[Elecraft] auto tuners
while we are fortunate to have a K3 which auto drops power for tuning what about rigs that tune at higher power or full power... what does the rig's output see at the input to the tuner when the tuner is clunking/clanking along relays switching C L components ??? 50 ohms...?? I would think this could challenge the stability of a set of outputs. tnx bill __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners
To protect the rig the Ham must drop the power output to a safe level before initiating a KAT500 Tune operation, just as one would do to adjust a manual tuner. The difference is that the Ham doesn't have to manually turn knobs on the KAT500 to find the best match. The SWR the rig sees varies widely while the KAT500 is tuning. Some rigs even require manually retuning the transmitter or amplifier output before allowing the KAT500 to tune. The procedure for doing this safely is described on page 13 of the KAT500 manual. 73, Ron AC7AC -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of bill ny9h Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 7:36 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] auto tuners while we are fortunate to have a K3 which auto drops power for tuning what about rigs that tune at higher power or full power... what does the rig's output see at the input to the tuner when the tuner is clunking/clanking along relays switching C L components ??? 50 ohms...?? I would think this could challenge the stability of a set of outputs. tnx bill __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners
Seems like I read it, the KAT500, was good up to 100 watts for tuning. Sent from my iPad Chuck, KE9UW (Jack for BMW motorcycles) On Dec 16, 2012, at 11:00 AM, Ron D'Eau Claire r...@cobi.biz wrote: bill __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners
Maybe, but is the transmitter capable of surviving the power reflected when that tuner is trying to tune? Mark On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 12:31 PM, hawley, charles j jr c-haw...@illinois.edu wrote: Seems like I read it, the KAT500, was good up to 100 watts for tuning. Sent from my iPad Chuck, KE9UW __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners
That's right Chuck. But, as Bill observed, SWR swings while the KAT500 is tuning could endanger components in some non-Elecraft rigs driving it at that power. If a tender QRO amp that cannot handle a large mismatch at its output were to feed high power (100 watts) into the KAT500 it could suffer a failure since the KAT500 will refuse to switch to protect itself from damage. The amp will see whatever SWR is present. So it's important for someone operating a non-Elecraft amplifier, or barefoot rig for that matter, to know how to configure it for safe tuning, whether they are using a KAT500 or any other tuner. 73, Ron AC7AC -Original Message- Seems like I read it, the KAT500, was good up to 100 watts for tuning. Sent from my iPad Chuck, KE9UW (Jack for BMW motorcycles) __ 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
Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners
Dale With the KAT500 you need at least 20w for a proper tune at this time, I really don't think anyone would want to tune with 100w that cared anything about their equipment. Not needed or useful in any way. Fred/N0AZZ -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Dale Putnam Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 1:38 PM To: Ron D'Eau Claire; 'hawley, charles j jr' Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] auto tuners I understand tuning with an auto tuner... it must see some SMALL amount of power to actually tune itself. What I DON'T understand, so I am looking for a whole lot of help here Why would someone want to tune up with FULL power, when a little does the job? Isn't that generally and specifically called malicous interference? Also using more power than is neededto communicate? Yes.. you are communicating.. with your tuner! Not the guy on the other side of the world...at least not while tuning. So.. help me out here... please? --... ...-- Dale - WC7S in Wy __ 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
[Elecraft] Auto Tuners Revisited
You might look at: n4xm.myiglou.com Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 08:29:54 -0800 From: Phil Hystad k7...@comcast.net Subject: [Elecraft] Auto Tuners Revisited To: Elecraft Discussion List Elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: b4da3d62-67b5-43e5-8375-64aeec9ac...@comcast.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I am thinking that there is a potential new product to be developed. An auto-tuner that can fill the gaps that the other great products miss (e.g. Palstar AT-AUTO). Or, maybe Elecraft is thinking along these lines. For a full legal limit antenna coupler, I submit the following wish-list new features or enhancements to the existing state of the art: (1) Separate the controls and displays into a control head desk top type unit and leave the actual tuning hardware with all of its bulk in another box to be hidden away somewhere (maybe even outside in the weather). Connection cable should be high-speed serial (e.g. USB). Comment: legal limit tuners can sometimes be huge things and they would take up a lot of valuable space on a desktop. Surely we can separate them. (2) Provide for multiple input/output ports. Ideally something like at least two radio+amplifier inputs and possibly even 4. And, multiple antenna outputs, probably 4. I would not include a balanced line output since a good current balun should be an independent choice for a particular antenna and not something built into the tuner. Also, the location for the current balun is not necessarily the same location as the tuner (i.e. the separate box as per item 1 above). (3) Given the multiple radio-amplifier input and antenna output ports, the logic and memory choices for a match are port dependent and that information should be in the memory storage. Program logic in the tuner should allow for the unique attributes of each radio. I am suggesting that once a radio and amplifier combination is associated with a given input port that their may be some software configuration necessary so this is not a dynamic (during operation) changeable setup. (4) Interface cables may be needed to be connected to the radio (tuner control) and to amplifier for amp bypass. Ideally it would seem that such cables can be daisy-chained to minimize cable complexity with the tuner logic properly blocking out radios that are not selected. Only one input port can be selected at a time. Of course, there may be even better and simpler ways to do this. __ 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] Auto Tuners Revisited
I am thinking that there is a potential new product to be developed. An auto-tuner that can fill the gaps that the other great products miss (e.g. Palstar AT-AUTO). Or, maybe Elecraft is thinking along these lines. For a full legal limit antenna coupler, I submit the following wish-list new features or enhancements to the existing state of the art: (1) Separate the controls and displays into a control head desk top type unit and leave the actual tuning hardware with all of its bulk in another box to be hidden away somewhere (maybe even outside in the weather). Connection cable should be high-speed serial (e.g. USB). Comment: legal limit tuners can sometimes be huge things and they would take up a lot of valuable space on a desktop. Surely we can separate them. (2) Provide for multiple input/output ports. Ideally something like at least two radio+amplifier inputs and possibly even 4. And, multiple antenna outputs, probably 4. I would not include a balanced line output since a good current balun should be an independent choice for a particular antenna and not something built into the tuner. Also, the location for the current balun is not necessarily the same location as the tuner (i.e. the separate box as per item 1 above). (3) Given the multiple radio-amplifier input and antenna output ports, the logic and memory choices for a match are port dependent and that information should be in the memory storage. Program logic in the tuner should allow for the unique attributes of each radio. I am suggesting that once a radio and amplifier combination is associated with a given input port that their may be some software configuration necessary so this is not a dynamic (during operation) changeable setup. (4) Interface cables may be needed to be connected to the radio (tuner control) and to amplifier for amp bypass. Ideally it would seem that such cables can be daisy-chained to minimize cable complexity with the tuner logic properly blocking out radios that are not selected. Only one input port can be selected at a time. Of course, there may be even better and simpler ways to do this. __ 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
