++++++++++++++++++ From: "Lyle Johnson" To: Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:19:53 -0700 Subject: [Elecraft] KAT100 - Early Impressions Hello! I am a Field Tester for the KAT100-2 version of Elecraft's new Antenna Tuner kit. If you are curious about this unit, or the competition's similar(?) units, read on! 1) Like all Elecraft products, the kit was packed well. The parts packaging seemed a bit nicer than the earlier kits I've purchased from Elecraft - touches like the name of the person who packed the parts envelope, part numbers for the parts envelopes, etc. Elecraft is growing :-) 2) Being a Field Test unit, there were minor corrections to be made in the manual. That's what field testing is all about -- to help the purchasers of the product have an accurate manual and a good operating experience. Field testers aren't paid,; we're just part of the Elecraft community doing our bit to help, probably because we believe in the concept of well-engineered kit alternatives to mass-produced radios. 3) I also built and own an LDG-11 series Antenna Tuner. In my case it is the RT-11, for remoting at the antenna. 4) The Elecraft KAT100 uses larger components (.8 and .94" diameter toroids versus LDG's .68 inch, for example). The implication is the Elecraft unit ought to be somewhat more efficient with less internal losses, less possibility of toroid core saturation, higher power handling capability, able to withstand greater mismatches (but not necessarily match a wider range of impedances). 5) The KAT100 is well-integrated with the K2 system.. I refer to the K2 as a system rather than as a radio, because it is a system. The KAT100 is a system component, dependent on the K2 for operating, and well integrated with it. The downside, of course, is that you can't use it with your other radios (you do own another radio, don't you?). 6) The KAT100 was particularly appealing to me because I have split my K2 from its KPA100 Integrated Amplifier. This allows me to easily take my K2 on a trip, and still have a 100-watt QRO station at home, without replacing top covers or disassembling anything. The KAT100-2 is designed to fit into the EC2 cabinet, which happens to also house my KPA100. You can see the results of this at http://www.fidalgo.net/~wa7gxd. 7) My current station antenna is an aging TH6DXX 20m-15m-10m beam. The KAT100 has no problem matching this antenna on most bands. This should not be taken to mean the now-matched antenna actually performs well on all bands - it doesn't. In fact, it is abysmal on some. The Hy-Gain matching system is such that on many bands the antenna feedpoint is essentially a short circuit at both DC *and* RF, and even if you can match a piece of shorted coax, that doesn't mean it will radiate well. A far better antenna for multi-band use would be either a doublet (think of it as a dipole) or perhaps a vertical element over a decent ground with DC conductivity but not an RF short (e.g., a reasonable RF choke at the antenna end). 8) I am still in the evaluation phase of the KAT100. But at this point I can say that I am pleased with it. If you have a K2/100 and need an antenna tuner for it - and don't need to share the tuner with another radio - then you should seriously consider the KAT100. If you are at all interested in splitting your K2/100 - or making a custom accessory that can operate well in the potential RF fields that might be in the case of the tuner and won't create RFI which might be coupled into the K2 receiver - the KAT100-2 version is worth your careful consideration. 73, Lyle KK7P +++++++++++++++++ From: "Lyle Johnson" To: Subject: RE: [Elecraft] KAT100 - Early Impressions Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 12:35:20 -0700 Hello Again! I have a few more observations to add to my earlier report.... 9) The KAT100 appears to match a much wider range of impedances than the internal tuner in my Kenwood TS-850SAT. I base this on the fact that the Kenwood tuner can't match my tri-band beam on many bands, while the KAT100 can. 10) The KAT100 is much faster than the Kenwood tuner. 11) The KAT100 is noisier than the KAT2 and much noisier than the Kenwood tuner. The LDG RT-11 may or may not be quieter than the KAT100. Since the RT-11 designed to be located remotely, relay noise is less of an issue. 12) Once the KAT100 has found a match, it remembers the settings for each band, with separate memory for each of the two selectable antenna positions (ANT1 and ANT2). If you have two antennas, even if the matches are quite different, the KAT100 will retrieve its settings based on the band and the selected antenna as long as each antenna is connected to a different ANTENNA connector on the rear of the KAT100. Obviously, if you use an external antenna selector, it can't know which one you've selected... If you then toggle between the antennas, the KAT100 instantly selects the last matching settings for that combination. 13) As long as you haven't changed the antenna connected to ANT1 or ANT2, you can switch bands and be matched as quickly as the K2 changes bands. The KAT100 immediately loads the previous settings for that band and antenna selection. Unless your antenna is highly reactive in the band you've selected, you may be able to QSY a fair amount without the need for retuning. This goes a long way towards minimizing the relay noise issue. Once you've walked the tuner through all the bands you typically use, and in particular the segment of each band where you prefer to operate, the KAT100 will simply recall its settings, and there will be no tuning noise. You can tell if you need to re-tune, because the SWR LEDs will show increasing when you transmit SWR as you move from the matched frequency. You then must manually force a retune (press and hold the TUNE button on the K2 front panel). 73, Lyle KK7 +++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 18:43:33 -0700 From: Wayne Burdick Organization: Elecraft To: Lyle Johnson Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Re: KAT100 - Early Impressions Lyle Johnson wrote: > 11) The KAT100 is noisier than the KAT2... True. The KAT100 uses the same type of large (10 amp) relays that are used in other tuners of its type, including the LDG QRO tuners. These high-current relays have much larger contacts, coils, and mechanisms than the tiny relays used in our QRP tuner. Of course the KAT100's instant recall of settings on band or antenna change makes the noisy relays much less of an issue -- as you noted. We may be able to reduce the noise during initial auto-tune by adding sound-absorptive material. We're hoping to experiment with such material next week. 73, Wayne N6KR ++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 23:03:43 -0400 (EDT) From: kc4kgu at ENTERZONE.NET To: w0ifl at hotmail.com Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Re: KAT100 - Early Impressions On Sat, 26 Oct 2002 w0ifl at hotmail.com wrote: > I dunno.... I kinda like the quarter-crunching sound of the LDG! At firs= t I > thought it was noisy, but now I think I'd miss that sound as I tune up. = Of > course, I won't be hearing THAT tuner for long, now that the KAT100 is > coming.... >=20 > Ron E > W=90IFL >=20 If you like your LDG, you'll _LOVE_ the KAT100. The LDG AT11-MP was the first tuner I ever owned. It worked. I'll give it that. The KAT100 is in a completely different class though. As for relay noise, I think that the KAT100 is quieter than that AT11-MP and not _much_ noisier than the tuner in my TS-2000. As for speed, prepare to be amazed. The LDG went kind of "clickity clickity, clack clack clack".... The KAT100 goes "BuzzzzzzT" when it needs to search or simply "Click" if it doesn't have to search. The only way I've been able to make it take longer to find a match is to present it with something that it CAN'T match. IE; My 2m antenna on 160m. (Hey, isn't this what field testing is all about?) Even then, it was less than three seconds and the KAT100 knew. Wayne at Elecraft said: > We may be able to reduce the noise during initial auto-tune by adding > sound-absorptive material. We're hoping to experiment with > such material next week.=20 > 73, > Wayne > N6KR Wayne, are you looking at the material I sent you the links for? If so, I can probably do some tests here as well. 73 de John - KC4KGU K2/100 #2490 ++++++++++++++++ From: "Don Brown" To: "Elecraft" Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 11:31:15 -0600 Subject: [Elecraft] KAT100-1 and KAT100-2 impressions Hi I am one of the KAT100 field testers and Wayne asked us to post our impre= ssions on the kit on the reflector. =20 I have 2 K2's so I decided to build one KAT100-1 and A KAT100-2. The KAT1= 00-1 will go on SN 2174 and sets under the K2. The kit went together quic= kly and easily. The field testers found a few little problems with the ma= nuals that have been corrected. The tuner is very fast and it is so well = integrated with the K2 system, the firmware will figure out options you h= ave in your K2 and act accordingly. For instance if you have a KPA100 it = will set up for that (the normal situation) but if you have a remote moun= ted KPA100 with the K2 driving through the KAT2 the firmware will realize= that and configure the KAT2 to straight through and ANT1 output. You cou= ld also use the KAT100 with a QRP K2 without the KPA100. The kit is every= bit up to the normally expected quality from Elecraft. The manual is exc= ellent and the design is typical overkill. 2000 volt capacitors and .8 or= .94 inch toroids wound with #20 wire. The tuner is rated at 150 watts bu= t could probably take more. The relays are rated a 10 amps. =20 The KAT100-1 comes with a case matching the K2 except it is only 1.5 inch= es high. It took me about 5 hours to build but I build at a fairly fast r= ate and it will most likely take most other builders a little longer (I h= ave built 7 K2's 3 K1's 4 KPA100's and 2 KAT100's). As with all Elecraft = kits there is almost no internal wiring. The boards plug together like th= e K2 and there are a few wires from the SO239 connectors and that's it. I= t has two SO239 antenna connectors selected from the K2 just like the KAT= 2 and an automatically selected low power or hi power SWR bridge that wil= l work from .2 watts to over 100 watts. The antenna, power range and SWR = are indicated on the on the front panel of the KAT100 by different colore= d LED's. The KAT100-2 went together a little faster because I had already done the= KAT100-1 and knew what to expect. The -2 only comes with front and rear = punched and silk screened panels for the EC2 enclosure. You will need to= buy the EC2 if you select this option. This was the version I was most i= nterested in because I was planning to remote mount the KPA100 into the s= ame EC2 box with the KAT100 and drive it with K2 SN 1808 set up with the = KAT2, KIO2 and battery. This will allow the K2 to be used as a battery po= wered QRP radio in the field and QRO 100 watt with tuner in the shack wit= h no internal changes. Just unplug 3 cables on the back of the K2 and go = (power, RF and interface). I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to do. Every thing just p= lugged in. The KAT100 has connectors for the RF in to the KPA100 and the = AUX 12 volt cable plugs into the KAT100 to power it from the KPA100. You = will need to build a cable to connect the K2 KIO2 to the KPA100 and a sho= rt 50 ohm PL239 cable to connect the KPA100 to the KAT100. You also need = a short BNC cable to connect the K2 ANT1 to the AUX RF in on the KAT100. = The internal 10 pin interface cable from the KPA100 is routed to the KAT1= 00 so the 9 pin connectors on the PA and AT are in parallel. You can use = either 9 pin to connect up the K2. The speaker in the KPA100 is not used = but could be used as a remote speaker with a simple wire change and a 1/8= male to 1/8 male speaker cable. The toroids are a little large and the w= ire is stiff but I did not find them hard to wind I think the tuner was worth the wait. Another first class product from El= ecraft. I can't wait for the next kit they may have up their sleeve. Don Brown KD5NDB ++++++++++++++++++