a 31 foot vertical antenna with ground radials and a balun at the base. The MFJ analyzer shows an SWR (at my K3) below 1. 3:1 on 40M and near 15M as you would expect. SWR for the other bands are much higher, about 4:1 for 17, 12, and 10. But, the K3 tuner trims up fine. I understand the efficiency is hit, but it does work. On 20M, the SWR is near 6:1. Again, I can tune it with the K3, but I am not getting out well. These results are the same with the Electraft BL2 balun OR a DX Engineering line choke installed. There is about 80 feet of LMR-400 between the rig and the antenna. I also have a static/lightning arrestor in line. In doing some research, it seems that a remote tuner at the antenna base would be a more efficient system. I purchased a remote tuner kit from DX Engineering, that includes an MFJ 927 tuner at the base (along with a mount and a line choke). I bypassed the internal K3 tuner. With the remote tuner in place, the SWR HI message is displayed on my K3 when I try to transmit most of the time, and on all bands. The tuner was checked out by MFJ under warranty, and came back fine. I reinstalled it, and have the same problem. I verified that 12 volts is getting to the tuner. Bypassing the lightning arrestor makes no difference. Going back to the K3 and no remote tuner works as before. Elecraft tech support was very helpful as usual. They did suggest replacing the internal tuner with the passthrough board sold with the base K3 to see if there was some weirdness between the two tuners. I do not have the correct board, as I bought my rig with the tuner. DX Engineering could not help me. I gave up on MFJ. Does anyone have a similar configuration that is working? Does anyone have the board that is in place when the ATU is not installed? I would 'rent' it if available for testing. A new one from Elecraft is about $60. As this is a bit OT, please respond off line, and I will post any solutions back to the reflector for future reference. Thanks in advance. 73s Randy K6CRC K3#2051 k6...@arrl.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
