I originally did not purchase the KAT3 - I have all resonant antennas at home. Then I had thoughts about using my K3 at the local club's Field Day location, so I bought the KX3 to help with that situation - yes the club has an antenna for each band, but depending on the current hanging height, they may not be resonant. So I "memorized" the tuner settings for each antenna into the K3 at the beginning of the Field Day event and did not have to change them.
At home, I run the KAT3 in bypass except when I am using my 160/80/40 meter vertical/inverted L which is quite narrowband. I do not use the 2nd antenna port because I had previously designed switching between the 3 coax runs to the antenna field to one of 3 HF transceivers with a relay matrix that lives in the shack, and remote antenna switches that live at the entry point to the antenna field. Your situation may be different, but I suggest that the KAT3 is a good thing unless you do not ever think about taking your K3 out of the shack. You can easily arrange antenna switching external to the K3 with a little bit of work. The nice thing about using external relays is that you can design the contacts to connect a dummy load to your transceiver when the relay box is not powered - no problems with static surges when not operating. 73, Don W3FPR On 2/11/2012 5:39 PM, WILLIS COOKE wrote: > I ordered the K3 with the KAT-3 and if I had it to do over, I would order the > KAT-3 again. My antenna is a 3 element SteppIR at 67 feet with the 30/40 > kit. I have found the tuner very useful during the period when Hurricane Ike > put my StepIR out of service for a few months and I needed to use my inverted > L for the 40 through 6 meter bands. I find it useful in matching to my > Clipperton L amplifier. I find it useful when using my dipoles for short > range contacts when away from the point of resonance. I am sure that > Elecraft has considered offering the tuner board with only the switching > components and considered what discount they could offer. I am not > privileged to their inner workings so my estimate is only a guess, but I > would expect them to lose money on the deal if the discount was more than $50 > and I would not be surprised if they would lose money with no discount at > all, considering that they would sell very few items. What price would > you expect for the board with only the switching components and the antenna > connector? As a KAT-3 owner I can see no disadvantage to buying it other > than the initial price. > > Willis 'Cookie' Cooke, K3 #1025 > K5EWJ& Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart > ______________________________________________________________ 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

