K2 SN389 No Fwd Power

[Ron Hauser]

Greetings Elecrafters.  I have acquired a used K2, SN389, with the SSB
option and internal battery pack.  It is my first experience with the K2,
and I have to say I am quite impressed with this little radio.  I've been
using it nightly for a few weeks to clunk out some slow CW, and have been
enjoying it very much.  Made my first really-DX contacts, Tonga and New
Zealand on a couple of good 20m openings!

However, I'm sure that this used radio has had a lot of miles put on it,
what with the low serial number.  So I'm not too surprised to find some
issues.  Thus beginneth my request for help.  I was gone over the holiday
and so I left the radio disconnected from the antenna and power.  Yesterday
I returned from the holiday, connected the antenna, and started seeking
contacts.  My attic antennas are connected to an MFJ-949E versatuner, which
has a power meter.  I normally see 10-12 W forward power and <1w reflected
on my 20m dipole.  For some reason, I suddenly have less than 1W now.  This
is the case on all bands, and differing antennas.

I checked cables, swapped cables, tried the radio on the dummy load in the
versatuner, and tested it on different power output settings from 1w to 15w.
Since I didn't build this radio, I'm madly reading over the manual to try to
figure out where there are fuses or calibration steps, but I thought I'd
also post this question to the list.  Any comments would be welcome.


Thanks
--Ron
KC0TLN

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[Don Wilhelm-3]

Ron,

What is your power supply voltage?  If it is from a good stiff 13.8 volt
supply, you may have a problem, but if you are operating from the internal
battery, the problem may just be that the battery has become discharged -
with the internal battery, you should power the K2 from a 14.1 to 14.3 volt
power supply to keep the battery adequately charged.

If the K2 was working fine and just quit, look for the source of the
failure - don't do any alignment until you find out what the problem may
be - the transmit signal tracing part of the 'Troubleshooting' section of
the manual will help.  Once you get it operating again, you can do the
alignment steps.  If you want an alignment 'document', you can find it on my
website http://w3fpr.qrpradio.com or at either of the mirrors
http://home.earthlink.net or www.qsl.net/w3fpr.  That alignment document is
an extract from the K2 manual Rev E, but does not differ from the alignment
steps from the Rev F (latest) manual.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> Greetings Elecrafters.  I have acquired a used K2, SN389, with the SSB
> option and internal battery pack.  It is my first experience with the K2,
> and I have to say I am quite impressed with this little radio.  I've been
> using it nightly for a few weeks to clunk out some slow CW, and have been
> enjoying it very much.  Made my first really-DX contacts, Tonga and New
> Zealand on a couple of good 20m openings!
>
> However, I'm sure that this used radio has had a lot of miles put on it,
> what with the low serial number.  So I'm not too surprised to find some
> issues.  Thus beginneth my request for help.  I was gone over the holiday
> and so I left the radio disconnected from the antenna and power.
> Yesterday
> I returned from the holiday, connected the antenna, and started seeking
> contacts.  My attic antennas are connected to an MFJ-949E
> versatuner, which
> has a power meter.  I normally see 10-12 W forward power and <1w reflected
> on my 20m dipole.  For some reason, I suddenly have less than 1W
> now.  This
> is the case on all bands, and differing antennas.
>
> I checked cables, swapped cables, tried the radio on the dummy load in the
> versatuner, and tested it on different power output settings from
> 1w to 15w.
> Since I didn't build this radio, I'm madly reading over the
> manual to try to
> figure out where there are fuses or calibration steps, but I thought I'd
> also post this question to the list.  Any comments would be welcome.
>
>

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