I ordered the kit version at Dayton and it arrived last week. Took me a while to pick up a static mat/wrist strap, but once I got everything all set up it took less than 2.5 hours to assemble. Only minor negatives:
1. Removing the paint shielding tape from the inside of the cabinet pieces was no fun. I learned to use a razor just to get a tab started, then pull the tab by hand - that left much less green residue to scrape off. 2. The parts list said there were 2 6.8mm black pan head screws (E700174) but the instructions on page 27 to install the 4 standoffs in figure 26 require 4. There were some extras in the Spart Parts Bag, but I think I ended up raiding my junkbox. Others have also noted confusion around a split washer. 3. The LEDs stick out from one end of the board - you have be careful not to put that board edge down on the work surface, since the board is pretty heavy. I learned the hard way and had to get out my "persuader" to get one of the LEDs back into position. 4. Holding the MODE button to shut off the KAT500 is a bit annoying, since the K3 and the KPA are tap to shut off not hold, it is a bit counterintuitive. Also, I do miss having a power meter on the tuner, as well. However, both of those compromises lead to the extremely low profile of the KAT so probably worth the tradeoff. Once it was all together, I took out the old MFJ tuner, cabled the KAT500 in (including the K3 interface cable) and went 160 - 10 doing manual tunes on each band. The loud clacking and whirring worried me the first time, but quickly I had 1:1 on all bands. I started clicking on spots in my DXlabs logging software and could immediately transmit on each new band. On 160, the KAT automatically switched to the 51'T ant on ANT2 and back to the OCF dipole on ANT1 on all other bands. Oh the joy - I think I can now change the default on the KPA to stay at high power after QSY and have no touch QSYing, very slick. 73 John K3TN -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/KKAT500-Oh-the-Joy-tp7567022.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ 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
