[KAT500] Cabling Diagram

[Roy Morris-6]

I have connected the cables as shown on page 6 of the KAT500 Automatic
Antenna Tuner Owner's Manual, revision B3, November 20, 2012.  I am
connecting the K3, KPA500 and KAT500 using the DB15 interface cables and the
two RCA (yellow end) cables for the separate key line.  This diagram shows
the key line interrupter inserted between the DB15 cable and the K3 ACC
socket.  I have not inserted the key line interrupter, and the system seems
to work fine.  However, I DO have to change the KPA500 from OPERATE to
STANDBY when changing frequency because leaving it in the OPERATE position
may cause the amp to FAULT when I hold the XMIT button on the K3.  I believe
the tuner is trying to search with high power.  I wonder if inserting my key
line interrupter would prevent this.  All frequencies had been previously
memorized by the KAT500.  Thanks.  Roy Morris  W4WFB

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[ke9uw]

I think what happens is that the K3 puts out rf faster than the KAT500 can interrupt the key line when it goes into the tune mode. Using the key line interrupter on the cable is really only for bringing the key line out of the cable to include other non-Elecraft key lines in series.
So...the only thing I can think of at the moment is to break the key line somehow when using the cable interrupter and press-hold of the xmit (the "tune") button. The K3 has to do it when pressing the "tune" button. Is there some way of doing that in menu?

Sent from my iPad
Chuck, KE9UW
(Jack for BMW motorcycles)

On Dec 6, 2012, at 3:53 PM, "Roy Morris" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I have connected the cables as shown on page 6 of the KAT500 Automatic Antenna Tuner Owner's Manual, revision B3, November 20, 2012.  I am connecting the K3, KPA500 and KAT500 using the DB15 interface cables and the two RCA (yellow end) cables for the separate key line.  This diagram shows the key line interrupter inserted between the DB15 cable and the K3 ACC socket.  I have not inserted the key line interrupter, and the system seems to work fine.  However, I DO have to change the KPA500 from OPERATE to STANDBY when changing frequency because leaving it in the OPERATE position may cause the amp to FAULT when I hold the XMIT button on the K3.  I believe the tuner is trying to search with high power.  I wonder if inserting my key line interrupter would prevent this.  All frequencies had been previously memorized by the KAT500.  Thanks.  Roy Morris  W4WFB
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[Gary Gregory-2]

The auxbus cable from the K3 to kat500 then kpa500 works fine with no user
adjustment required here. In early FT days we saw this on odd occasions but
the FW version 01.15 for the kpa500 resolved this by slowing down hi vswr
detection by the amplifier which caused the kpa500 to fault on occasion but
not necessarily every time as it depended on how bad the vswr sample was as
seen by the kpa500. Slowing it down eliminated this issue for me at least.



Gary

On 7 December 2012 09:42, hawley, charles j jr <[hidden email]>wrote:

> I think what happens is that the K3 puts out rf faster than the KAT500 can
> interrupt the key line when it goes into the tune mode. Using the key line
> interrupter on the cable is really only for bringing the key line out of
> the cable to include other non-Elecraft key lines in series.
> So...the only thing I can think of at the moment is to break the key line
> somehow when using the cable interrupter and press-hold of the xmit (the
> "tune") button. The K3 has to do it when pressing the "tune" button. Is
> there some way of doing that in menu?
>
> Sent from my iPad
> Chuck, KE9UW
> (Jack for BMW motorcycles)
>
> On Dec 6, 2012, at 3:53 PM, "Roy Morris" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > I have connected the cables as shown on page 6 of the KAT500 Automatic
> Antenna Tuner Owner's Manual, revision B3, November 20, 2012.  I am
> connecting the K3, KPA500 and KAT500 using the DB15 interface cables and
> the two RCA (yellow end) cables for the separate key line.  This diagram
> shows the key line interrupter inserted between the DB15 cable and the K3
> ACC socket.  I have not inserted the key line interrupter, and the system
> seems to work fine.  However, I DO have to change the KPA500 from OPERATE
> to STANDBY when changing frequency because leaving it in the OPERATE
> position may cause the amp to FAULT when I hold the XMIT button on the K3.
>  I believe the tuner is trying to search with high power.  I wonder if
> inserting my key line interrupter would prevent this.  All frequencies had
> been previously memorized by the KAT500.  Thanks.  Roy Morris  W4WFB
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > 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
>

--
*Gary - VK1ZZ
Motorhome Portable
The Shack*
*Elecraft K3
P3 Panadapter
KPA500FT
KAT500FT**
KX3-K
*
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[Richard Ferch]

Roy,

Why are you using the figure on page 6? That is only needed if you have
an external device that controls the key line (the box at the top right
corner in the figure on p.6). If you don't have such a device, the
applicable configuration is the figure on p. 4. With only the K3, KPA500
and KAT500 you do not need to use the RCA cables at all, because PTT
control is already provided on pin 10 of the DB15 cables.

If you do have an external device that needs to have PTT control (the
box in the upper right corner of the figure on p.6), you must use the
key line interrupter in the DB15 line to allow the external device to
control PTT (see note on p.5). Without the key line interrupter, the PTT
will be switched by the DB15 cables without regard for what the external
box requires.

I am using the connections from p.4 (no RCA cables), and it is working
fine, with a couple of caveats.

First, and from your description I suspect this may be your problem:
Although I had used CONFIG:TUN PWR = 25 in the K3 with the KPA500 off in
order to "train" the KAT500 for my antennas on all frequency segments,
once I was finished the initial training process I had to set CONFIG:TUN
PWR back to NOR before using the KPA500. The reason: On some bands, TUN
PWR of 25W is too much drive for the KPA500, so if I held the XMIT
button on the K3, i.e. used TUNE on the K3 with the KPA500 in OPERATE,
the amp would trip on those bands. Make sure the TUN PWR on your K3 is
either set to NOR, or else is set lower than the lowest driving power
you use with your KPA500 on any band, in order to avoid tripping the amp
on bands that don't require high driving power.

The other caveat is to wait for a second or so after switching either
the band or Operate/Standby on the KPA500, to allow everything to
settle. If you change from standby to operate and start transmitting too
quickly, the K3 may not have had time to react to the operate/standby
signal from the KPA500 and change its power level before you start
transmitting.

You also need to have CONFIG:PWR SET on the K3 set to Per Band in order
for power control of the K3 by the KPA500 to work properly.

73,
Rich VE3KI

Roy Morris wrote:

> I have connected the cables as shown on page 6 of the KAT500 Automatic Antenna Tuner Owner's Manual, revision B3, November 20, 2012. I am connecting the K3, KPA500 and KAT500 using the DB15 interface cables and the two RCA (yellow end) cables for the separate key line. This diagram shows the key line interrupter inserted between the DB15 cable and the K3 ACC socket. I have not inserted the key line interrupter, and the system seems to work fine. However, I DO have to change the KPA500 from OPERATE to STANDBY when changing frequency because leaving it in the OPERATE position may cause the amp to FAULT when I hold the XMIT button on the K3. I believe the tuner is trying to search with high power. I wonder if inserting my key line interrupter would prevent this. All frequencies had been previously memorized by the KAT500. Thanks. Roy Morris W4WFB

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[Roy Morris-6]

Thanks to all who responded to my questions regarding tuning the KAT500 when
the KPA500 is in OPERATE mode.  Changing CONFIG: TUN PWR back to NOR and
reducing K3 PWR has helped to keep the amp from tripping to STANDBY from
OPERATE when changing frequency within the same band.  Occasionally the
fault light might come on, but the amp does not trip to STANDBY.  Holding
the K3 TUNE button a second time will cause a click and clears the fault
condition.  The KAT500 is then ready to operate.
I have removed the RCA cables and find they are not necessary in my case.
Thanks again to all for the help.  Roy Morris  W4WFB

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