[Elecraft] Question about forthcoming KAT500

[Phil Hystad]

Follow-up:

Well, I did my own experiment.  I forgot briefly that I have a KAT3 which is also described as a 10:1 matching tuner.  Well, it does not seem to match most of my bands on the delta loop.  So, the KAT500 is not on my to-buy list until I get this antenna fixed to match better.  I have a lot of ideas but I am waiting for warmer and dryer weather -- good because the KAT500 should be well tested by the field by then.

73, phil, K7PEH

On Dec 31, 2011, at 12:33 PM, Phil Hystad wrote:

> Did I read right that the forthcoming KAT500 would be able to match up to a 10:1 SWR?
> 
> So, this should mean that the impedance range of the tuner is anywhere from 5 to 500 ohms (absolute value of Z).
> 
> I currently use an AT1KM tuner with impedance range of 20 to 1500 ohms.  I use this with a horizontal delta loop and I am able to match all of my important bands that I operate on this antenna which are 80, 40, 30.  I use a 5-band hex beam for the other bands.
> 
> But, I can easily get a good match well under 1.5:1 using the AT1KM.  But, I also measured the impedance and SWR at the point that the coax hooks into the AT1KM.   These measures are then of the raw, un-tuned, antenna system (coax and delta loop) made with my MFJ-259B.  According to these measurements, the raw impedances I need to match are more then 10:1 for some of the bands.  Indeed, I am close to 24:1 for the low part of 80 but I operate fine in this region using the AT1KM.
> 
> Should I then assume that the KAT500 will not work for me with my current antenna system?  I also noticed that other auto-tuners have similar wider ranges.  For example, MFJ-998 supports a matching range of 12 to 1600; and, the old Palstar AT-Auto supports a matching range of 15 to 1500 (now Kessler Engineering).  Apparently, the new the new Palstar HF-Auto is reported as 10:1 SWR which may be the same as KAT500.
> 
> Therefore, can someone (Wayne, Eric or others in the know) confirm that with my current antenna configuration, I will probably NOT be able to use the KAT500 for 80 meters (at least).  My options I suppose are not to use the KAT500 at all, not use it for 80, or reconfigure my delta loop (although, my degrees of freedom for this are small).
> 
> 73, phil, K7PEH
> 
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