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PR6 6 meter antenna connections

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Gil WA5YKK

PR6 6 meter antenna connections

For the six meter PR6 owners and users;

I've followed the factory guides on the PR6, no problems with
installing it, but I'm totally befuddled about where the 6 meter antenna
itself is connected! All the text does is refer to different K3
connections, in terms that are fuzzy to me at best, bearing in mind that
my brain is still "fuzzed over" from a case of the flu, and a lot of
items aren't making sense right now anyhow.
Would the experts in the group kindly give me an explanation of what
cable goes where, to make this system work? The Elecraft tech support
goes into a vernacular which makes little to no sense to a late '50s era
beginner, "before logic gates and bypass modes".
Sorry for sounding like a babe in the woods, but I have almost no
time for thinking things through, too many work items to accomplish with
a spine that's telling me I'm nearly headed for a wheelchair!

Thanks for any input that clears the clouds.
73's
Gil WA5YKK
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K6LMP

Re: PR6 6 meter antenna connections

Don't feel alone, Gil.

I went through the same head-scratching several months ago, when I bought my PR6.

connection is actually quite simple.

Your 6 m antenna connects to the HF antenna jack on the back of the rig ( ANT-1.)

Connect the 6 m preamp to the "receive only" bnc jacks on the transverter interface. connect 12 V power to the preamp using the supplied RCA plug that goes into the auxiliary 12 RCA-style 12 V jack on the back of the rig, enter connects to the preamp with the small 3-pin connector attached with red and black wires to the RCA plug. Make sure it is oriented properly; the red wire goes toward the rig and the white wire away from it. The plug is not polarized, so it is possible to put it in backwards. No harm if you do, but the preamp won't work.

You have one additional setup question to deal with. Do you want to preamp to be powered whenever the rig is on, or only when the rig is tuned to the 6 m band? If "always on" is your preference, your setup is done. If you want the preamp to be powered only when the rig is tuned to 6 m, then you need to remove the jumper from J2 (see instruction manual), and connect the supplied db-15 connector with one white wire coming out of it to the AUX
DB-15 jack on the back of the rig. Go into the config menu and set DIGOUT1 to "on" with the rig tuned to 6 m, and to make sure that DIGOUT1 is set to "off" for all other bands. That configuration will power up the preamp when you switch the rig to 6 m.

To engage the preamp, simply tune your rig to the 6 m band and press the RX ANT button on the front of the rig, (near the power button). When you do that, the K3 will automatically route the receive signal to the RX ANT module, through the 6 m preamp, and back to the front to end of the K3 receiver. When you transmit, the rig will automatically bypasses the receive antenna circuitry, and sends the transmit signal directly out through the ANT-1 connector.

For normal use on 6 m, you don't connect anything to the "outboard" pair of bnc jacks on the preamp. those basically exist to provide the receive only antenna functionality for every band other than 6 m, since the preamp is bypassed when the preamp is powered off. in this mode, a receive only signal goes directly from the "outboard" pair of BNC jacks to the "inboard" pair that are connected to the rig itself.

When you first hook this thing up, it's natural to assume that the 6 m antenna ought to connect to the 6 m preamp, but it doesn't. The 6 m received signal simply takes a little detour from the main antenna input jack through the preamp, and then back into the receiver. It's like stopping at Starbucks for an espresso to give yourself a boost before you go on a long trip (through the receiver).

Hope this helps.

Lew k6lmp

> For the six meter PR6 owners and users;
>
> I've followed the factory guides on the PR6, no problems with
> installing it, but I'm totally befuddled about where the 6 meter antenna
> itself is connected! All the text does is refer to different K3
> connections, in terms that are fuzzy to me at best, bearing in mind that
> my brain is still "fuzzed over" from a case of the flu, and a lot of
> items aren't making sense right now anyhow.
> Would the experts in the group kindly give me an explanation of what
> cable goes where, to make this system work? The Elecraft tech support
> goes into a vernacular which makes little to no sense to a late '50s era
> beginner, "before logic gates and bypass modes".
> Sorry for sounding like a babe in the woods, but I have almost no
> time for thinking things through, too many work items to accomplish with
> a spine that's telling me I'm nearly headed for a wheelchair!
>

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Elliott Lawrence-3

Re: PR6 6 meter antenna connections

Or it you have a dedicated 6M antenna and the ATU....connect it to Ant-2 and
make sure that ant position is selected for 6M!
73
Elliott WA6TLA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lew Phelps K6LMP" <[hidden email]>
To: "Elecraft" <[hidden email]>
Cc: "Gil WA5YKK" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PR6 6 meter antenna connections

> Don't feel alone, Gil.
>
> I went through the same head-scratching several months ago, when I bought
> my PR6.
>
> connection is actually quite simple.
>
> Your 6 m antenna connects to the HF antenna jack on the back of the rig
> ( ANT-1.)
>
> Connect the 6 m preamp to the "receive only" bnc jacks on the transverter
> interface. connect 12 V power to the preamp using the supplied RCA plug
> that goes into the auxiliary 12 RCA-style 12 V jack on the back of the
> rig, enter connects to the preamp with the small 3-pin connector attached
> with red and black wires to the RCA plug. Make sure it is oriented
> properly; the red wire goes toward the rig and the white wire away from
> it. The plug is not polarized, so it is possible to put it in backwards.
> No harm if you do, but the preamp won't work.
>
> You have one additional setup question to deal with. Do you want to preamp
> to be powered whenever the rig is on, or only when the rig is tuned to the
> 6 m band? If "always on" is your preference, your setup is done. If you
> want the preamp to be powered only when the rig is tuned to 6 m, then you
> need to remove the jumper from J2 (see instruction manual), and connect
> the supplied db-15 connector with one white wire coming out of it to the
> AUX
> DB-15 jack on the back of the rig. Go into the config menu and set
> DIGOUT1 to "on" with the rig tuned to 6 m, and to make sure that DIGOUT1
> is set to "off" for all other bands. That configuration will power up the
> preamp when you switch the rig to 6 m.
>
> To engage the preamp, simply tune your rig to the 6 m band and press the
> RX ANT button on the front of the rig, (near the power button). When you
> do that, the K3 will automatically route the receive signal to the RX ANT
> module, through the 6 m preamp, and back to the front to end of the K3
> receiver. When you transmit, the rig will automatically bypasses the
> receive antenna circuitry, and sends the transmit signal directly out
> through the ANT-1 connector.
>
> For normal use on 6 m, you don't connect anything to the "outboard" pair
> of bnc jacks on the preamp. those basically exist to provide the receive
> only antenna functionality for every band other than 6 m, since the
> preamp is bypassed when the preamp is powered off. in this mode, a
> receive only signal goes directly from the "outboard" pair of BNC jacks to
> the "inboard" pair that are connected to the rig itself.
>
> When you first hook this thing up, it's natural to assume that the 6 m
> antenna ought to connect to the 6 m preamp, but it doesn't. The 6 m
> received signal simply takes a little detour from the main antenna input
> jack through the preamp, and then back into the receiver. It's like
> stopping at Starbucks for an espresso to give yourself a boost before you
> go on a long trip (through the receiver).
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Lew k6lmp
>
>
>> For the six meter PR6 owners and users;
>>
>> I've followed the factory guides on the PR6, no problems with
>> installing it, but I'm totally befuddled about where the 6 meter antenna
>> itself is connected! All the text does is refer to different K3
>> connections, in terms that are fuzzy to me at best, bearing in mind that
>> my brain is still "fuzzed over" from a case of the flu, and a lot of
>> items aren't making sense right now anyhow.
>> Would the experts in the group kindly give me an explanation of what
>> cable goes where, to make this system work? The Elecraft tech support
>> goes into a vernacular which makes little to no sense to a late '50s era
>> beginner, "before logic gates and bypass modes".
>> Sorry for sounding like a babe in the woods, but I have almost no
>> time for thinking things through, too many work items to accomplish with
>> a spine that's telling me I'm nearly headed for a wheelchair!
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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