K2 Antenna Tolerance

[Tom Field]

I've just finished my K2 bare bones, and would like to get on the air. What
SWR will the finals tolerate without harm? I'm using a ground mounted trap
vertical

Tom
KI6NRD
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Tom,

Although unspecified, the bare-bones K2 will likely be OK working into a
1.5 SWR.

However, the power control mechanism may suffer a bit.  The basic K2
measures the RF voltage on the output and the MCU computes the power out
assuming that the load is 50 ohms resistive, so with *any* SWR, that
calculation may be in error.
If you find the power output of the K2 is not close to that which was
requested by the power knob, that is the most likely reason. You may
experience HiCur warnings (and power in excess of the requested value)
if the antenna impedance is low, or if the impedance is higher then 50
ohms, the power output will be lower than requested.

Adding the KAT2 or KPA100 or the KAT100 will cure that dependency
because those options have real wattmeters that once calibrated tell the
MCU the actual power output.

A tuner may be in order unless you plan to add one or more of the K2
options that *cure* this behavior.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/4/2013 5:39 PM, Tom Field wrote:

> I've just finished my K2 bare bones, and would like to get on the air. What
> SWR will the finals tolerate without harm? I'm using a ground mounted trap
> vertical
>
> Tom
> KI6NRD
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
>

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[Ingo Meyer, DK3RED-2]

Hello Tom,

> I've just finished my K2 bare bones, and would like to get on the air. What
> SWR will the finals tolerate without harm? I'm using a ground mounted trap
> vertical

I have used my old K2 (#01118, modified for 5 watts output) also without an antenna, but
without deletions of the finals, so the SWR was infinite. But if you use the upper output
limit of your K2 this "operation mode" could be deadly.
--
73/72 de Ingo, DK3RED - Don't forget: the fun is the power!
www.qrp4fun.de - [hidden email]
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