[Elecraft] KAT500

[Mike Fatchett]

There has been much speculation and suggestions for this new product.  I 
am sure the Elecraft team will produce another fine product.  I doubt 
they would be working on this product unless they felt that they could 
improve upon what is already available on the market.  I have a couple 
of LDG tuners and they work very well.  The issue I have with their 
tuners is that the power handling capabilities are halved on 6m.

One of the design requirements for the new KAT500 is that it will handle 
the full output of the KPA500 on all bands.

I would like to see multiple antenna inputs for the tuner and a way to 
specify which one is used on which band.

A number of people have suggested a weatherproof unit for placement 
directly at the antenna feed.  In this setup extra inputs might be 
wasted unless you ran your other feeds over to the tuner.  Talking to 
the remote tuner without extra control lines might be a challenge.

A wattmeter and SWR meter should probably be part of the unit.

I will be curious to see what the enclosure will be as I hope to take 
one to J6 in November.  I am not sure that the tuner could be made much 
smaller than the K3 enclosure.  Using the same enclosure is cheaper in 
the long run and matches the the K-line ascetically.

It is refreshing to be able to exchange ideas so freely with the 
manufacturer and actually receive prompt feedback!

Thanks Elecraft!  It is a pleasure doing business with you and it is a 
pleasure using your products!