I would LOVE to have a Kenwood-AT300-Like press of the ANT TUNE button on the K3 panel to start an automatic tune cycle on my K3/ALS600/MFJ998 combo. That would be perfect!
My TUNE POWER is set to 10w. This makes between 40 to 60w on the ALS600. Using the TUNE press and hold method, the tuner sort of "snaps" the needed values in in less than a second, everywhere I go. Again, I have taught the tuner my antennas and memorized them into the tuner memory ahead of time. The amp is interupted, the tuner tunes, then the amp is re-enabled, and the power then goes up from 10w to the above values. The red light on the amp sort of blinks. Interesting that Phil's '998 takes a while to figure things out. I bought my ALS600/MFJ998 combo after reading Phil's review of the system... Could it be a '998 firmware thing? -lu-w4lt- Message: 15 Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:07:12 -0400 From: "Joe Subich, W4TV" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Externmal ATU To: [email protected], [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Phil, > If the K3 took in a remote TUNE request, then I would not have to > remember to manually take the ALS-600 off-line. The problem is that the lack of external I/O to accommodate a remote TUNE request or provide a tune command (e.g., Icom "Start" signal). It will take some fancy programming - and overloading some of the existing I/O perhaps with outboard decoding - to accommodate external tuner control. 73, ... Joe, W4TV On 8/25/2010 6:43 AM, Phil & Debbie Salas wrote: > "Phil, I am not certain if you or someone else originally asked the > question - > but -- The K3 can provide a lower power RF source for tuning. > As others have mentioned - first set the Tune power in the menu. > Then use TUNE (not ATU TUNE) and the K3 will transmit at the power you > set in the menu." > > Don - Yes, I have my TUNE power set for 15 watts (this gives excellant > accuracy with the MFJ-998, and is running the K3 PA at pretty much minimum > power during the tune process). I was commenting on your comment to use the > keying input to tune the radio with a straght key. I currently hit TUNE on > the K3 to start the MFJ-998 tuning process (MFJ-998 is set for full auto and > begins tuning when SWR> 2:1). And while the MFJ-998 disables the amp-key > line during tuning, unless I remember to turn the amp to standby first, > there are a few milliseconds when the amp may be looking at a high SWR > before the MFJ-998 "realizes" the SWR is high, interrupts the amp-key line, > and tunes. My ALS-600 has about 10dB of gain, so with a 15 watt TUNE drive > level I get around 150 watts out. However, a K3 remote input request for > TUNE would eliminate this problem. When you press the TUNE button on the > MFJ-998 it first interrupts the amp-key line, sends a TUNE request to your > transceiver (not currently implemented in the K3, but is in many other > transceivers), tunes, disables the TUNE request, and then re-enables the > amp-key line. Normally my ALS-600 doesn't trip out if I forget to switch it > to standby before pressing TUNE on the K3, but occasionally it does. If the > K3 took in a remote TUNE request, then I would not have to remember to > manually take the ALS-600 off-line. > > Phil - AD5X ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
