[Elecraft] KAT500 Accolades

[Tim Cook]

I've experimented with many auto tuners over the years many different
companies and always had issues of one type or another that led to them not
being a satisfactory solution. I live on a small lot and my compromise
antenna  (for bands other that 10/15/20)  is a 110 Ft long dipole fed with
about 30 feet of 300 ohm line through a 1:1 W2FMI balun.  The KAT500 is the
first tuner that will tune (at least make my transceiver happy) on all
bands. After "training" it on all bands and segments, it will "snap" into a
tuned condition immediately upon hitting the key or talking on SSB. I used
it in the recent ARRL 160 contest and it worked great.  I bypassed the balun
and tied the feed line together and operated it against ground. I never once
had to touch the tuner, it just tuned as I moved up and down the band and
called the stations. A bit of a cloud warmer for sure, but managed 240 qso's
with the dipole up about 28 feet.

 

I just wanted to let others who might be in the same situation as I am in
know how well the tuner works. I use the KPA500 amp at about 300 watts or so
and this setup works great. 

 

73

Tim

NZ8J