I rec'd this from elecraft today...
Hi Scott,
We have attached, below, the procedure to train and optimize the KAT with
the KPA500. After the training is completed, please leave the KAT in the
MAN position. It should operate better for you in that position. We would
suggest you have the latest firmware loaded into the KAT.
You can place each antenna on its own port and train the KAT for those
bands. Once trained, the KAT will find the closest full cycle tune for the
frequency you have landed on. If it can not find a successful tune, you
will need to tune the KAT while in the MAN position to get the VSWR down at
that frequency.
As a side note, the use of the KAT Utility can provide the actual Bypass
VSWR (under the Operate tab). This is what the KAT is actually seeing
throught the transmission line. The Bypass VSWR should not be above 10 to
1, or the KAT will not be able to complete a full cycle tune.
We hope this helps.
73,
--
--
Craig Smith W6WL
Elecraft Customer Support831-763-4211 x 174
--
** Here is a procedure to setup your KAT500 with a KPA500
***
Please enter the KAT500 Utility and select the Configuration tab then
click on the button to Optimize for KPA500.
*Training the Tuner*
*Overview*
We will be stepping through each band where you have an antenna connected
to the KAT500, selecting the top, bottom and places in the middle of each
band where you expect to operate. At each of these points, we will be
causing the transceiver to emit a steady-state, CW RF signal for the KAT500
to use while it executes a full tune cycle. Since the KAT500 is an
Automatic Tuner, it will remember the settings it finds at each of the
points in the band. This is referred to as 'Training the Tuner'.
The following sequence assumes that the transceiver, KAT500 and, if
appropriate, the KPA500 are installed as specified in the KAT500 Owner's
Manual, Figure 4.
*Set up*
- On the transceiver set it up to generate 25 watts. We recommend that you
set up a way to generate 25 watts of RF with a constant carrier wave (CW)
that can be keyed at will. This CW signal at 25 watts will need to be
present until the KAT500 has completed a full tune cycle.
- On the KAT500, select the MAN mode.
- On the KAT500, Tap the ANT button to select the appropriate antenna for
the selected band. The ANT LED will light solidly indicating the antenna
port selected.
- On the transceiver, select the the appropriate band. Then, adjust VFO to
the lowest spot in that band where your antenna will work.
*For each VFO Setting perform the following to Train the KAT500*:
1) Then, Tap the MODE button so that AUTO is enabled. The AUTO LED will
stay on solidly. This places the tuner into Automatic mode so that it will
remember the settings found during the upcoming tune cycle.
- Next, Tap the TUNE button on the KPA500. The AUTO LED will now start to
Flash. This indicates that the KAT500 is now awaiting the RF needed to
execute a full tune cycle.
2) Cause the transceiver to send its 25 watts of CW RF
3) The KAT500 will begin to clatter as it searches for a low SWR. This is
the Full Tune Cycle. The clattering will stop once a low SWR is found and
the KAT500 AUTO LED will now be solid. This indicates that the full tune
cycle is complete and the results have been memorized.
- On the transceiver, adjust VFO frequency for the upper end of the band
where your antenna will operate. Repeat Steps 1-3 above for this setting.
- Then, move into the middle of the band and repeat Steps 1-3 again.
*Train the tuner on all Bands*
- Next, step to other bands where your antenna can operate within a 10:1
SWR ratio. Perform the same steps above as with the first band chosen.
- How do you know how many times per band needed to fully train the tuner?
Here's the answer from the KAT500 Owner's Manual.
*Training the tuner with all of your antennas*
If you have more than one antenna, continue to ANT 2 and ANT 3 ports using
the same technique above for those antennas. The KAT500 tuner can remember
settings for all 3 antenna ports separately!
*Make it easy for your Tuner to remember what it was trained to do*
Once you have fully trained your KAT500 tuner on all bands and all
Antennas, you can save your work using the KAT500 Utility. Go to the
Configuration tab in the Utility and select Save Configuration to complete
your tuner's training.
On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 7:38 PM, Jim Brown-10 [via Elecraft] <
ml-node+s365791n7612053...@n2.nabble.com> wrote:
> On Wed,12/30/2015 12:20 PM, Rick WA6NHC wrote:
> > BUT it should be done with a fully compliant serial device, using the
> > full RS-232 voltages (+/- 12V, some laptops 'cheat' using lower or not
> > negative voltages) in order to extend that far. Beyond 100' I would
> > expect that the bit rate would have to come down too, but I haven't
> > tested that. I would also suggest a full 9 wire PLUS
