[Elecraft] K3S will not load or tune on 160 M

[Bob McGraw K4TAX]

No special configurations.   Make sure you have the correct antenna 
ports selected via the K3S and the KAT500.   And since the dummy load 
shows a high SWR, I would first suspect the coax jumper out of the radio 
to what ever is next in line.

73

Bob, K4TAX


On 12/3/2018 10:49 AM, Richard Hoffman, K1DJ via Elecraft wrote:
> I put up my first 160 meter antenna last week in anticipation of participating in last weekend's contest.  I managed to get the antenna -- a slow slung inverted L with a single raised radial as a compromise on my tiny 100 by 100 foot lot -- up in time.  I then managed to get the antenna down to an SWR of 2 to 1 measured by a Rig Expert AA55 zoom analyzer, at the balun to which the raised wire and radial are directly attached, and ythen got the same 2.0 SWR reading at the shack end of a borrowed piece of about 50 feet of RG-213.  [I recognize that 2 to 1 is not perfect by any means, but it was certainly within the range of my Elecraft equipment, I thought.]
>
> But then my K3S simply refused to tune or load into the antenna, either directly, using its internal ATU, or routed through my KPA-500 to a KAT-500 tuner.  In both circumstances, the rig and/or tuner showed an SWR around 25 to 1, and tuned at best to around 16 to 1, resulting in no apparent RF output.
> After trying to fix this in various ways, I gave up on the 160M contest and turned to other pursuits, while seeking advice from several Elecraft-loving, 160M-using, friends.
>
> It finally dawned on me this morning to connect the rig to my dummy load.  The result of attempting to tune and load the dummy load is exactly the same as it was trying to use the new inverted-L:  initial 25 to 1 SWR, tunes down only to 16.9 to 1.
> The rig, amp, internal and external tuners, and dummy load work fine on 80M through 6M.  This is my first time trying them all on 160M.
> QUESTION:  Are there special configuration or other steps I need to take to operate the K3S on 160 meters?  Do these symptoms suggest any other problems that you can help solve?
>
> Please advise, and thanks!
> 73 -
> Rich, K1DJScituate, MA
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