CW Sweepstakes Contest

[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Craig,

Hoping to play the full period.

Planning on operating QRP with K2 #3311 (KAT2), 4
element SteppIr @ about 50', 1/4 wave vertical on 80M,
sloper on 40M and will give 160 a try as well. 40 is
my weak band antenna-wise... If time allows I may get
a really scrunched up 80M half square in the trees, we
shall see

QRP WAS would be nice ;o) I'll settle for doubling
last year's QSO count tho'...

Best of luck and hope to log you.

73,

Julius
n2wn
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[John Anderson AF9T]

Doing a small expedition to North Dakota for cw sweepstakes.
K2/100 to 88ft doublet and KJ7U screwdriver.
Callsign will be K0NDX.
73, John AF9T


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[Craig Smith]

<> Doing a small expedition to North Dakota for cw sweepstakes.

Good deal - we need lots of ND stations!   Thanks, John!!

          ... Craig   AC0DS


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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Fellow Elecrafters

I've discussed this phenomenon with the technical support people at
Elecraft, and so far they have no explanation for the following.

I have a K2 powered by an Astron 35 amp power supply. All power
connections and all leads coming out of the K2 are heavily shielded
for RF, and I have a good RF ground.

I recently added a RigRunner DC power strip between the Power Supply
and the K2.

The RigRunner has three LEDs, Red for overvoltage, Green for normal
voltage, Yellow for undervoltage.

Since I'm well within nominal voltage, the green light always shows.

The problem is that when I'm in QRP mode running CW, the green led
gets BRIGHTER in key down than key up. It does not do this in QRO
mode. It does it on various bands and at various VFO frequencies with
a given band, and it does it for both real antennas and a dummy load.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

73,

Steve Kercel
AA4AK


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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Fellow Elecrafters:

I talked to the West Mountain technical person. He says this
phenomenon is an unintended but inherent feature of the logic
circuitry that drives the LED. It is not an indication that anything
is wrong with either the K2 or the RigRunner.

73,

Steve
AA4AK

At 03:31 PM 11/6/2006, Stephen W. Kercel wrote:

>Fellow Elecrafters
>
>I've discussed this phenomenon with the technical support people at
>Elecraft, and so far they have no explanation for the following.
>
>I have a K2 powered by an Astron 35 amp power supply. All power
>connections and all leads coming out of the K2 are heavily shielded
>for RF, and I have a good RF ground.
>
>I recently added a RigRunner DC power strip between the Power Supply
>and the K2.
>
>The RigRunner has three LEDs, Red for overvoltage, Green for normal
>voltage, Yellow for undervoltage.
>
>Since I'm well within nominal voltage, the green light always shows.
>
>The problem is that when I'm in QRP mode running CW, the green led
>gets BRIGHTER in key down than key up. It does not do this in QRO
>mode. It does it on various bands and at various VFO frequencies
>with a given band, and it does it for both real antennas and a dummy load.
>
>Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
>
>73,
>
>Steve Kercel
>AA4AK
>
>
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[Rajiv Dewan, N2RD]

I suspect the regulation in the Astron.  Can you put a DVM on that,  
preferably one with an real meter, to detect a voltage change?
Raj


--
Rajiv Dewan, N2RD
[hidden email]
FN13fc

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On Nov 6, 2006, at 3:31 PM, Stephen W. Kercel wrote:

> Fellow Elecrafters
>
> I've discussed this phenomenon with the technical support people at  
> Elecraft, and so far they have no explanation for the following.
>
> I have a K2 powered by an Astron 35 amp power supply. All power  
> connections and all leads coming out of the K2 are heavily shielded  
> for RF, and I have a good RF ground.
>
> I recently added a RigRunner DC power strip between the Power  
> Supply and the K2.
>
> The RigRunner has three LEDs, Red for overvoltage, Green for normal  
> voltage, Yellow for undervoltage.
>
> Since I'm well within nominal voltage, the green light always shows.
>
> The problem is that when I'm in QRP mode running CW, the green led  
> gets BRIGHTER in key down than key up. It does not do this in QRO  
> mode. It does it on various bands and at various VFO frequencies  
> with a given band, and it does it for both real antennas and a  
> dummy load.
>
> Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
>
> 73,
>
> Steve Kercel
> AA4AK
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
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> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
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[Darwin, Keith]

QRP mode only?  Gets brighter on TX?  Yep I know what that is.  It's the
Mojo.  It lights up everything in it's field including the eyes of the
operator.

You did say "any thoughts on this would be appreciated".  LOL.

- Keith N1AS (no one as smart) -
- K2 5411 -


-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen W. Kercel

The problem is that when I'm in QRP mode running CW, the green led gets
BRIGHTER in key down than key up.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Keith:

Indeed, I do appreciate the thought.

73,

Steve
AA4AK

At 04:22 PM 11/6/2006, Darwin, Keith wrote:

>QRP mode only?  Gets brighter on TX?  Yep I know what that is.  It's the
>Mojo.  It lights up everything in it's field including the eyes of the
>operator.
>
>You did say "any thoughts on this would be appreciated".  LOL.
>
>- Keith N1AS (no one as smart) -
>- K2 5411 -
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Stephen W. Kercel
>
>The problem is that when I'm in QRP mode running CW, the green led gets
>BRIGHTER in key down than key up.
>
>Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
>_______________________________________________
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>
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[Stuart Rohre]

The LED is simply a diode that glows.  It is entirely possible this LED has
enough response at RF frequencies, that it is responding to your RF keying
waveform, as well as glowing with the steady DC of the supply.  You might
try a clamp on ferrite choke between the Rig Runner and the rig.  You may
have to slide it along the cable to find the point of optimum suppression.
At that point, use cable ties to position the permanent installation of the
clamp on choke.

Stuart
K5KVH


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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Stuart:

What you describe is exactly the first thing that occurred to me. The
same remedy occurred to me. I put 6 (each one only gives you about 3
dB attenuation)) MFJ-701 chokes on the line between the RigRunner and
the K2. It made absolutely no difference.

As I said in a prior post, the West Mountain guy says this phenomenon
of the LED going brighter on key down is a quirk of the logic circuit
that they use to drive the LED.

73,

Steve
AA4AK



At 05:39 PM 11/6/2006, Stuart Rohre wrote:

>The LED is simply a diode that glows.  It is entirely possible this LED has
>enough response at RF frequencies, that it is responding to your RF keying
>waveform, as well as glowing with the steady DC of the supply.  You might
>try a clamp on ferrite choke between the Rig Runner and the rig.  You may
>have to slide it along the cable to find the point of optimum suppression.
>At that point, use cable ties to position the permanent installation of the
>clamp on choke.
>
>Stuart
>K5KVH

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