Andrew, The BL2 on the output of the tuner may not be the total answer. The conditions and situations are too numerous to address. I would suggest some study into antennas and transmission lines before assuming that "anything will work" - because it is not true that "anything will work". The one thing I can say is that if you can make an antenna take a load, that power will be radiated. Beyond that statement, I take no responsibility for the specifics, it all depends on the particular installation.
As one "for instance", attempting to feed the end of a 1/2 wavelength wire will likely result in failure. The KAT3 is not designed to work into a quite high impedance. 73. Don W3FPR On 9/28/2012 7:06 PM, Andrew Moore wrote: > Great; thank you for the trivia, very helpful. I figured it had already > been considered and that there was a good reason for the current > configuration. > > The BL2 following the KAT3 was exactly one option I was considering. I've > read about several cases in which ops had success, but read others in which > the balun was heating perhaps due to excessive reactance on the antenna > side. Reactance is likely dependent on the frequency/band and several > factors in the antenna system which could explain the mixed results. > > I think I will try this approach and enjoy the experimenting. > > All: Not looking to turn this in to an OT antenna theory thread, but if you > have specific experience with this configuration, I'd like to hear (KAT3 to > BL2 to ladder to simple dipole). > > Thanks, > --Andrew, NV1B > maineware.net > .. > > > On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 6:43 PM, Don Wilhelm <w3...@embarqmail.com> wrote: > >> Andrew, >> >> A bit of 'trivia' first: >> That was "supposed" to be a solution in the KAT500 tuner. The initial >> design put the balun on the input of the tuner, and attempted to "float" >> the rest of the tuner while trying to maintain balance. >> >> There were problems with maintaining balance through the rest of the >> tuner, while studies indicated there was no efficiency difference between >> the balun at the input vs. the balun at the output, so the design was >> changed to an unbalanced design driving (if required or desired) a balun at >> the output of the tuner. >> >> "trivia off": >> >> So more specific to your question, a balanced output from the K3 KAT3 can >> easily be obtained by using an Elecraft BL2 on the output side of the KAT3. >> >> > ______________________________________________________________ > 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