[Elecraft] K3/KAT500

[G4GNX]

Hi Don and Knut.

Thank you both for your replies, most helpful.

In this particular case the KAT3 is present, which is exactly the same as my 
own K3. The club bought one from a SK club member estate and I bought from 
another. Sad, but life's like that! Anyway, both K3s came with a KAT3 
installed and I purchased the KAT500 as a kit. I believe the club's one came 
with the K3. I will be using a KPA500 soon, but the club uses a Tokyo linear 
which they bought elsewhere. Anyway, what I'm trying to do is to put it all 
together so that it's a single setup, whether the Tokyo's present or not. 
That would mean the the KAT500 would always be used and the linear connected 
as needed.

I think we're probably all in agreement that to initiate a KAT500 tune cycle 
(Auto or Manual) it's necessary to hold the TUNE button and tap it again 
when done. It does not switch the TX off when the tuner gets a good match. 
I'm sure we're all correct and the ATU TUNE only refers to the KAT3. I've 
also been through the owners manual and the Fred Cady book and not found 
anything to the contrary.

I've set TUNE PWR to 20 Watts as suggested and it's interesting to watch the 
power display during tuning, where the SWR comes down and the power goes up 
until it reaches 20W.

It would be a nice facility to have the KAT500 be recognised by the K3 and 
allow a tuning sequence initiated by ATU TUNE and when a match is found and 
stored, the K3 would return automatically to RX.

I wonder if the Elecraft development guys will see this or is there a better 
place to make suggestions?

73,

Alan. G4GNX

-----Original Message----- 
From: ab2tc
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 5:47 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3/KAT500

Hi Don & Alan,

Without the KAT3 present the ATU TUNE button has no effect other than
displaying the "NO ATU" message briefly. This goes for both tap and hold. As
you say, use the TUNE button to generate a medium power (set by "TUN PWR" in
config) carrier. This will cause the KAT500 to recall a stored setting or
tune if necessary if in AUTO mode. It's a little murky to me under what
circumstances it will tune if in MANUAL mode, but it will usually at least
do a recall of  stored setting if it has one.

AB2TC - Knut


Don Wilhelm wrote
> Alan,
>
> I am going to guess - the difference may be the result on the KAT3
> present in the K3 or not present.
>
> My perusal of the K3 manual indicates that the ATU TUNE button refers to
> the KAT3 - I see no exceptions for the KAT500.  I really don't know what
> happens if the KAT3 is not present.
>
> So for that K3, you would use TUNE for tuning the KAT500.  In order for
> the KAT500 to find a match, set the K3 TUNE PWR menu to 10 watts or more
> (20 watts is better).
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR