[Elecraft] KPA500 and KAT500 Ports

[Bill K9YEQ]

Eric,

I have two feed lines to my "farm".  I use a CAT5 cable to my switch in the
back yard.  An Ameritron RCS-8V is the remote switch.  I have another 2 line
power cable to a remote tuner to allow use of these antennas. I currently
have to use the switching to disconnect the antennas to ground at the remote
site.  I also use in shack switching to ground the antennas when I am not
using them.  I do not have the KPA500 and use the THP 2.5kfx.  I need to
switch remotely and tune as well.  I use the W2 to monitor SWR and switch
out the amp if SWR runs too high.  This is an issue when trying to tune.  I
do this using lower power first. 

I would like to simplify all of this so when you get past the in-shack tuner
and move on to remote design, I would like help to resolve these issues via
software and control in the shack. Hope this is not too tall an order.  :-)
(Oh, I would like use my K2 and TS2000 in this system as well with most of
the switching to be automated.)

73,
Bill
K9YEQ


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ,
Elecraft
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:13 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA500 and KAT500 Ports

I'd like to redirect this discussion to what is be desired for an external
antenna / rig switching add-on box for the K3/KPA500 and/or KAT500.  This
question may have been missed in my original posting (below).

 From that posting:

A much better solution for those needing more than two auto-selected
antennas is to use an external relay switch box, controlled by the radio.
This has the advantage of getting the cables, clutter, and switching network
off the desktop and either under the table or outside.

There are certainly a number of external antenna switches out there that can
do this, but if we offered something that was tightly integrated with the K3
(and KPA500/KAT500) as a product, what features would be desirable? (Number
of antennas, rigs inputs, switching options etc.)

73, Eric WA6HHQ

---

www.elecraft.com


On 7/12/2011 3:34 PM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote:
> Hi Gary,
>
> Having 4-5 RG8 antenna cables, plus the input cable, hanging out the 
> back of the desktop ATU is both likely to pull the ATU off the desk, 
> and will easily not fit in the box size we are planning. It also adds 
> a lot of complexity and cost to the basic ATU in order to accommodate 
> more connections with the needed isolation etc. We certainly do not 
> want to price the ATU out of the range of most hams, or make it too large.
>
> Many of us use manual or automatic switches external to the amp / 
> tuner to provide these functions.
>
> A much better solution for those needing more than two auto-selected 
> antennas is to use an external relay switch box, controlled by the 
> radio. This has the advantage of getting the cables, clutter, and 
> switching network off the desktop and either under the table or outside.
> There are certainly a number of external antenna switches out there 
> that can do this, but if we offered something that was tightly 
> integrated with the K3 (and KPA500/KAT500) as a product, what features 
> would be desirable? (Number of antennas, rigs inputs, switching 
> options etc.)
>
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