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K2 #5216 is finished an on the air, with one contact so far on 20m. It will take a little getting use to how it operates. It's a pleasure to have a CW filter after the FT817's wide-open band pass.
There appears to be very little power on the high bands (less than a watt on 10 and 12, Not much better on 15m). 80 meters and 40m are not the best either, with lower power than expected and some variation i noutput between keydown attempts. Only 20 and 30 appear to match the Power level indicated and what is actually put out to the MFJ ATU/pwr meter. The receiver seems OK on all bands. I assume that this is an alignment problem or some parts are not installed right. I'll call Elecraft next week to see what can be done. During the alignment (with the DL1 and Ngen) the power was very low on the high bands (0.5 W) and on other bands it would often read 8 watts when the tune function was on. That made it hard to align the transmitter with the DVM on the DL1. The NGen was great for alignment and I hated to disturb the settings during subsequent transmitter alignment. I'll download the Spectrogram for later use. Does this situation sound 'normal' for first-time usage? Bob VA3RKM (Ottawa) _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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Bob,
The output should not fall off that drastically on the higher bands. Expect a minimum of 10 watts on 10 meters. I suggest that you check the value of each and every component in the transmitter amplifier chain (those components on sheet 4 of the K2 schematic). Check all of them for proper value and good soldering. If you find nothing awry in that examination, then measure the RF Voltages at each stage shown in the troubleshooting section of the manual under transmit signal tracing. Compare the RF Voltage levels on 2 bands (one of which seems to be OK) to determine the stage where the output drops dramatically. Once you have located that stage, we can help you isolate to the problem component. 73, Don W3FPR > -----Original Message----- > > K2 #5216 is finished an on the air, with one contact so far on > 20m. It will take a little getting use to how it operates. It's a > pleasure to have a CW filter after the FT817's wide-open band pass. > There appears to be very little power on the high bands (less > than a watt on 10 and 12, Not much better on 15m). 80 meters and > 40m are not the best either, with lower power than expected and > some variation i noutput between keydown attempts. Only 20 and 30 > appear to match the Power level indicated and what is actually > put out to the MFJ ATU/pwr meter. The receiver seems OK on all bands. > I assume that this is an alignment problem or some parts are > not installed right. I'll call Elecraft next week to see what can > be done. During the alignment (with the DL1 and Ngen) the power > was very low on the high bands (0.5 W) and on other bands it > would often read 8 watts when the tune function was on. That made > it hard to align the transmitter with the DVM on the DL1. The > NGen was great for alignment and I hated to disturb the settings > during subsequent transmitter alignment. I'll download the > Spectrogram for later use. > Does this situation sound 'normal' for first-time usage? > Bob VA3RKM (Ottawa) > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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There is also a capacitor in the 10dB amplifier after the driver, and it
is on the bottom of the RF board and sometimes overlooked. If you leave it off, the ALC will be able to pump up gain in later stages but output on the higher bands will fall off. Just check to make sure it is there...there should be no empty screened ovals on the bottom of the RF board. 73, Leigh/WA5ZNU On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 3:39 pm, Don Wilhelm wrote: > Bob, > > The output should not fall off that drastically on the higher bands. > Expect > a minimum of 10 watts on 10 meters. > > I suggest that you check the value of each and every component in the > transmitter amplifier chain (those components on sheet 4 of the K2 > schematic). Check all of them for proper value and good soldering. If > you > find nothing awry in that examination, then measure the RF Voltages at > each > stage shown in the troubleshooting section of the manual under transmit > signal tracing. Compare the RF Voltage levels on 2 bands (one of which > seems to be OK) to determine the stage where the output drops > dramatically. > Once you have located that stage, we can help you isolate to the > problem > component. > > 73, > Don W3FPR > > >> -----Original Message----- >> >> K2 #5216 is finished an on the air, with one contact so far on >> 20m. It will take a little getting use to how it operates. It's a >> pleasure to have a CW filter after the FT817's wide-open band pass. >> There appears to be very little power on the high bands (less >> than a watt on 10 and 12, Not much better on 15m). 80 meters and >> 40m are not the best either, with lower power than expected and >> some variation i noutput between keydown attempts. Only 20 and 30 >> appear to match the Power level indicated and what is actually >> put out to the MFJ ATU/pwr meter. The receiver seems OK on all bands. >> I assume that this is an alignment problem or some parts are >> not installed right. I'll call Elecraft next week to see what can >> be done. During the alignment (with the DL1 and Ngen) the power >> was very low on the high bands (0.5 W) and on other bands it >> would often read 8 watts when the tune function was on. That made >> it hard to align the transmitter with the DVM on the DL1. The >> NGen was great for alignment and I hated to disturb the settings >> during subsequent transmitter alignment. I'll download the >> Spectrogram for later use. >> Does this situation sound 'normal' for first-time usage? >> Bob VA3RKM (Ottawa) >> > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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