K3 KAT3 strange behaviour
Locked
 
|
G'Day all.
Just now, using a double extended zepp I find it tunes all bands except 20M consistently but for a couple of weeks it has been fine. The KAT3 will tune to 1.1:1 BUT the swr meter fluctuates to 3:1 but does*not * generate HI SWR on the display. All other bands this behavior does not occur. Press and hold tune at 5W and up to 100W the swr shows stable. Without the KAT3 the zepp is 1.4:1 and reads stable. SSB Tx however produces this fluctuating swr reading which reaches as high as 3:1 Scratching my head here as all other bands 80 thru 10M this swr problem does not appear. It started during a qso and the other station reported a jump in signal strength from S2 to S9 on 20M Any clues from the group would be most helpful. 73's Gary -- Gary VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/ K3 #679, P3 #546 For everything else there's Mastercard!!! ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
|
|
On 12/05/2010 11:40 PM, [hidden email] wrote:
> From: Gary Gregory<[hidden email]> > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 KAT3 strange behaviour > To:[hidden email] > Message-ID: > <AANLkTikt6d7NR2b_TDN=[hidden email]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > G'Day all. > > Just now, using a double extended zepp I find it tunes all bands except 20M > consistently but for a couple of weeks it has been fine. > > The KAT3 will tune to 1.1:1 BUT the swr meter fluctuates to 3:1 but does*not > * generate HI SWR on the display. > > All other bands this behavior does not occur. > > Press and hold tune at 5W and up to 100W the swr shows stable. Without the > KAT3 the zepp is 1.4:1 and reads stable. > > SSB Tx however produces this fluctuating swr reading which reaches as high > as 3:1 > > Scratching my head here as all other bands 80 thru 10M this swr problem does > not appear. > > It started during a qso and the other station reported a jump in signal > strength from S2 to S9 on 20M > > Any clues from the group would be most helpful. > > 73's > Gary > amp here (no KAT3 in mine). Changing the length of coax seems to have quite an effect on settling it down. If you can add 1/8 ~ 1/4 wl of coax in the length with a joiner, it would be interesting to see your results. Adrian ... vk4tux ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
|
|
>
> On 12/05/2010 11:40 PM, [hidden email] wrote: > > From: Gary Gregory<[hidden email]> > >...using a double extended zepp I find it tunes all bands except 20M > > consistently but for a couple of weeks it has been fine. > > > > The KAT3 will tune to 1.1:1 BUT the swr meter fluctuates... Gary, in my case the fluctuating SWR indication turned out to be attributable to my station ground setup. It seems that just a small amount of RF on the feedline can create this symptom. My non-resonant antenna comes into a balun, then the coax goes through a line isolator, and thence to the rig. There is a counterpoise arrangement connected at the balun which has served satisfactorily to ground everything with a couple of antennas. However, when I put up a new one, I got the symptom you describe. Some tweaking of the grounding scheme completely cured it. Tony KT0NY ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
|
|
Hi Tony,
The open wire feeder was at fault as the route I had used had a bend which made a parallel path and when I straightened this out the issue went away. All is now as it should....:-) Thanks for the info mate. Gary On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 7:58 AM, Tony Estep <[hidden email]> wrote: > > > > On 12/05/2010 11:40 PM, [hidden email] wrote: > > > From: Gary Gregory<[hidden email]> > > >...using a double extended zepp I find it tunes all bands except 20M > > > consistently but for a couple of weeks it has been fine. > > > > > > The KAT3 will tune to 1.1:1 BUT the swr meter fluctuates... > > Gary, in my case the fluctuating SWR indication turned out to be > attributable to my station ground setup. It seems that just a small amount > of RF on the feedline can create this symptom. My non-resonant antenna > comes > into a balun, then the coax goes through a line isolator, and thence to the > rig. There is a counterpoise arrangement connected at the balun which has > served satisfactorily to ground everything with a couple of antennas. > However, when I put up a new one, I got the symptom you describe. Some > tweaking of the grounding scheme completely cured it. > > Tony KT0NY > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[hidden email] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > -- Gary VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/ K3 #679, P3 #546 For everything else there's Mastercard!!! ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
|
|
At our IOTA site we were using 450 line as tuned feeders to a pair of
orthogonal multiband doublets. We had the 450 line tied for support in the almost constant 15 knot sea breeze. At some point something flapped into a loop and pinched the conductors closer together on one of the lines. It wacked all the K3 auto-tuner settings and you couldn't switch back and forth without retuning. It took us a while to spot the problem. 73, Guy. On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 2:44 AM, Gary Gregory <[hidden email]> wrote: > Hi Tony, > > The open wire feeder was at fault as the route I had used had a bend which > made a parallel path and when I straightened this out the issue went away. > > All is now as it should....:-) > > Thanks for the info mate. > > Gary > > On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 7:58 AM, Tony Estep <[hidden email]> wrote: > >> > >> > On 12/05/2010 11:40 PM, [hidden email] wrote: >> > > From: Gary Gregory<[hidden email]> >> > >...using a double extended zepp I find it tunes all bands except 20M >> > > consistently but for a couple of weeks it has been fine. >> > > >> > > The KAT3 will tune to 1.1:1 BUT the swr meter fluctuates... >> >> Gary, in my case the fluctuating SWR indication turned out to be >> attributable to my station ground setup. It seems that just a small amount >> of RF on the feedline can create this symptom. My non-resonant antenna >> comes >> into a balun, then the coax goes through a line isolator, and thence to the >> rig. There is a counterpoise arrangement connected at the balun which has >> served satisfactorily to ground everything with a couple of antennas. >> However, when I put up a new one, I got the symptom you describe. Some >> tweaking of the grounding scheme completely cured it. >> >> Tony KT0NY >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[hidden email] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >> > > > > -- > Gary > VK4FD - Motorhome Mobile > http://www.qsl.net/vk4fd/ > K3 #679, P3 #546 > For everything else there's Mastercard!!! > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[hidden email] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
«
Return to [K3]
|
1 view|%1 views
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |