[Elecraft] Elecraft Tuner comparison

[Dave]

Craig

I have a K1 and K2, both with the auto tuner options. The K2 will almost 
tune "anything", well at least anything that looks remotely like an 
antenna. It compares well with an MFJ-993 auto ATU that I also have. 
While the KAT1 is adequate for end fed wire antennas on the lower bands 
and doublets on the higher bands, it struggles with the often quite 
reactive loads presented by open wire fed doublet antennas on 40m and 
especially 80m. My home antenna is usually a 100 foot centre fed doublet 
with twenty odd foot of 450 Ohm slotted ribbon and 4:1 balun. The K2 
will tune this on all bands from 80 to 10, the KAT1 struggles on 80, 40 
and 30. I have done a small reversible modification to the K1's ATU to 
add fixed capacitors and selectable links (details at: 
http://www.astromag.co.uk/k2/g4aon_kat1_mods.pdf). From the circuit, it 
appears the KX1 ATU has less tuning range than a K1 ATU, so will need a 
carefully chosen antenna.


73 Dave, G4AON
K1 #1154, K2 #1892