[Elecraft] SGC-239 vs KAT2

[Dave Gingrich K9DC]

At 21:26 3/4/2002 +0000, Julian, G4ILO wrote:
>My antenna is approx. 80ft of wire looped around my loft. It is fed in the
>center of one side by a SGC-239 autocoupler, which is fed using a few feet
>of RG-58 co-ax to my K2 in my office on the floor below. This antenna works
>better than I expected. However, I'm not over-impressed with the SGC-239,
>which sometimes refuses to tune up, or jumps out of tune in the middle of a
>QSO, and needs a carrier to be applied in order to know what band you're
>on. The reason for this arrangement was so I could feed the antenna with
>co-ax. Open wire feeder would be unacceptable in this environment.

That problem description sounds typical of the SG-239. That model was not 
one of SGC's best efforts. Apparently SGC has fixed many of the problems on 
the 239, but it is definitely not the coupler that the SG-237 or SG-230 is.

I assume that you opened the loop for the feed (truely a loop), and did not 
single wire feed it (random wire that needs a good ground).  You can feed 
it direct with coax, even RG-58, to the K2/KAT2.  With only 18 feet of 
coax, you'll never notice the loss.  Generally a loop like this needs to be 
a full wavelength or more. Therefore, expect it work on 20 meters or above.

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Dave Gingrich, K9DC - Indianapolis, Indiana  USA
K2 #2211, K1 #931, QRP-L #2376, ARS #1109,
FPQRP #389, IRLP #473, k9dc.ampr.org, CCIE #6748
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