[Elecraft] K3 tuner

[T. David Yarnes]

Brett and All,

While I can't officially confirm the KAT3's tuning range 
ability, I can tell you that it is pretty darn good!  It 
certainly is much better than just about any other inboard 
ATU I have used.  Elecraft claims a 10:1 range, and I have 
no reason to doubt it.

Currently I am in a travel status, and have been using my K3 
(KAT3 included) from my car.  I'm not really using it 
mobile, but I have been making a few QSO's while parked in 
front of my brother's house here in Ventura, California. 
The antenna I threw in the car to play with is NOT one I 
would consider to be very efficient.  I picked this one up 
at Pacificon last year, and it is sort of a "poor man's 
Outbacker" (not that the Outbacker is all that efficient 
either).  I didn't pay very much for it, that's for sure! 
Anyway, on 40 meters I more or less tuned the antenna 
outright for about 7100 khz.  From there, the KAT3 will tune 
the antenna at either end of 40 to 1:1.  I've had QSO's at 
both extremes.  That's not a very scientific confirmation of 
the quality of my signal, but at least the K3 is happy with 
what it is seeing.  On 20 meters my reports have been 
surprisingly good.  Much of the time I was only running 30 
or 40 watts to keep the current draw down.

As a comparison, I can tell you that at home my FT-1000 Mark 
V internal ATU doesn't like what it sees on the upper part 
of 40 meters where I am using an R7 vertical.  However, the 
K3 has no problem with the same antenna setup.

I'm not sure what your expectations are, but if they are 
reasonable, you won't be unhappy with the KAT3.

Dave W7AQK



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL" <dougzzz at gmail.com>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:45 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 tuner


> Brett Howard wrote:
>
>>I'm hoping that the K3 is speced to be able to go to a 
>>much worse
> match than 3:1 right?
>
> The answer is the K3 FAQ (still a good document to check 
> out)
> http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3FAQ.htm
>
> and more specifically here:
> http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3FAQ.htm#KAT3
>
>
>
> And here is the TEXT of the answer:
>
> Will the KAT3 have similar specs as the KAT100? 
> Specifically, will it
> match 10:1 SWR loads?
>
> The K3's KAT3 ATU will match a range of 10:1 through 100W.
>
> de Doug KR2Q
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