Dick, Thanks for the great answers. Yes, I would choose to run the 30-meter dipole around the KAT500. I keep forgetting that it has such great low SWR across the band (of course, it is not that wide).
73, phil, K7PEH On Jun 22, 2012, at 3:42 PM, Dick Dievendorff wrote: > 1) The KAT500 will follow the K3's band lines on the ACC connector. If you > don't wire the band change lines, the KAT500 will learn of band change and > will switch bands (and antenna) on first transmit. > > 2) You'll need to tune, but "bypass" is the first setting attempted. You > might consider moving your other 30/40 switch to be before the ATU so that > it chooses between 30 and KAT500. > > 3) Both. The normal behavior is to return to the last antenna used on the > band. I want to offer a configuration option to set a "preferred" antenna > connector per band, so it switches there on band change rather than the last > used. This might help if you use multiple antenna connectors on any given > band, but always want to start out with a specific antenna on a given band. > > 4) Yes, there's a microcontroller, an RS-232 port serial command set, and a > KAT500 Utility. There will be a programmer's reference. It's not yet ready > yet. You'll be able to select antennas, view and change all the relay > settings (and see the L and C values chosen and have a way to "tweak" them). > > 73 de Dick, K6KR > > -----Original Message----- > From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net > [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Phil Hystad > Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 1:48 PM > To: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> List > Subject: [Elecraft] [KAT500] Planning for KAT500 > > I am on the waiting list for my KAT500 -- waiting - waiting - waiting > > But, in the mean time I am planning for how I want to arrange the switching > of my various antennas. I understand the KAT500 has 3 antenna connections > so first a couple of questions: > > 1. Will the automatic features of the tuner include automatic band > switching ? That is, if I am operating on my 80 meter dipole and then I > switch my K3 to the 20 meter band will my 20-meter Hexbeam automatically be > switched in (assuming I have it also connected to the KAT500)? > > 2. I have four antennas: 80-meter dipole, 40-meter dipole, and 30-meter > dipole, plus my Traffie Hexbeam that handles 20 meter through 10 meters. I > would like to hook up permanently my 80 meter and the Traffie hexbeam to two > of the KAT500 antenna connections and then also switch in the 40-meter > dipole and 30-meter dipole into the third antenna connection on the KAT500. > So, let's say I am on 40 meters and I switch to 30 meters but I need to also > manually switch my 40-meter and 30-meter since they share the same port. > Will the KAT500 know how to handle this? [Note: my 30-meter dipole though > is 1.3:1 and better across the entire 30-meter band so maybe I don't even > need the KAT500]. > > 3. How do I tell the KAT500 that the five bands (20m thru 10m) are found on > one given antenna connection (to my hexbeam)? Or, does the KAT500 learn > this or do I manually help it out by some stored assignment. > > 4. Which brings up my final question: will the KAT500 be a "smart" device > with a computer interface like many other Elecraft devices? Is this how I > might preset bands to be associated with antenna connections. Note, my > 80-meter dipole can actually work well on 40 and 30 but not as well as my > 40-meter and 30-meter dipoles. > > 73, phil, K7PEH > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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
