K2 Receiver Pre-Alignment problems

[Doug Howse]

I have finished building my K2 and am going through alignment and Tests Part III.  I do not have my dummy load yet so I skipped the 40 Meter transmitter alignment and went right to the Receiver Pre-alignment.  I put together the Elecraft N-Gen and ran through the pre-alignment procedure.
   
  When I switch to 20M then 30M and then 20M again to adjust signal strength I get no change to the signal strength.  I can hear the N-gen signal over the speaker but I don't get any indication on the signal strength meter.  80M, 15M, 17M, 10M and 12M all work fine with signal strength adjustments.  It's just 20M and 30M that don't give me anything.  What am I doing wrong?
   
  I just tried a receiver alignment on 40M and it does the same thing that 20M and 30M does.
   
  Go easy on me.  I've always been a digital guy.
   
  Doug
  WF4DJH
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[Don Wilhelm-3]

Doug,

With the N-gen:
If you have any kind of a peak at all, that may be good enough - if you
do not find any kind of a peak, that is an indication of a problem.

I suggest that you reserve judgment until you can get a dummy load.
Actually, if you have anything at all the is close to a 50 ohm dummy
load, you can use that to do the bandpass filter alignment - just take
the K2 indicated power with a 'grain of salt' if your dummy load is not
a good 50 ohm resistive load - but you are tuning for a peak, and not an
absolute power level, the peak will still be apparent even though the
dummy load may not be the best.

The transmit peaking will show you the proper peak more easily than the
receiving peak - the initial peak during receive is only to get the
adjustment 'into the ballpark'.

Be certain to follow the band order during the adjustment - you must
align 30 meters before 20, 15 meters before 17m, and 10 meters before
12m - in other words, adjust the inductors first and then adjust the
trimmer capacitors.

73,
Don W3FPR

Doug Howse wrote:
> I have finished building my K2 and am going through alignment and Tests Part III.  I do not have my dummy load yet so I skipped the 40 Meter transmitter alignment and went right to the Receiver Pre-alignment.  I put together the Elecraft N-Gen and ran through the pre-alignment procedure.
>    
>   When I switch to 20M then 30M and then 20M again to adjust signal strength I get no change to the signal strength.  I can hear the N-gen signal over the speaker but I don't get any indication on the signal strength meter.  80M, 15M, 17M, 10M and 12M all work fine with signal strength adjustments.  It's just 20M and 30M that don't give me anything.  What am I doing wrong?
>    
>   I just tried a receiver alignment on 40M and it does the same thing that 20M and 30M does.
>    
>   Go easy on me.  I've always been a digital guy.
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