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K3 KAT3 forgets settings

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lstavenhagen

K3 KAT3 forgets settings

Hi all,

I just noticed the KAT3 in my K3 seems to forget its settings over time. I havn't narrowed down the exact conditions under which this occurs yet, tho. But I'll, say, do a series of tunes on 40M. It'll remember those while I'm using the rig. After a brief shutdown, they'll be retained and I still have the low SWR settings on 40 M.

But it seems like if I either play around with it a bunch or leave the rig off for a while and come back to it (say overnight), the recalled settings are eventually all wrong. I.e. all the recalled settings give high SWR's and I have to retune everywhere on all the bands.

AGain I'm not sure how to reproduce this because it works generally most of the time, particularly during a constantly-on use of the rig so I'm still trying to pin this down.

Er, have I found another problem or is this something already known? Or ?

Tnx es 73,
LS
W5QD

lstavenhagen

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

Well lemme do some more troubleshooting first. I got scientific on my lunch break and started recording a few L/C settings. Sure enough, whilst I was fiddling around, I got distinct changes in my SWR but the L/C settings were remaining the same at the several frequencies.

That's kind of the smoking gun that it's not the tuner and it's something else.... So this probably is a whole lotta nuthin...

73,
LS
W5QD

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

In reply to this post by lstavenhagen

LS,

Just as a guess at the problem - How are you powering down the K3. If
you are tuning the power supply off before the K3, then 'strange
happenings' may result. To assure a smooth shutdown with everything
remembered, turn the K3 off using the front panel power button or the
PS0; command and allow it to cycle down before removing the power.

73,
Don W3FPR

lstavenhagen wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I just noticed the KAT3 in my K3 seems to forget its settings over time. I
> havn't narrowed down the exact conditions under which this occurs yet, tho.
> But I'll, say, do a series of tunes on 40M. It'll remember those while I'm
> using the rig. After a brief shutdown, they'll be retained and I still have
> the low SWR settings on 40 M.
>
> But it seems like if I either play around with it a bunch or leave the rig
> off for a while and come back to it (say overnight), the recalled settings
> are eventually all wrong. I.e. all the recalled settings give high SWR's and
> I have to retune everywhere on all the bands.
>
> AGain I'm not sure how to reproduce this because it works generally most of
> the time, particularly during a constantly-on use of the rig so I'm still
> trying to pin this down.
>
>

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lstavenhagen

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

Hi Don,

No, I think the tuner is retaining the settings, as verified on my lunch hour the SWR of my cheezy indoor ant was changing by itself but the L/C settings listed for the tuner were staying the same. At least at the two freqs. I recorded the settings for on 20 and 40.

So that's the smoking gun like I said that it's something else. Could be someone moving their fridge in the next apt or something. I was being a bad QA dude and not doing proper troubleshooting, seems like the tuner is working normally....

This is ridiculous - I need to get a good ant.....

Tnx es 73,
LS
W5QD

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

In reply to this post by lstavenhagen

LS,

If the L/C settings do not change, then the antenna load is changing.
Check for wind moving the antenna, loose coax connectors (especially if
UHF type which depend on being tight to provide a continuous path for
the shield), bad coax, a balun with water in it, broken wires that
sometimes make contact, and any other thing of that nature that you may
be able to think of.

73,
Don W3FPR

lstavenhagen wrote:
> Well lemme do some more troubleshooting first. I got scientific on my lunch
> break and started recording a few L/C settings. Sure enough, whilst I was
> fiddling around, I got distinct changes in my SWR but the L/C settings were
> remaining the same at the several frequencies.
>
>
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Gary Gregory

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

In reply to this post by lstavenhagen

If you have EZ_K3< do a plot on your antenna on one band, then try the ATU.
If you have an antenna that is fed by open wire line for example there will
be subtle changes in the antenna at different times and this will lead to
"incorrect" the settings remembered by the tuner.

I find this is repeatable on my Double extended 40M Zepp for example.

The beam is always correct but then the swr is never above 1.5:1 on each
band (measured by an analyser) so the tuner does not have to retune.

YMMV
Gary

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 6:03 AM, lstavenhagen <[hidden email]>wrote:

>
> Hi Don,
>
> No, I think the tuner is retaining the settings, as verified on my lunch
> hour the SWR of my cheezy indoor ant was changing by itself but the L/C
> settings listed for the tuner were staying the same. At least at the two
> freqs. I recorded the settings for on 20 and 40.
>
> So that's the smoking gun like I said that it's something else. Could be
> someone moving their fridge in the next apt or something. I was being a bad
> QA dude and not doing proper troubleshooting, seems like the tuner is
> working normally....
>
> This is ridiculous - I need to get a good ant.....
>
> Tnx es 73,
> LS
> W5QD
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://n2.nabble.com/K3-KAT3-forgets-settings-tp4892021p4892317.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

--
Gary
VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile

K3 #679
For everything else there's Mastercard!!!
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Rick Prather

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4

Don,

I guess you missed the fact that he is working with an indoor antenna...

If he has wind and water problems he is in even bigger trouble than he thinks! :-)

Rick
K6LE

On 4/12/2010, at 1:07 , Don Wilhelm wrote:

> LS,
>
> If the L/C settings do not change, then the antenna load is changing.
> Check for wind moving the antenna, loose coax connectors (especially if
> UHF type which depend on being tight to provide a continuous path for
> the shield), bad coax, a balun with water in it, broken wires that
> sometimes make contact, and any other thing of that nature that you may
> be able to think of.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> lstavenhagen wrote:
>> Well lemme do some more troubleshooting first. I got scientific on my lunch
>> break and started recording a few L/C settings. Sure enough, whilst I was
>> fiddling around, I got distinct changes in my SWR but the L/C settings were
>> remaining the same at the several frequencies.
>>

lstavenhagen

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

True, hi hi. As it is I feel dumb for even posting this without actually checking the actual settings first to see if they're not being saved/restored properly.... I did this real quick on my lunch break with a pair of settings on 20 and 40 and they do seem to be being saved so this is probably a false alarm...

73,
LS
W5QD

Rick Prather

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

I think you did a great job of troubleshooting it and narrowing it down to something outside the K3.

Rick
K6LE

On 4/12/2010, at 3:21 , lstavenhagen wrote:

>
> True, hi hi. As it is I feel dumb for even posting this without actually
> checking the actual settings first to see if they're not being
> saved/restored properly.... I did this real quick on my lunch break with a
> pair of settings on 20 and 40 and they do seem to be being saved so this is
> probably a false alarm...
>
> 73,
> LS
> W5QD
> --

lstavenhagen

Re: K3 KAT3 forgets settings

Ah yes, credit must go where credit is due, as Gary Hvisdak made the initial suggestion to check the actual L/C settings, hi hi...
I'll do a more extensive round of checks this eve. tho to make sure....

Then I'll be planning a different ant. as this is just ridiculous...

73
LS
W5QD