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K3-100 low power output

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Greg Leber

K3-100 low power output

Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
10m 66w
12m 103w
15m 80w
17m 88w
20m 94w
30m 106w
40m95w
80m 87w
160m 91w
I did the Xmit gain calibration using the utility and I have no error
messages. The finals must be OK because I have over 100w on two of the
bands. Do anyone have any Idea what's going on here?

Greg (K9ON)
--

"Life is hard; is's harder if you're stupid."

John Wayne
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Phil Wheeler-2

Re: K3-100 low power output

Assuming the list below is the K3 barefoot into a
dummy load (and not the AL1200 driven by the K3),
how much drive does the AL1200 specify?

Phil w7ox

On 5/8/14, 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:

> Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
> out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
> 20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
> 10m 66w
> 12m 103w
> 15m 80w
> 17m 88w
> 20m 94w
> 30m 106w
> 40m95w
> 80m 87w
> 160m 91w
> I did the Xmit gain calibration using the utility and I have no error
> messages. The finals must be OK because I have over 100w on two of the
> bands. Do anyone have any Idea what's going on here?
>
> Greg (K9ON)

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Jim Brown-10

Re: K3-100 low power output

In reply to this post by Greg Leber

On 5/8/2014 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:
> I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.

A few things to check. What were you using for a wattmeter? What is the
full scale reading on the range you were using? If there is an ATU, was
it in bypass? What coax are you using between the radio and the dummy
load? Where did you get it -- what I'm getting at is that there's a lot
of junk coax around. :)

Also, consider that there may be an issue in the AL1200 input circuit.

How much power does it take to drive the AL1200? Most amps in that
power range get to full output with 40-50 watts. That's what my
1980-vintage Ten Tec Titans need. A pair of 3CX800A7s.

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: K3-100 low power output

In reply to this post by Phil Wheeler-2

If you have the K3 internal tuner did you have it in bypass when you did the
tx gain cal routine ????

Looks like a possibility is the K3 put in some pre determined saved networks
by band. ???

Hank K7HP
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Wheeler" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3-100 low power output

> Assuming the list below is the K3 barefoot into a dummy load (and not the
> AL1200 driven by the K3), how much drive does the AL1200 specify?
>
> Phil w7ox
>
> On 5/8/14, 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:
>> Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
>> out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
>> 20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
>> 10m 66w
>> 12m 103w
>> 15m 80w
>> 17m 88w
>> 20m 94w
>> 30m 106w
>> 40m95w
>> 80m 87w
>> 160m 91w
>> I did the Xmit gain calibration using the utility and I have no error
>> messages. The finals must be OK because I have over 100w on two of the
>> bands. Do anyone have any Idea what's going on here?
>>
>> Greg (K9ON)
>
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David Sanders W4DES

Re: K3-100 low power output

In reply to this post by Jim Brown-10

The AL 1200 puts out full legal limit with 100 watts input.
73, David W4DES

On May 8, 2014, at 5:55 PM, Jim Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:

> On 5/8/2014 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:
>> I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
>
> How much power does it take to drive the AL1200? Most amps in that power range get to full output with 40-50 watts. That's what my 1980-vintage Ten Tec Titans need. A pair of 3CX800A7s.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>

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Harry_Yingst

Re: K3-100 low power output

In reply to this post by Greg Leber

Are you doing the TX Calibration with a dummy load?

________________________________
From: Greg Leber <[hidden email]>
To: Elecraft <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2014 4:48 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] K3-100 low power output

Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
10m 66w
12m 103w
15m 80w
17m 88w
20m 94w
30m 106w
40m95w
80m 87w
160m 91w
I did the Xmit gain calibration using the utility and I have no error
messages. The finals must be OK because I have over 100w on two of the
bands. Do anyone have any Idea what's going on here?

Greg (K9ON)
--

"Life is hard; is's harder if you're stupid."

John Wayne
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Grant Youngman

Re: K3-100 low power output

Check the SWR into the amp. I have a couple of bands where the input tuning circuits have drifted a bit on my AL-1200. I need to get in there and retune my amp, but the simple solution in the meantime is to use the auto tuner in the K3 to take care of it.

Grant NQ5T

On May 8, 2014, at 5:44 PM, Harry Yingst <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
> out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
> 20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
> 10m 66w
> 12m 103w
> 15m 80w
> 17m 88w
> 20m 94w
> 30m 106w
> 40m95w
> 80m 87w
> 160m 91w
> I did the Xmit gain calibration using the utility and I have no error
> messages. The finals must be OK because I have over 100w on two of the
> bands. Do anyone have any Idea what's going on here?
>

Grant Youngman

Re: K3-100 low power output

In reply to this post by Phil Wheeler-2

The AL-1200 needs at least 100 watts input to reach a full 1500 watts out. It’s an excellent, virtually indestructable amp, but a 100 watt output exciter is marginal for it.

Grant NQ5T

On May 8, 2014, at 4:12 PM, Phil Wheeler <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Assuming the list below is the K3 barefoot into a dummy load (and not the AL1200 driven by the K3), how much drive does the AL1200 specify?
>
> Phil w7ox
>
> On 5/8/14, 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:
>> Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
>> out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
>> 20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
>> 10m 66w

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W1KSZ

Re: K3-100 low power output

You should see what happens when you hit it with 200 watts !!

73, Dick, W1KSZ

On 5/8/2014 6:39 PM, GRANT YOUNGMAN wrote:

> The AL-1200 needs at least 100 watts input to reach a full 1500 watts out. It’s an excellent, virtually indestructable amp, but a 100 watt output exciter is marginal for it.
>
> Grant NQ5T
>
>
> On May 8, 2014, at 4:12 PM, Phil Wheeler <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Assuming the list below is the K3 barefoot into a dummy load (and not the AL1200 driven by the K3), how much drive does the AL1200 specify?
>>
>> Phil w7ox
>>
>> On 5/8/14, 1:48 PM, Greg Leber wrote:
>>> Today when I tried to drive my AL1200 amp I found the K3 was not putting
>>> out enough power. It drives the KPA500 fine but that only requires about
>>> 20W. I hooked it to a dummy load and this is what I found.
>>> 10m 66w
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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>