I don't think you quite got what he meant. There is some confusion as to whether the KEY OUT line is active when the TUNE button is pushed on the K3. Sorry if I got it wrong, but some folks think that it would be advantageous if there were no key line output when pushing TUNE on the K3. Their issue is that the KAT is too slow in breaking the key line when tuning to safely not key the (whatever brand) amplifier. We do know that there is firmware in the works for the KPA500 to have it not fault so quickly when it gets keyed at the beginning of a tune before the KAT500 drops the KEY LINE. The simple solution is to put the amp in standby, or push tune on the KAT first, and then tune on the K3. I take it if you push tune first on the KAT, then it will open the key line first so that the subsequent pushing of tune on the K3 won't key the amp.
Chuck, KE9UW Lionel Trains, TCA, LCCA, LRRC aka Jack, BMW Motorcycles BMWMOA #224 ________________________________________ From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] on behalf of Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft [e...@elecraft.com] Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2012 1:34 AM To: iain macdonnell - N6ML Cc: John Reilly; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KAT500] Tuning The KAT500 will only initiate a tune based on SWR being above a threshold when it is in auto mode. Its manual mode requires a press of the tune button on the ATU first, followed by RF from the K3, for it to tune. 73, Eric www.elecraft.com _..._ On Dec 8, 2012, at 6:32 PM, iain macdonnell - N6ML <a...@dseven.org> wrote: > On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 6:07 PM, John Reilly <reill...@comcast.net> wrote: >> I don't think I understand how the tuning works with the KAT500. I have a >> K3, KPA500, and the two 15-pin cables (K3 to KAT, and KAT to KPA). >> >> I set my K3 Tune Power to 25w. I thought when I press tune on the K3, the >> KAT500 should tune, and it shouldn't key the Amp; however, when I do this, I >> continue to get around 500w from the Amp. >> >> Could someone please explain how this is supposed to work? > > When you invoke the K3's TUNE function (hold the XMIT button), the K3 > will make a 25W key-down signal. Nothing more fancy than that happens > at the K3. > > If the KAT500 detects VSWR higher than the configured auto-tune > threshold, it will inhibit keying to the amp, and attempt to tune > (from memory first, then a full search if no suitable memory is > available). If the KAT500 does not detect VSWR higher than the > threshold, it will not inhibit keying, nor attempt any tune function. > > Are you seeing high VSWR when you invoke the K3's TUNE function? > > 73, > ~iain / N6ML ______________________________________________________________ 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
