[Elecraft] Thoughts on internal vs external ATU for K3

[WILLIS COOKE]

Chuck, I do use an external meter because I use it to tune my vintage amplifier.  If you are operating bare foot, you do not need it.  The meter in the K3 is totally adequate to tell you what is going on.  I was a Controls Engineer before I retired and we had a saying "One meter and you have a measurement, two or more meters and you have an argument."  Of course, if you are a nut case like me and like to see the D'arsonval needle bounce, go ahead and put the external meter in.
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke 
K5EWJ 




________________________________
From: callen1155 <callen1155 at yahoo.com>
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 1:40:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Thoughts on internal vs external ATU for K3



Thanks guys. You do make a strong case for the internal unit. My internal
unit on my K2 (15 watts) works great.

My dipole is coax fed - U shaped, no balun, running thru attic and out eaves
to back of yard. My shack is on the 2nd floor (no RF ground)

I've never used an external ATU and was thinking it would automatically pick
up on a band change and adjust. However, it sounds like that's incorrect and
the band change would have to be entered in both the radio and the tuner. I
just started using Ham Radio Deluxe and that 'one click' band change is
nice.

But one of the reasons I was considering the external unit was they provide
a nice visual display of both the SWR and the output power level. So with
the internal ATU do you guys use a separate SWR/Power meter (and I guess a
dummy load would generally be included)?

thanks.
chuck

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