[Elecraft] Any real difference between ALT and AUTO tuning?

[KS7J]

Hi All,

Just put up a new doublet for 80-10M and was playing with the re-tunings on
the K2. 12M won't tune less than 5:1, which I can live with, since I have a
12M inv vee on ANT 2, and I couldn't tune 30M below 8:1 unless I used ALT
tuning (after which it comes down to 1.9:1). Now, not trusting myself to
remember to switch back and forth between AUTO and ALT when using 30M, I
just re-tuned all bands using ALT. Some took a while longer, but once tuned,
they re-tune just as quickly as AUTO ever did, so I figure to leave the ATU
setting to ALT permanently.

Does anyone else default to ALT? What is the real difference in the search
algorithms between the tuning methods, and why not just use ALT all the
time, if re-tuning is as quick as I'm seeing? The manual seems to imply that
you only use ALT as a last resort, but it seems to me it should be first
(only?) choice. Dunno.

73,

Casey, KS7J
K2 s/n 231, K1 s/n 059
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