[Elecraft] [OT] High SWR on 20 and 40

[Don Wilhelm]

Dave,

It is of great interest that your KX1 tuner could handle the tuning if 
you connected it directly to the balun.  Fact is that the KXAT1 range is 
quite limited due to only having 3 inductors and 3 capacitors to switch 
in and out trying to find a match - the KAT2 has 8 of each and has quite 
a wide range.

What is the chance that you have a bad piece of coax or a bad barrel 
adapter in the coax line?  Has your coax outside gotten water inside 
it?  That is certainly a possibility if you did not seal the connectors 
- low loss foam coax can soak up a lot of water.
Do you have a bad balun? (I had one that got water soaked this summer 
and quit on me giving high SWR indications).
You might want to try a new length of coax without the balun - connect 
the coax directly to the ladder line.  If that works, try adding back 
the balun, then add the original coax   At some point, you will identify 
what is failing.

73,
Don W3FPR

djmd wrote:
> Hi Daniel!
>
> I too have a KX1/AT1, and in fact, noticed this issue on the KX1 before I
> was even done building the K2. I just hooked the KX1 back up, and I'm
> getting nearly the same results. 
>
> 40m 8.1:1
> 30m 1.3:1
> 20m infinity:1
>
> It's been a while since I've used it outside, but I used to hook it up
> directly to the dipole through the BL2 balun and I could get a great match
> on 40m and 30m. 
>
> I am buying an antenna analyzer today. Not necessarily because I think it
> will solve this problem (if it does, that's great!) but I'm long overdue for
> one. 
>
> 73,
>
> K8DJW
>
>
>   
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