Locking Antenna Tuner in ByPass on Flex 6600M ?

Al Dewey

With my Flex 6600M, I sometimes turn on my KPA500 amp with the KAT 500 Antenna Tuner. When doing so, I want my 6600M Antenna Tuner in Bypass so I can use the KAT500 tuner including the settings it saves for each band.  I know I can put the Flex 6600M in Bypass by just holding the ATU down for a second or two until the button goes white.  That works fine.  The problem is that , every time I change bands , the ATU button on the Flex goes green again and I have to press it again to put it back in Bypass. 

Ideally, I would like to do this by Slice so that if I switch to another slice , the ATU is not bypassed on that slice.  This is because I do not have an external amp / antenna tuner on the second slice so want to use the Flex ATU on that slice.

I thought I might be able to do with profile some way but it appears that ATU Bypass status is not something I can save in a profile.

With SO2R operation during a contest, I change bands and slices a lot.  Worrying about whether the ATU button is set correctly is a real problem for me.

Is it possible to do what I want to do?

73,

AL, K0AD

KD0RC

Hi Al, I don't have a Flex ATU, but I do have the KPA500/KAT500 combo. The KAT500 works great with or without the amp so it might be easiest to just remove the Flex ATU, leaving all tuning up to the KAT500. I also use DDUtil to help manage exciter power by band. If you don't have that, you might want to take a look at it. I have the KAT500 plugged in to the computer, not the Flex. DDUtil takes care of passing frequency info to the tuner so that it keeps up with the radio. 73, Len, KD0RC

Bill -VA3WTB

AL, is your tuner tuning without you asking it to tune? or without doing anything? Going out of stand by and just start tuning by itself? If it is, you need to clear the tune memories. And just leave it stand bye after that.

Al Dewey

Bill, thank you so much.  That seems to do the trick for me.  I found where to clear the tune memories in SmartSDR.  Is there a way to clear tune memories from the panel on the 6600M?  I very rarely use the SmartSDR software especially in contests.  Just curious.  I can live with the SmartSDR solution but it would be slick if I could do this some way from the 6600M panel.

73,

Al, K0AD

Bill -VA3WTB

Glad it helps, now it won't tune unless you make it tune. I don't have the M model radio, but I am sure you can, I'm just not sure how you do it. It should say in the manual.

Neil Friedman

From the 6600M online manual:

To clear the ATU memories, tap and hold the ATU MEM button until the Clear ATU Memories option appears, as shown below.  Tap the option to clear the memories.
 

Al Dewey

Bill - Yep found it on the TX Menu on the 6600M front Panel.  Thanks again.  All is well for now.

73,

Al, K0AD

bahillen

Al I run the internal 6600 tuner into my amp. It there a problem with that. Bill

Al Dewey

Although some will debate this, I have always believed the only antenna tuner should be the one between the final RF output device (either the radio or the amplifier) and the antenna.  In my case, I have a KAT500 antenna tuner between my KPA500 and the antennas.  

There is a warning in bold letters in the KAT500 manual that says "IF YOUR TRANSCEIVER OR AMPLIFIER HAS A BUILT IN ATU, be sure it is in bypass before attempting to use the KAT500.

Having said that, if I am running the 6600M barefoot (i.e. with the KPA500 off), I sometimes put the KAT500 in Bypass mode, and use the internal 6600M tuner.

73,

Al, K0AD

Bob Needleman

Regardless of what xcvr you're running - always turn off the rig's built in ATU if you are running an amp. The ATU should be located downstream from the amplifier so as to provide the best impedance match to the amp. 
Bob K3AC

Keith WA0BEU

Great discussions and comments!