[Elecraft] SWR question

[Barthold Lichtenbelt]

Hi Don,

Ok, this all came from Dick saying that you can see the "bypass SWR" that
the KAT500 measures with the PC utility. But if you don't have that hooked
up, a simple trick seemed to be to put the KAT500 in bypass mode, and see
what the KPA500 tells you on its SWR led bar. That can give you an idea of
the SWR past the KAT500 (thus the Antenna SWR). Of course, if the SWR is too
far off the KPA500 will complain. 

If you have a P3 with TX sensor, and you want to know your antenna SWR, then
putting the P3 TX sensor after the KAT500 seems like the way to go. That way
you can quickly see how well your antenna is actually matched to the
feedline, and you can use the KAT500 in tune mode (and not in bypass mode).

Of course, a real antenna analyzer (I use a RigExpert 600) will be more
accurate. 

Hope that explains it Don!

Regards,
Barthold

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:donwilh at embarqmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 3:32 PM
To: Barthold Lichtenbelt; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] SWR question

Barthold,

If the KAT500 is in bypass you should see a similar SWR indicated on both
the KAT500 and the KPA500.
They may not be exactly the same due to component tolerances in the
wattmeters.

I am not sure what your goal is in asking that question.  If it is a quick
check on your antenna system, then that indication should be adequate.
If you really want to know the SWR on the feedline with greater accuracy,
measure it with an antenna analyzer or put the Elecraft W2 Wattmeter
in-line.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/14/2016 4:54 PM, Barthold Lichtenbelt wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> I meant if the KAT500 is in bypass mode, what will the SWR meter on 
> the
> KPA500 show?
>
>