[Elecraft] KAT500 Remote Version

[David Bunte]

I have been trying to decide between the KAT500... and a remote tuner at
the base of my 30' vertical.  I have measured the SWR on each band, at the
shack end of my 125' of LMR600.  If I take that length, frequency and SWR
information and plug it into the chart for SWR loss of LMR600, I can see
what my loss is on each band... but I am not sure that tells the entire
story.

Intuitively it seems that I want the ATU as close to the antenna as
possible.  I could shorten my feedline to about 65'.  I could mount an ATU
just inside my basement at about 30' from the antenna (and avoid a
weatherproof box - as long as the ATU does not need to be seen or touched),
or I could mount it at the base of the antenna, but that would be very much
more challenging.

Is the SWR loss, based on my cable type, length & frequency all I need
consider, or am I missing something?

Some people have told me that I need consider nothing else... others have
said that "tuner loss" is critical, and that will be greater than the line
loss.  That sounds bogus to me, but I really don't know.

I also know that the ATU in my K3 can make the rig very happy on 80 through
6 with this antenna and 125' of cable... but I don't know if matching the
antenna at the end of 1', 30' or 65' will be harder, or easier.

It was suggested that the TLW program by N6BV, that is packaged with the
ARRL Antenna Book would help, but I have not been able to figure out how to
use it, and can find no instructions for that program.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Dave - K9FN





On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com> wrote:

> It may be possible to remote the KAT500 with additional control
> firmware and an appropriate weather-proof enclosure. We haven't done
> any testing of this idea yet, but once we start shipping KAT500s,
> we'll work with a few customers who want to experiment with this to
> see what we can do to facilitate it.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
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