Kat500 first impressions

[ab2tc]

Hi all,

I received the KAT500 yesterday and immediately installed it in my shack to replace an MFJ switch and an MFJ manual tuner. Three ports is just ideal for my 2 antenna cables and the dummy load. My ultimate goal is to have one of these mounted remotely where my antennas come down to a central point in the back yard where I currently have an MFJ autotuner and a remote switch. The KAT500 is a beauty and seems to be doing every thing we expect of it. It's going to stay where it is so I have a 2nd one on order to go to the remote location next spring. In the meantime I am using the shack installation to investigate the feasibility of that remote operation.

I have had it communicate with the utility on the PC using both the USB cable and the RS232 cable. Currently I have it communicating using the RS232 cable, a B&B serial Ethernet server and 100+ feet of CAT6 cable. So that part of the feasibility study is a resounding "yes, I can have it that far away". I haven't investigated what needs to be done to get the power to it. My current thinking is to run something like 24-30V AC out there with a rectifier/regulator to provide the 12-14V DC needed by the tuner. Initially I might just run a 110V extention cord and a remote power supply.  I doubt the current 14V supply over 100' speaker wire will be sufficient (it works for the MFJ tuner). As for weather protection, I can't see why the KAT500 shouldn't survive an environment where an MFJ indoor tuner anjd switch have for more than 4 years.

AB2TC - Knut

[ab2tc]

Hi again,

But there are bugs. Here is the first one I can reproduce 100%.

The setup is K3 and KAT500 only The aux cable is *not* connected and the the utility is *not* running although the serial cable is connected. This is all to keep things simple.

Steps to reproduce:
Select KAT500 mode to bypass and antenna to 3 (which in my case is my dummy load).
Turn tuner off with a HOLD to the mode button.
Turn tuner back on. It comes back on antenna 1 which doesn't seem quite right, but is no big deal.
Change the antenna back to 3.
Switch band on the K3.
Hold XMIT on the K3 to generate a tuning carrier (mine is now 20W as recommended for the KAT500).
The tuner switches to antenna 1. This is 100% repeatable. This is bad.

AB2TC - Knut

[Iain MacDonnell - N6ML-2]

On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 5:19 PM, ab2tc <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi again,
>
> But there are bugs. Here is the first one I can reproduce 100%.
>
> The setup is K3 and KAT500 only The aux cable is *not* connected and the the
> utility is *not* running although the serial cable is connected. This is all
> to keep things simple.
>
> Steps to reproduce:
> Select KAT500 mode to bypass and antenna to 3 (which in my case is my dummy
> load).
> Turn tuner off with a HOLD to the mode button.
> Turn tuner back on. It comes back on antenna 1 which doesn't seem quite
> right, but is no big deal.
> Change the antenna back to 3.
> Switch band on the K3.
> Hold XMIT on the K3 to generate a tuning carrier (mine is now 20W as
> recommended for the KAT500).
> The tuner switches to antenna 1. This is 100% repeatable. This is bad.

The KAT500 will switch to your choice of antenna port after a band
change - you can choose 1, 2, 3 or last used (on that band).

73,

    ~iain / N6ML
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[Phil Salas]

“...But there are bugs. Here is the first one I can reproduce 100%....”

You need to go into the Utility and set up the preferred antenna (or last used) for each band.
Phil – AD5X
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[ab2tc]

Hi,

Thanks, that seems to fix that problem.

Knut - AB2TC

Phil&Debbie wrote

“...But there are bugs. Here is the first one I can reproduce 100%....”

You need to go into the Utility and set up the preferred antenna (or last used) for each band.
Phil – AD5X
<snip>