ELECRAFT
KXAT100
100 Watt AUTOMATIC ANTENNA TUNER
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Revision A, January 6, 2014
Copyright © 2014, Elecraft, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Customer Service and Support ................................................................................................................. 3
Tools Required for Assembly ................................................................................................................... 4
Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage ............................................................................................ 5
Choosing an Anti-Static Mat ............................................................................................................................... 5
Unpacking and Inventory ......................................................................................................................... 6
KXAT100 Core Assembly Box E850594 ........................................................................................................... 6
Assembly Procedure ................................................................................................................................. 7
Appendix A Illustrated Parts List…..................................................................................................... A1
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Elecraft manuals with color images may be downloaded from
www.elecraft.com
.
Introduction
This manual will guide you through the installation of a KXAT100 antenna tuning unit (ATU) into your
assembled KXAT100 amplifier.
The KXAT100 antenna tuning unit (ATU) fits inside the KXPA100 enclosure.
We’re confident that you’ll find the installation an easy process. The KXAT100 consists of a single fullyassembled printed circuit board. Only a few hand tools are needed to assemble your kit (see page Tools
Required for Assembly on page 4).
The KXAT100 printed circuit board is shipped in ESD-safe bubble wrap. Do not handle
it without first taking the ESD precautions listed on page 5.
Should you have difficulty, you'll have our full support via phone and e-mail. In addition, we hope you'll join
our growing and enthusiastic community of owner/builders via the Elecraft reflector.
Complete operating instructions for the KXAT100 can be found in the Owner’s Manual.
Customer Service and Support
Technical Assistance
You can send e-mail to kx3support@elecraft.com and we will respond quickly – typically the same day
Monday through Friday. If you need replacement parts, send an e-mail to parts@elecraft.com
assistance is available from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Pacific time (weekdays only) at 831-763-4211. Please use e-mail
rather than calling when possible since this gives us a written record of the details of your problem and allows us
to handle a larger number of requests each day.
. Telephone
Repair / Alignment Service
If necessary, you may return your Elecraft product to us for repair or alignment. (Note: We offer unlimited email
and phone support, so please try that route first as we can usually help you find the problem quickly.)
IMPORTANT: You must contact Elecraft before mailing your product to obtain authorization for the
return, what address to ship it to and current information on repair fees and turnaround times. (Frequently we
can determine the cause of your problem and save you the trouble of shipping it back to us.) Our repair location
is different from our factory location in Aptos. We will give you the address to ship your kit to at the time of
repair authorization. Packages shipped to Aptos without authorization will incur an additional shipping charge
for reshipment from Aptos to our repair depot
.
3
Elecraft 1-Year Limited Warranty
This warranty is effective as of the date of first consumer purchase (or if shipped from the factory, the date
the product is shipped to the customer). It covers both our kits and fully assembled products. For kits,
before requesting warranty service, you should fully complete the assembly, carefully following all
instructions in the manual.
Who is covered: This warranty covers the original owner of the Elecraft product as disclosed to Elecraft
at the time of order. Elecraft products transferred by the purchaser to a third party, either by sale, gift, or
other method, who is not disclosed to Elecraft at the time of original order, are not covered by this
warranty. If the Elecraft product is being bought indirectly for a third party, the third party’s name and
address must be provided at time of order to ensure warranty coverage.
What is covered: During the first year after date of purchase, Elecraft will replace defective or missing
parts free of charge (post-paid). We will also correct any malfunction to kits or assembled units caused by
defective parts and materials. Purchaser pays inbound shipping to us for warranty repair; we pay shipping
to return the repaired equipment to you by UPS ground service or equivalent to the continental USA and
Canada. For Alaska, Hawaii, and other destinations outside the U.S. and Canada, actual return shipping
cost is paid by the owner.
What is not covered: This warranty does not cover correction of kit assembly errors. It also does not
cover misalignment; repair of damage caused by misuse, negligence, battery leakage or corrosion, or
builder modifications; or any performance malfunctions involving non-Elecraft accessory equipment. The
use of acid-core solder, water-soluble flux solder, or any corrosive or conductive flux or solvent will void
this warranty in its entirety. Also not covered is reimbursement for loss of use, inconvenience, customer
assembly or alignment time, or cost of unauthorized service.
Limitation of incidental or consequential damages: This warranty does not extend to non-Elecraft
equipment or components used in conjunction with our products. Any such repair or replacement is the
responsibility of the customer. Elecraft will not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental or
consequential damages, including but not limited to any loss of business or profits.
Tools Required for Assembly
1. ESD Protection (see Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage, pg 5)
2. #0 and #1 size Phillips screwdrivers. To avoid damaging screws and nuts, a power screwdriver is not
recommended. Always use the screwdriver that best fits the screw in each step.
3. Needle-nose pliers, 4” to 6” is ideal.
4. Soft cloth or clean, soft static dissipating pad to lay cabinet panels on to avoid scratching.
4
Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage
Sensitive components may be damaged by Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) simply by touching them or a circuit
board containing them unless you take specific steps to prevent such damage. Damage may occur with static
discharges far too little for you to notice.
A damaged component may not fail completely at first. Instead, the damage may result in below-normal
performance for an extended period of time before you experience a total failure.
Parts which are especially ESD-sensitive are identified in the parts list and in the assembly procedures.
We strongly recommend you take the following anti-static precautions (listed in order of importance) to ensure
there is no voltage difference between the components and any object that touches them:
Leave ESD-sensitive parts in their anti-static packaging until you install them. The packaging may be a
special plastic bag that allow static charges to flow harmlessly over their surface, or a component’s
leads may be inserted in conductive foam that keep them at the same potential.
Wear a conductive wrist strap with a series 1-megohm resistor that will constantly drain off any static
charge that accumulates on your body. If you do not have a wrist strap, touch a ground briefly before
touching any sensitive parts to discharge your body. Do this frequently while you are working. You can
collect a destructive static charge on your body just sitting at the work bench.
WARNING
DO NOT attach a ground directly to yourself without a current-limiting resistor as this poses a
serious shock hazard. A wrist strap must include a 1-megohm resistor to limit the current flow. If
you choose to touch an unpainted, metal ground to discharge yourself, do it only when you are
not touching live circuits with any part of your body.
Use a grounded anti-static mat on your work bench (see below).
If you pick up a pc (printed circuit) board that was not placed on an anti-static mat or in an anti-static
package, first touch a ground plane connection on the board such as a connector shell or mounting
point.
If you use a soldering iron to work on a circuit board, be sure your iron has an ESD-safe grounded tip
tied to the same common ground used by your mat and wrist strap.
Choosing an Anti-Static Mat
An anti-static mat must bleed off any charge that comes in contact with it at a rate slow enough to avoid a shock
or short circuit hazard but fast enough to ensure dangerous charges cannot accumulate. Typically, a mat will
have a resistance of up to 1 Gigaohm (10
recommend that you choose an anti-static mat that comes with published resistance specifications and clean it as
recommended by the manufacturer. Testing has shown that many inexpensive mats that do not specify their
resistance have resistance values much too high to provide adequate protection, even after they were cleaned
and treated with special anti-static mat solutions.
Suitable anti-static table mats are available from many sources including:
U-line (Model 12743 specified at 10
Desco (Model 66164, specified at 10
3M
TM
Portable Service Kit (Model 8505 or 8507, specified at 106 to 109 ohms)
9
ohms). Testing a mat requires specialized equipment, so we
7
ohms)
6
to 108 ohms)
5
Unpacking and Inventory
CAUTION
Do not handle the circuit board or touch components and boards inside the KXPA100
without anti-static protection! Doing so may damage sensitive components. See Preventing
Electrostatic Discharge Damage on page 5 for important information.
Before starting, check to be sure that you have the parts listed below.
KXAT100 Core Assembly Box E850594
ILLUSTRATION DESCRIPTION QTY.
KXPA100 ATU PCB Assy 1 E850572
ELECRAFT
PART NO.
KXPA100 Front Panel for ATU 1 E850596
KXPA100 SO239 TMP Cable 4” Envelope E850584
ILLUSTRATION DESCRIPTION QTY.
SO259 Connector with 4” (10.2 cm)
cable and TMP connector
Screw, Pan Head, Black 4-40,
5/16” (7.9 mm)
Nut, 4-40 with captive star washer 4 E700191
(Continued on next page)
ELECRAFT
PART NO.
1 E850600
4 E700294
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KXAT100 Hardware Envelope E850601
ILLUSTRATION DESCRIPTION QTY.
M-F Standoff, 4-40 3/4" (1.9 cm) 4 E700293
Switch Cap 2 E980250
Lock Washer, Split Ring, #4 4 E700010
ELECRAFT
PART NO.
Assembly Procedure
IMPORTANT ASSEMBLY INFORMATION
Check off the steps as you finish each one. Skipping a step is easy to do without taking a moment to be
certain that you completed the previous step. This can result in serious damage to your KXPA100 or, at a
minimum, having to disassemble it to correct the mistake.
Start all the screws in an assembly before tightening. When mounting parts with multiple screws or
adjacent parts that fit together, start all the screws in the threads before tightening any of them. If you find that
a screw is binding, loosen the other screws to free it, and then re-tighten.
Ensure all screws are tight but do not over-tighten. Do not attempt to turn screws and nuts beyond the
point at which the lock washer is compressed. Screws without lock washers should be tightened only until you
feel significant resistance to further turning. Do not attempt to turn screws or nuts 1/4 turn beyond “tight”.
Threads can be easily stripped if too much force is applied when tightening screws. Use the correct size
hand tool and apply only moderate torque. Do not use a power screwdriver!
Do not adjust the turns on any toroids. The position of the turns on the cores of many toroids has been
adjusted at the factory to produce exactly the inductance needed for the circuit to work properly. Any attempt
to adjust their position or to make a coil look “nicer” may seriously degrade circuit performance.
Remember your ESD protection. Failure to observe ESD precautions may result in your KXPA100 not
operating at all, or operating but not meeting normal factory performance specifications due to damaged
components. See Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage on
pg 5.
Handle Printed Circuit (PC) Boards by their Edges. Avoid unnecessary mechanical stress on any pc
board components by careless handling.
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Disconnect all cables from your KXPA100 and place it upside down, resting on the heat sink fins, on your
work table.
All of the screws that you will remove are identical and interchangeable. Also, they are
the same length as the screws you got with the KXAT100. Take care to save all of them and
the other hardware you remove to reassemble the amplifier.
Remove the four corner feet. Each foot is held in place with six screws, spacers and lock washers.
Remove three screws, spacers and lock washers on the side as shown in Figure 1and slide the foot off of
the other three screws, spacers and lock washers at the end panel.
Figure 1. Removing the Feet.
Remove the six screws, lock washers and spacers to free the front panel and lift it off. Take care not to lose
the lock washers or spacers on each screw. Set the panel aside. It will be replaced with a new front panel later.
Figure 2. Removing the Front Panel.
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On the rear panel, remove the nut holding the RS232 (PC) connector as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Removing the RS232 Connector Nut.
Remove the six screws, lock washers and spacers on the rear panel as shown in Figure 4. The rear panel
will be held in place by the coaxial cables to the SO-239 connectors.
Figure 4. Removing he Rear Panel.
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Carefully unplug the coaxial connectors as shown in Figure 5. The TMP connectors are a friction fit and
will pull straight up. Use your needle nose pliers to grip the metal connectors if space is too tight to reach them
with your fingers.
Figure 5. Unplugging the TMP Connectors.
Remove the four screws from each side of the bottom U-cover as shown in Figure 6 and lift it straight up
off of the KXPA100.
Figure 6. Removing the Bottom Cover
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The KXPA100 circuits are contained on two pc boards: the power amplifier (PA) module mounted on the
heat sink and the low pass filter (LPF) module mounted on standoffs above the PA module. Remove the four
screws and lock washers holding the LPF module to the standoffs and replace them with standoffs and lock
washers as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Installing Standoffs for the ATU Module.
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Taking ESD precautions, remove the KXAT100 ATU module pc board from its packaging. Place it on the
standoffs you just installed so that the two plugs on the ATU module mate with their corresponding sockets on
the LPF module as shown in Figure 8. Be sure that both connectors are properly aligned so all of their pins
engage.
Figure 8. Mating the ATU Module with the LPF Module.
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Secure the ATU module pc board to the four standoffs using the screws and lock washers you removed
earlier as shown in Figure 13. Note that there is a hole near the center of the ATU module that is not used.
Figure 9. Securing the ATU Module to the Standoffs.
Press the black switch caps on the MODE and TUNE switches next to the LEDs on the ATU module (see
Figure 10). Do not press hard. They are a simple friction fit.
Figure 10. Installing Switch Caps on ATU Module.
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On the rear panel that you removed earlier, remove the hole plug from the ANT 2 opening. The plug has
small parts that latch it against the inside surface of the rear panel. Squeeze them so they will slip through the
opening to release the plug.
Locate the envelope containing the SO-239 connector with a 4” (10.2 cm) and install it in the ANT 2
opening on the rear panel as shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11. Installing the
ANT 2 Connector in the Rear Panel.
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Connect the cables with the TMP connectors on the rear panel to the LPF and ATU module pc boards as
shown in Figure 12.
CAUTION
Failure to properly connect the cables may result in damage to your KXPA100.
Figure 12. Connecting Rear Panel Cables to the LPF and ATU PC Boards.
Pass the small jack through the hole marked RS232 (PC) on the rear panel and secure it with the hex nut
your removed earlier (see Figure 13).
Figure 13. Mounting the RS232 Connector in the Rear Panel.
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CAUTION
When replacing the bottom U-cover in the next step, be sure it is oriented with the lettering
toward the rear panel as shown in Figure 6. Reversing the orientation will cause the
threaded bushings for the handle to strike the circuit boards.
Replace the bottom U-cover so the end with the label nearest the rear panel (the correct orientation is
shown in Figure 6).
Secure the bottom cover with eight screws, four on each side as shown in Figure 6. Do not use lock
washers under these screws.
Position the rear panel so the Control, 13.8 VDC, PA Key connectors and the 3 dB ATTEN switch pass
through the openings in the panel as shown in Figure 14. Tuck the cables to the SO-239 connectors in the space
between the circuit board and the cover as needed. Secure the panel with six screws, spacers and lock washers as
shown.
Figure 14. Mounting the Rear Panel.
Unwrap the new front panel. The inside surface should be clean bare metal. It was taped to avoid overspray
during painting. Remove any tape still present. If a large area is taped, you can break it away near one corner
using a blunt tool that fits through a screw hole as shown in Figure 15 and then peel it off of the panel.
Figure 15. Removing Tape from the Front Panel.
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Position the front panel so the LEDs, OFF/ON switch, TUNE and MODE buttons fit through the openings.
Secure it with screws, lock washers and spacers that you removed from the original front panel. (see Figure 16).
Start securing the front panel with screws, lock washers and spacers in the opposite
corners of the front panel and check to ensure the TUNE and MODE switches move freely.
They only move a small amount when pressed but you should feel a definite movement. If
necessary, loosen the hardware at one corner and adjust the front panel position slightly.
When you are satisfied, install the remaining screws, lock washers and spacers. If you failed
to install the lock washers under each standoff as shown in Figure 7 on page 11, the two
rows of LEDs will be too close together to fit in the openings. In that case you must
disassemble the unit and install the lock washers as shown in Figure 7 on page 11.
Figure 16. Installing the New Front Panel.
Replace the corner feet. Press each foot over the three screws, spacers and lock washers on the end panel,
and then replace the three screws, spacers and lock washers through the remaining holes into the side panel (see
Figure 1on page 8).
That completes the installation of the KXAT100 Antenna Tuner module in your KXAT100
Amplifier. Complete operating instructions are included in your KXPA100 Owner’s manual.
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