[Elecraft] Using TUNE while deactivating the KPA500 Amplifier

[Andy Durbin]

"There's a K3 MACRO hiding somewhere that will, upon pressing of TUNE,  activate the tune function and simultaneously de-activate the KPA500 amp;
and afterwards, by tapping TUNE, will re-instate the KPA500 amp to its original state before TUNE was pressed.  Any ideas on this will be welcome : )"

I have no idea if it is possible to implement this with a K3 macro but I agree it's a desirable feature.  In fact, I have implemented this and more in my TS-590/Elecraft controller.

My "KAT500 Tune" function presents a page with selections Check, AutoTune, and Save.  

Pressing the  button for  Check sets the KAT500 key line inhibited and initiates a TS-590 TX-Tune with 5 W.  Pressing the button again stops TX-Tune and re-enables the KAT500 key line.  I use this to check current SWR as displayed on my LP-100A and to make manual adjustments to the KAT500 tuning solution.

Pressing the button for AutoTune inhibits KAT500 key line, initiates TS-590 TX-Tune with 15 W,  then initiates a KAT500 auto tune.  When auto tune completes the TS-590 is returned to 5 W for TX-Tune, and TX-Tune is stopped.  When the TS-590 has returned to RX mode the KAT500 key line is re-enabled.

Pressing the button for Save saves the current tuning solution to KAT500 memory.

So, not a macro, but something that should be as easy to implement for a K3 as for a TS-590.   Less than $30 worth of hardware and a few hours (days, weeks, months......) creating the Arduino code for this and several other functions.

73,
Andy, k3wyc