[Elecraft] K2 Antenna Tuner Question

[Tom Hammond NØSS]

Bill:

>I have a question about the K2 internal antenna tuner.........Is the tuner 
>for the TX side only?  I have a G5RV 80-10 meters that has 4:1 to 5:1 with 
>manual
>tuners, the internal tuner loads at a Fantastic 1:1.3 or less all bands 
>even  160.

When the KAT2 is in use, it's in-line for BOTH TX _and_ RX. if it was only 
on the TX side, you'd hear a LOT of relay chatter under keying, as the 
IN/OUT relay in the ATU would have to switch back 'n forth.

>My observation is this... it's seems to load the TX side excellent but
>doesn't improve the receive at all even at a 1:1 match... is this to be 
>expected?

You generally won't notice much, if any, signal improvement on receive 
unless the SWR presented by the ANT/FEEDLINE is pretty HORRENDOUS! The big 
obvious improvement is pretty much always on the TRANSMIT side.

>I swear the tuner would load a #4 nail

It's done more than that! In a couple fits of extreme stoopidity (SIC), 
I've actually managed to match an EMPTY SO-239.

Season's Greetings,

Tom Hammond   N0SS