K3 "hi cur"

I have a brand new K3, just completed a couple of days ago.

On 20m (the only band for which I have an antenna at the moment), running
into an antenna with SWR about 1.8:1, I am receiving the "hi cur" warning.
If I use the ATU, the SWR drops down to around 1.3:1, but the "hi cur"
warning remains. Into a dummy load, the warning is not present.

The rig draws about 23A @ 13.8V.

Presumably it's trying to tell me that something important is wrong, but
what? The manual isn't much help.

  Doc N7DR

--
Web:  http://www.sff.net/people/N7DR


______________________________________________________________
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

D. R. Evans said the following at 07/20/2010 07:53 PM :

> On 20m (the only band for which I have an antenna at the moment), running
> into an antenna with SWR about 1.8:1, I am receiving the "hi cur" warning.
> If I use the ATU, the SWR drops down to around 1.3:1, but the "hi cur"
> warning remains. Into a dummy load, the warning is not present.
>
> The rig draws about 23A @ 13.8V.

Now that I've discovered that the rig itself can tell me the voltage and
current, I see that the readings are actually about 24A at 12.6V (although
the PSU definitely seems to be steady at 13.8V) when the antenna is plugged in.

Into a dummy load, it's 21.5A at 12.7V.

What might be causing the the higher current when plugged into a real
antenna? Surely a 1.8:1 (or 1.3:1 with ATU) SWR shouldn't be a problem.

  Doc  N7DR

--
Web:  http://www.sff.net/people/N7DR


______________________________________________________________
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