[Elecraft] K2 --> K3 upgrade...

[John Ragle]

I am not familiar with the Palstar tuner, but can share with you my 
experience with the K2/100 external tuner and with the Flex 3000 
internal ATU. The K2 external ATU was excellent/outstanding in its 
ability to "match" just about anything. The F3K tuner was junk, and I 
ended up buying an external "Armstrong" type roller tuner. The key to 
success in the tuners that rely on relay switching of 
capacitors/inductances is for the switched reactances to be fine enough 
for the bridge circuit to find an appropriate selection amongst them. 
This becomes particularly important on the higher frequency bands, e.g. 
10 and 6 meters.

My F3K found it impossible to match my 6 meter quad, which is a fairly 
high Q antenna. I am assuming that the K3 which I have on order will be 
as good as the K2 external tuner was...we shall see, but knowing 
Elecraft, I think I am on OK ground.

WRT portability, an external tuner is just one more piece of stuff to 
carry along...this may be an important consideration for you (or not) 
depending on whether you plan to use the "portability" feature of the 
K3. I would opt for the internal tuner.

Best,

John Ragle -- W1ZI