[Elecraft] KAT100 and external watt meter question

[Cormac Thompson]

Salutations:

Related to this thread is an observation made today when I installed a new
KAT1 board in my new K1-4.

After adjusting it with a dummy load per the instructions, I proceeded to
hook it up to the G5RV with a Diamond SWR bridge in line (about 3 feet) from
the K1 output.

The tuner did not want to tune the antenna on any band properly and the
output power was lower than normal while the SWR on the external wattmeter
read way high.
After playing with this for a half hour, I called Scott at Elecraft and
expressed my dismay.

Once he found out about the external wattmeter in line the problem was
solved.  You simply cannot get proper operation from the tuner with that
thing in there.
As soon as I removed it, the tuner brought the SWR down to normal, usually
1.0 and even 1.5 on 30 meters.
Everything back to normal.

Previously I had been using a high power manual tuner in a traditional T
type with roller inductor.  I could never tune the G5RV on 30 meters before.
And I noticed that signals on 40 and 20 meters were noticeably stronger than
they had been during the previous 2 weeks of operation and it wasn't band
conditions. I had to readjust the high end S meter reading!

The point worth remembering is:  whenever you adjust a tuner for minimum SWR
it occurs wherever the bridge is located.  Insert a bridge anywhere else in
the line and you'll find all kinds of readings depending on the location!

Thanks to Scott for his fine technical support during this project.  I am
impressed.

Cormac "Mac", W7JHS
K1-4  #1476
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Buck" <kh7t@arrl.net>
To: "Tom Hammond" <n0ss@earthlink.net>
Cc: "Glenn Maclean" <wa7spy@attbi.com>; <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KAT100 and external watt meter question