[Elecraft] Balanced AT

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy]

Craig D. Smith <craig at powersmith.net> wrote on Friday, September 07, 2007 
11:56 AM

Given Elecraft's knowledge and success with their other tuners (I loved the
internal tuner in my K2), I think they could do a bang up world-class job
with a remote tuner with automatic interface with the K3.  There (relatively
soon) will be thousands of K3s out there waiting for tuning solutions.  I
will be first in line to purchase a remote tuner when Elecraft announces it.
And I'm sure they will find a way to provide excellent performance with
balanced loads such as ladderline fed doublets, loops, etc

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craig,

If my understanding is correct, a remote tuner designed to interface with 
the K3 would not allow the use of the tuner with any other type of rig. If 
that is correct then the user of a rig other than the K3 would have to build 
/ buy a control device which simulates the K3 control interface before the 
tuner could be used. I believe that Elecraft's potential market would be 
greatly enlarged if the remote tuner could be used with any type of rig (50 
ohm load)? My apology if I have misunderstood what you mean by 'automatic 
interface with the K3'.

My vote based on use of homebrewed remote tuners is for a tuner that tunes 
itself for a match and which does not require to be given band data from the 
rig. This reduces the number of wires between shack and tuner to 3  -  DC 
supply, Remote VSWR indication and Ground. If the coax feeder is used to 
route these rails it is possible to have no extra wires at all, but I prefer 
not to do this.

73,
Geoff
GM4ESD