K3 Strange problem

[Joe Ford-2]

Mine is a new (but not my first) K3. It has the KPA3, KAT3, KRX3, KXV3A, and P3. I have 2 antennas connected to the KAT3. Ant1 is a beam. Ant2 is an 88' long dipole fed with ladder line to an Elecraft 4:1 balun then coax to then K3. The KAT3 normally tunes it close to 1:1 on 80/40/30/20m, the only bands I use it on.

A few days ago,  I heard a DX station working a pileup on 30m. I pushed A>B, Split, then Sub. When I keyed the K3 to call the DX I got the HIGH SWR message. Now whenever I tap ATU TUNE, the SWR maxes out, the relays go crazy and it tunes to about 2:1 and power goes to the what I have it set for (100 watts for 100 watts).

It only does this on 30m. It tunes near or on 1:1 on the other bands. My K2 with KAT100 tunes the same antenna to 1:1 on 30m. I've had this antenna up for several years and it has always worked well, its up about 35 ft. So this is unusual. It will tune ANT 1 to 1:1. Only ANT 2 is a problem.

It has gone into this mode, HIGH SWR then only tune to 2:1 twice, 2 times. After the first time I tried all different things but nothing changed. Until, somehow I got iit back to a normal ANT TUNE. Then it tuned fine until I did SPLIT then SUB. Again I get the HIGH SWR and will not tune. Has anyone else seen this problem, or have any ideas?   Thanks,

Joe
K3# 5858
K2#4155
K1#764
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[k6dgw]

On 11/1/2011 1:51 PM, Joe Ford wrote:

> A few days ago,  I heard a DX station working a pileup on 30m. I
> pushed A>B, Split, then Sub. When I keyed the K3 to call the DX I got
> the HIGH SWR message. Now whenever I tap ATU TUNE, the SWR maxes out,
> the relays go crazy and it tunes to about 2:1 and power goes to the
> what I have it set for (100 watts for 100 watts).
>
> It only does this on 30m.

Make sure you haven't selected ANT2 [or the antenna you don't use].
Exact problem for me.  ANT selection is remembered on a per band basis
and I had somehow gotten ANT2 selected on 30m.  Very embarrassing since
Wayne was on the phone with me to help.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2012 Cal QSO Party 6-7 Oct 2012
- www.cqp.org
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[Guy, K2AV]

Probably not the best thing to assume first that the trouble is in the
rig. Odds are really against you.  Antenna is outside, subject to all
kinds of strain that can part conductors, even inside insulation so
you can't see it, getting water in coax, pulled around by the wind,
etc, etc, ad nauseum.  Presume it's the antenna first, and make sure
you don't have an end across a branch, broken connection to one side
of doublet, a shield of the coax that has lost connection to the PL259
barrel, center conductor lost contact with the PL259 pin, etc.  RULE
OUT the antenna system first. That would be everything beyond the
PL259 that plugs into the K3.  Ten to one odds it's outside in the
antenna.  At least ten to one.

73, Guy.

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 4:51 PM, Joe Ford <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Mine is a new (but not my first) K3. It has the KPA3, KAT3, KRX3, KXV3A, and P3. I have 2 antennas connected to the KAT3. Ant1 is a beam. Ant2 is an 88' long dipole fed with ladder line to an Elecraft 4:1 balun then coax to then K3. The KAT3 normally tunes it close to 1:1 on 80/40/30/20m, the only bands I use it on.
>
> A few days ago,  I heard a DX station working a pileup on 30m. I pushed A>B, Split, then Sub. When I keyed the K3 to call the DX I got the HIGH SWR message. Now whenever I tap ATU TUNE, the SWR maxes out, the relays go crazy and it tunes to about 2:1 and power goes to the what I have it set for (100 watts for 100 watts).
>
> It only does this on 30m. It tunes near or on 1:1 on the other bands. My K2 with KAT100 tunes the same antenna to 1:1 on 30m. I've had this antenna up for several years and it has always worked well, its up about 35 ft. So this is unusual. It will tune ANT 1 to 1:1. Only ANT 2 is a problem.
>
> It has gone into this mode, HIGH SWR then only tune to 2:1 twice, 2 times. After the first time I tried all different things but nothing changed. Until, somehow I got iit back to a normal ANT TUNE. Then it tuned fine until I did SPLIT then SUB. Again I get the HIGH SWR and will not tune. Has anyone else seen this problem, or have any ideas?   Thanks,
>
> Joe
> K3# 5858
> K2#4155
> K1#764
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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[Don Wilhelm-4]

I agree fully with Guy.  Most problems of that nature are an antenna
problem.
If you have an antenna analyzer, connect it to the PL-259 that you
normally connect to the K3 - do not add or subtract any coax.  Then read
the impedance (R and jX, not just SWR).  If it is extremely high or
extremely low, that is your problem.  The fact that one tuner used to
match it says nothing about another tuner's capability, nor how the
antenna is behaving at this point in time.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/1/2011 7:00 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:

> Probably not the best thing to assume first that the trouble is in the
> rig. Odds are really against you.  Antenna is outside, subject to all
> kinds of strain that can part conductors, even inside insulation so
> you can't see it, getting water in coax, pulled around by the wind,
> etc, etc, ad nauseum.  Presume it's the antenna first, and make sure
> you don't have an end across a branch, broken connection to one side
> of doublet, a shield of the coax that has lost connection to the PL259
> barrel, center conductor lost contact with the PL259 pin, etc.  RULE
> OUT the antenna system first. That would be everything beyond the
> PL259 that plugs into the K3.  Ten to one odds it's outside in the
> antenna.  At least ten to one.
>
> 73, Guy.
>

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