Hi All, KAT500 number 71 arrived by UPS today. We were supposed to be on the road today, but my wife was been pretty sick last week, and needed an extra day to get ready for the trip. Anyway, it works great! I'm happy. Actually, I'm very happy! The main reason is that running higher power has always been something of a dichotomy for me. I tend to need more power at times, mainly because my antennas are marginal--I don't hear better, but I can be heard a bit better. On the other hand, high power has always been something of a pain, if not unnecessary, much of the time. You have to be very careful running higher power--tune-up can't be done casually, house wiring has to be up to the task, everything is bigger and heavier, and accidents with high power tend to be much more destructive. etc. etc. RFI can be a much bigger issue too. I'd much rather put the time, effort, and money into better antennas, but that just isn't practical at my location. So, after a bunch of years (50+) at 100 watts or less, and much of that at 5 watts or less, I've succumbed to using up to 500 watts when conditions/circumstances seem to require it. I have access, on occasion, to another station with even higher power capability, but I still go at it "sans" amplifier if possible.
Anyway, the KAT500 replaces my old Ten-Tec 229 manual tuner. That's a really good tuner, but it's manual, and takes a good bit of manipulating to get a good match. With the KAT500, once you get a few memories set, it's pretty much tap the paddle once, and you are set. That's a luxury I've been looking forward to ever since I acquiesced to using higher power. Perhaps I'm not getting a better match than I did with the old Ten-Tec, but it sure is a bunch faster and easier now. As for my serial number (71), I might have wished that it was one number higher, since that would match my original K2's serial number. However, this is sort of a birthday present to myself, and that's just a week away. Next week (11/20) I will be 71! So, even though it was accidental, Elecraft actually gave me a very fitting serial number! I guess I can find irony in almost anything! So, we are sneaking up on having 100 or so of these things in hand. I suspect the kits will start shipping shortly. This is the first time I haven't opted for a kit from Elecraft, but I figured for just $50, what the heck! Dave W7AQK ______________________________________________________________ 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
