On 9/3/2012 11:15 AM, H A Layer wrote:
> But, while we are waiting, would it be possible to make a pdf file
> available of the operator's manual
As a beta tester, I can tell you that 1) the tuner works great, but
operating details and firmware are still being developed on the basis of
response from beta testers, and it's WAY too early to publish a manual.
The main thing you need to know is that it's a 3-output tuner, the user
interface is going to be pretty much like other Elecraft products, and
it's going to be a really nice box. It will, for example, remember
antenna settings per band for each output, just like the tuner in the
K3. In other words, everything you need to know is in the product
description on the website.
Over the past few months, I've been reconfiguring my antenna switching
to feed my various antennas that way. In my station, I can use a SteppIR
on 20-6M, or I can use individual Yagis for 10, 15, and 20, so I put the
SteppIR on one output and a selector switch (relays, actually) for the
Yagis on another output. I have three antennas for 80 and 40, so they
are switched to the three ports, again using relays.
Someone with a smaller antenna farm, perhaps a tri-bander, a vertical,
and a dipole would simply run one to each output. The primary thing to
remember when thinking about switching is that the tuner will remember
antennas per band (and even for various parts of a band), so you want to
set up your switching so that on any band, a given tuner always sees the
same antenna.
Another thing you'll need to know, which is in common with virtually all
antenna tuners, is that it ALWAYS tunes barefoot, and that it will tune
with a QRP signal. The KAT500 includes RCA jacks that blocks the power
amp from transmitting when the KAT500 is tuning. The connection is quite
simple -- there are two RCA jacks on the back of the KAT500, and you
simply run the amplifier keying line from the K3 to the KAT500, and
another RCA cable from there to your power amp. Nothing could be simpler.
There are some really sharp guys doing the beta testing, and with a wide
variety of stations and antenna farms, from the sublime to the ordinary.
They've been giving Elecraft some great input, finding things that
Elecraft has been fixing, and suggesting features that Elecraft has been
busily adding to the software and firmware. You're gonna love it.
73, Jim K9YC
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