K3 S meter oddities

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K3 S meter oddities

w0mu
When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new 4.39.

Just curious if anyone else has seen this.

Mike W0MU
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Re: K3 S meter oddities

Phil Shepard
Mike,

My K3 has done this for quite some time.  I currently have 4.36 loaded, but
it was there long before that.  I put it on the reflector before, but I
never could get a resolution to it.  I'm all ears on this.

73,

Phil, NS7P

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Mike Fatchett W0MU
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 8:45 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 S meter oddities


When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new 4.39.

Just curious if anyone else has seen this.

Mike W0MU
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Re: K3 S meter oddities

w0mu
Interesting.  I am using a K3 without the 2nd receiver at the moment.  
The full blown K3 is up in Montana.  This was my 2nd SO2R rig.  I kept
looking over  and wondering what was causing so much noise on the band
but there is no noise just the s meter reading oddly.

Using the Heil Quiet Phone Pro.  It does it with the noise cancelling on
or off.

On 8/11/2011 11:51 AM, Phillip Shepard wrote:

> Mike,
>
> My K3 has done this for quite some time.  I currently have 4.36 loaded, but
> it was there long before that.  I put it on the reflector before, but I
> never could get a resolution to it.  I'm all ears on this.
>
> 73,
>
> Phil, NS7P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Mike Fatchett W0MU
> Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 8:45 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [Elecraft] K3 S meter oddities
>
>
> When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
> units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new 4.39.
>
> Just curious if anyone else has seen this.
>
> Mike W0MU
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
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Re: K3 S meter oddities

Bruce Beford-2
In reply to this post by w0mu
> When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
> units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new
4.39.
 
> Just curious if anyone else has seen this.
 
> Mike W0MU
 
My K3 s/n 559 running 4.39 does -not- exhibit this behavior. As far as I can
recall, it never has. Using Koss and Yamaha phones here. On what bands/under
what conditions? Is it possible you are actually coupling some kind of RF
(not necessarily ham transmissions, but something else in the house/shack)
back into the rig from within your environment via the phones lead?
GL,
Bruce, N1RX

 

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Re: K3 S meter oddities

Phil Shepard
It actually does it with a blank phone plug inserted.  As soon as the plug
goes in, the S meter jumps up.  The signal itself does not change, just the
meter reading.  I have not examined the area around the jack inside to see
if there is anything odd.  That may be next.

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Bruce Beford
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 2:54 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 S meter oddities


> When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
> units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new
4.39.

> Just curious if anyone else has seen this.

> Mike W0MU

My K3 s/n 559 running 4.39 does -not- exhibit this behavior. As far as I can
recall, it never has. Using Koss and Yamaha phones here. On what bands/under
what conditions? Is it possible you are actually coupling some kind of RF
(not necessarily ham transmissions, but something else in the house/shack)
back into the rig from within your environment via the phones lead?
GL,
Bruce, N1RX



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Re: K3 S meter oddities

KE8G
Gents,
I am NOT seeing this behavior on my K3/100, SN 4401 w/4.39 firmware
installed (just this past weekend.)

As best as I can recollect, it has never changed when plugging in the
headphones.

73 de Jim - KE8G


----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillip Shepard" <[hidden email]>
To: "Bruce Beford" <[hidden email]>;
<[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 S meter oddities


> It actually does it with a blank phone plug inserted.  As soon as the plug
> goes in, the S meter jumps up.  The signal itself does not change, just
> the
> meter reading.  I have not examined the area around the jack inside to see
> if there is anything odd.  That may be next.
>
> Phil
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Bruce Beford
> Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 2:54 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 S meter oddities
>
>
>> When I plug my headphones into the K3 the S Meter jumps up about 5 s
>> units.  This unit is running 4.31 FW.  I obviously have not tried new
> 4.39.
>
>> Just curious if anyone else has seen this.
>
>> Mike W0MU
>
> My K3 s/n 559 running 4.39 does -not- exhibit this behavior. As far as I
> can
> recall, it never has. Using Koss and Yamaha phones here. On what
> bands/under
> what conditions? Is it possible you are actually coupling some kind of RF
> (not necessarily ham transmissions, but something else in the house/shack)
> back into the rig from within your environment via the phones lead?
> GL,
> Bruce, N1RX
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
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>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
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> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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Re: K3 S meter oddities

k6dgw
Never on K3/100 S/N 642 [just loaded 4.39].  I use the rear headfone and
mic jacks exclusively ... putting them there in addition to the front
panel was a genius moment!

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org

On 8/11/2011 5:08 PM, KE8G wrote:
> Gents,
> I am NOT seeing this behavior on my K3/100, SN 4401 w/4.39 firmware
> installed (just this past weekend.)
>
> As best as I can recollect, it has never changed when plugging in the
> headphones.
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KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Phil Shepard
I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'), and
it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
(1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.

Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
halfwave antenna?  Thank you.

73,
Phl, NS7P

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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Bill W4ZV
Phillip Shepard wrote
I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'), and
it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
(1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.

Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
halfwave antenna?  Thank you.
Probably normal.  End-fed half-wave antennas are 4-5000 ohms impedance, so you're asking the tuner to match an 80-100:1 SWR which is beyond the range of most tuners.

73,  Bill
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

David Gilbert
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard

The simple answer to your question is "no".  An end fed halfwave would
theoretically present a few thousand ohms to your feedline, giving you
an SWR of several tens to one.

Consider this .... it is likely that the tuner with the greater loss
will more easily give you a "match" to a difficult load.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 8/23/2011 4:00 PM, Phillip Shepard wrote:

> I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
> for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
> two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
> I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
> the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
> had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
> only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
> long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
> the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
> got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'), and
> it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
> (1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.
>
> Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
> halfwave antenna?  Thank you.
>
> 73,
> Phl, NS7P
>
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

AC7AC
CONTENTS DELETED
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Don Wilhelm-4
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
Phil,

As others have responded, attempting to tune the end of a half-wave wire
is beyond the range of most tuners, including the KAT2.
Your added wire provided a compromise length, because the feedpoint
impedance was reduced.

Because the impedance of the EFHW is high, my favorite tuning section
for a half wave antenna is a parallel tuned tank circuit - the radiator
connects to one side of the parallel circuit  and your counterpoise (or
ground) connects to the "cold end".  Tune the paralled tank circuit for
resonance near the operating frequency (and make it a permanent part of
the antenna).  Then wrap a few turns around the ground end of the
inductor and use that "link" to connect to the KAT2.  The fixed tuned
circuit will handle the high impedance, and the impedance of the "link"
will be much lower (depends on the square of the turns ratio).  The KAT2
will do the job of matching into that link as you move about the band.

In other words, you make a fixed "tuner" that becomes part of your EFHW
dipole (no variable capacitor to tune the antenna - use a fixed
capacitor that resonates with the inductor approximately mid-band.  The
KAT2 will tune quite nicely into the link winding and produce a low SWR.

The alternative is to use a non-resonant wire length that provides a
sufficiently low impedance as to be within the matching range of the
tuner.  The W3EDP antenna is one of those examples.  Use that approach
if you want to use the same antenna wire for multiple bands.  As I
recall, the W3EDP radiator is 85 feet long and the "counterpoise" is 17
feet for use on 80 meters and up.  Half those lengths would work on 40
and up.  I look at the W3EDP as "sort-of" an off-center-fed" dipole -
the counterpoise does not have to be on the ground to work well.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 8/23/2011 7:00 PM, Phillip Shepard wrote:

> I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
> for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
> two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
> I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
> the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
> had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
> only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
> long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
> the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
> got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'), and
> it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
> (1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.
>
> Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
> halfwave antenna?  Thank you.
>
> 73,
> Phl, NS7P
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Phil Shepard
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
Thanks for all of the great advice.  This reflector is a fountain of
knowledge!  I checked the 33' antenna/16' counterpoise combination with an
MFJ259B, and it indicated over 25:1 SWR.  Extending the antenna to 39' and
adding a second "radial" of 6' gave an SWR reading of about 11:1 with the
antenna analyzer.  The KAT2 seems to handle that much better.  This will get
me through one or two SOTA peaks at Crater Lake later this week; and I can
look for better solutions after that.  Thanks again.

73,

Phil, NS7P

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Phillip Shepard
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 4:00 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] KAT2 with EFHW antenna


I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'), and
it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
(1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.

Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
halfwave antenna?  Thank you.

73,
Phl, NS7P

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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Guy, K2AV
An EFHW is a very efficient antenna, but the usual tuner needs help.  One
way to use the EFHW is to put a toroidal winding at the base of the antenna,
between the tuner and the antenna. Bifilar or trifilar or quadrifilar
windings configured as a tapped winding will reduce the tough impedance to
something that the tuner will handle easily.

The 80 meter version of this, an end-fed half-wave L fed against ground is
probably the best single wire antenna for 80 meters that there is.

73, Guy.

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:50 PM, Phillip Shepard <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Thanks for all of the great advice.  This reflector is a fountain of
> knowledge!  I checked the 33' antenna/16' counterpoise combination with an
> MFJ259B, and it indicated over 25:1 SWR.  Extending the antenna to 39' and
> adding a second "radial" of 6' gave an SWR reading of about 11:1 with the
> antenna analyzer.  The KAT2 seems to handle that much better.  This will
> get
> me through one or two SOTA peaks at Crater Lake later this week; and I can
> look for better solutions after that.  Thanks again.
>
> 73,
>
> Phil, NS7P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]]On Behalf Of Phillip Shepard
> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 4:00 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [Elecraft] KAT2 with EFHW antenna
>
>
> I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
> for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
> two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
> I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
> the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
> had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
> only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
> long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
> the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
> got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'),
> and
> it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
> (1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.
>
> Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
> halfwave antenna?  Thank you.
>
> 73,
> Phl, NS7P
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
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> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Bob Willis
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
Another simple end fed antenna was described by W2FRH in QST, March 2011, "A Near End-Fed Antenna..." .  I just returned from a week at the Outer Banks and used this antenna with my K2 working DX from Europe and South America, plus several states.  No trees near the beach house so it was a sloper from the top deck to a fence post.  Measured SWR around 2:1 and the K2 matched to 1:1.

73 Bob K2GLS

I have been using my K2 with an MFJ tuner to feed an end fed halfwave wire
for portable use (like SOTA).  The 20m antenna is 33' long and I use one or
two 16' counterpoise wires.  It seems to work well for what it is and 10W.
I just built and installed the KAT2 ATU into the K2 to lighten my pack by
the loss of the MFJ.  The KAT2 tuner checked out fine on the bench, but it
had a very hard time getting a good match to the antenna.  In AUTO mode, it
only got the SWR down to about 5:1.  I put it in ALT mode, and it spent a
long time searching before it got down to between 3:1 and 4:1, depending on
the 20m frequency.  I added about 2" of wire to the antenna, and the tuer
got down to about 2:1 to 2.5:1.  I added another foot of wire (now 36'),
and
it got down to about 1.5:1.  Five or six feet added yielded a perfect match
(1:1).  So I now have a 39' wire for 20m use.

Is this normal?  Should the KAT2 be able to more easily match the 33'
halfwave antenna?  Thank you.

73,
Phl, NS7P

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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

Mercury
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
Steve Yates, AA5TB, has a very informative web page on EFHW antennas and how to build a parallel tuned circuit with a link coupled feed at the radio end to reduce the 1800 to 5000 ohm impedance to a 50 ohm non-reactive load. He has examples of both QRP and QRO versions of the circuit. I built the QRP version which uses a polyvaricon capacitor (available through Hendrix Kits among other sources) to create a very small tuning device that will match resonant End Fed half wavelength antennas on 40m, 30m, 20m, and 17m. I use it mostly with a 33 foot wire on 20m raised on a 31 foot Jackite fiberglass pole and have had fun working DX with 5 watts. It is easy to change bands by exchanging the wire with one cut for the band of interest. I do not use a counterpoise and do not have any trouble at the rig. Steve explains why this works. For higher power a one meter counterpoise helps. I use this antenna with a K1 and K2, both with internal antenna tuners. The tuners are not needed, but I
  leave them activated to easily compensate for any small mismatch across the band.

Steve's page is found at http://aa5tb.com/efha.html

William Ravenel, AI4VE
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

stan levandowski
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
And for those with more money than brains (that would be me) you can
purchase an end fed halfwave antenna from the Emergency Radio Club of
Hawaii for $42.  I bought one and it works great with the entire
Elecraft family. Great to have a simple yet efficient portable antenna
that fits into a sandwich baggie.   This site also has the plans to
build this one on your own if you would prefer.

The main website is at:  http://www.earchi.org/proj_homebrew.html

The page for building it yourself is at:
http://www.earchi.org/pdf/endfed.pdf

And the page for the 'easy way out' is at:
http://www.earchi.org/pdf/endfed20.pdf


73, Stan WB2LQF
KX1 #2411    K1#2994    K2# 6980    K3#5244     K9 #1 (Cocoa the
Chihuahua)
Everything is QRP, even the dog.





On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 9:54 AM, William Ravenel wrote:

> Steve Yates, AA5TB, has a very informative web page on EFHW antennas
> and how to build a parallel tuned circuit with a link coupled feed at
> the radio end to reduce the 1800 to 5000 ohm impedance to a 50 ohm
> non-reactive load. He has examples of both QRP and QRO versions of the
> circuit. I built the QRP version which uses a polyvaricon capacitor
> (available through Hendrix Kits among other sources) to create a very
> small tuning device that will match resonant End Fed half wavelength
> antennas on 40m, 30m, 20m, and 17m. I use it mostly with a 33 foot
> wire on 20m raised on a 31 foot Jackite fiberglass pole and have had
> fun working DX with 5 watts. It is easy to change bands by exchanging
> the wire with one cut for the band of interest. I do not use a
> counterpoise and do not have any trouble at the rig. Steve explains
> why this works. For higher power a one meter counterpoise helps. I use
> this antenna with a K1 and K2, both with internal antenna tuners. The
> tuners are not needed, but I
>   leave them activated to easily compensate for any small mismatch
> across the band.
>
> Steve's page is found at http://aa5tb.com/efha.html
>
> William Ravenel, AI4VE
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

AC7AC
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

stan levandowski
In reply to this post by Phil Shepard
Ron, the one I purchased for $42 is for 20 meters and came with a 33
foot radiator.  A mathematical half wave at 14 MHz would work out to
32.8 feet.  It did not come with a counterpoise nor was one recommended.
It loaded up nicely for me as received.  I later tried a short
counterpoise and did not note any difference in performance.   I use a
short coax of about 12 feet for portable work.  It seems to work very
well and only having to worry about hanging one end is convenient.  And
the wire is a nice quality that resists tangling.

The documentation that came with mine warned that for 40 meter use, I'd
need to replace the radiator with a 66 foot length and a wing nut
arrangement is provided for that.  I've never tried it on 40 meters.

Ron, I'm no antenna expert (hence "more money than brains") but I'd like
to add that the precursor to this EFWHA came right out of the KX1
documentation.  It's just a double BNC connector with a 28' radiator and
a 33' counterpoise.  I moved to the EFHWA because I got tired of
untangling the two wires.

In a side by side test, both antennas sounded the same to my ear.  I
retired the double BNC affair in favor of the EFWHA because I figured
the EFWHA was a more efficient radiator, as you pointed out.  Something
my ears wouldn't necessarily disclose to me.

I apologize for not having re-read the material on those links I
provided.  Apparently something has changed since I purchased mine.

73, Stan WB2LQF


On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> Stan, that's not a true half wave radiator on most bands. They suggest
> a
> wire length of 20 or 30 feet, which will be efficient on 12 through 6
> meters
> where it's at least 1/2 wavelength long, but on the lower frequency
> bands
> it's just a short random length wire with an auto-transformer to
> assist with
> impedance matching.
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Re: KAT2 with EFHW antenna

AC7AC
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