[Elecraft] MFJ's new Internal K3 Tuner, anyone tried one yet?

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

Who is MFJ bashing?  I'm merely analyzing their offering ... It's not
rocket science and anyone who bothers to look at the *published*
schematics for the KAT3 can see how to clone it.

If I were Elecraft I'd get an MFJ tuner, see if there is a way to
detect the difference between it an an authentic KAT3 and update
the K3 firmware to disable the MFJ clone.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2015-05-12 8:20 PM, Richard Solomon wrote:
> Aren't you guys through yet with the MFJ bashing ?? There's a Yahoo Group
> for that, if you insist.
>
> 73, Dick, W1KSZ
>
> On 5/12/2015 4:25 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>> On 2015-05-12 5:45 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
>>> I believe the KAT3 tuning algorithms are contained in the K3
>>> firmware which Elecraft does not disclose, so the MFJ gizmo must have
>>> begun with a reverse engineering effort, always a very dicey
>>> undertaking under the best of conditions.
>>
>> Nothing dicey about it ... MFJ doesn't even need to know anything
>> about the tuning algorithms or controls.  The K3 CPU controls both
>> the tuner L/C values and the antenna selection via a serial bus
>> and series of serial to parallel shift registers/latches.  The only
>> "engineering" MFJ needed to do was copy Elecraft's KAT3 schematic.
>> The only "value engineering" is to do what Elecraft does at lower
>> production costs and perhaps loser cost parts.
>>
>> The real question is the ethics (and legality) of copying Elecraft's
>> schematic.  The only way the MFJ tuner works properly is if it copies
>> the L/C values and controls exactly.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>>   ... Joe, W4TV
>>
>>
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