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KX1 Issue

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Brian Murrey-2

KX1 Issue

Any experts on KXAT1 debugging?

Yesterday I had the KX1 in the car with the 20m hamstick and for about half
the
day I was about to work Florida, Mass, Texas...with 2w and the KX1. I was
using the KXAT1 to tune my hamstick, even though I have the hamstick adjusted
to 1.2 : 1 without the tuner.

BIG storm comes along, I'm not running CW now, I'm driving and listening to CW
and lots of static. So I shut off the rig and keep tooling on down the road.

About 20 mins later I pull into Riley Park in Greenfield IN and and park so I
can play radio...except the KXAT1 is saying I am only putting out .05 watts,
then sometimes maybe .09 watts...SWR is like 8:1 now. So I move the car...I
am in the clear...nothing metal near me...same thing. huh.

When I get home I take the rig in to the radio room and attach it to the attic
dipole, that never fails.

I put it in auto tune mode...on 40m...SWR reads 9:1 on the KX1 but 1.2:1 on my
external meter. I take it out of auto tune...do a manual tune...KXAT! says SWR
is 9.9:1 and power out is less than half a watt...on a 14.0v power supply.

So I go through the ATU setting, no error code (showing E00). I yank the
KXAT1, jumper pins 1 and 3 on J7...which now makes it a KX1 without an
internal ATU.

I connect it to my external antenna tuner/SWR meter and tune for 1:1 SWR and
I'm getting almost 3w on 40m, 4w on 30m, and 2.8w on 20m....like
normal...according to the external meter. Made a couple of QSO's and got 579
and
599...meter showing just about 3w as expected.

So what happened to my KXAT1? Did the firmware take a dive?

I also notice that when I transmit now, I only get one LED at the far left of
the display to pop on...it used to show three or four...external meter shows
3w usually. I did reset to factory defaults, turned the 30m back on...maybe I
don't know what the SIG settings should be...

Anyone have any ideas? I have tuned C9 on the KXAT1 for the lowest DC voltage
at the REFL point...I'm getting .62 vDC. I have stepped through the relays and
they all click when activated, so I'm kind of stumped other than thinking the
firmware got hosered up somehow in the storm. It will not tune to a dummy
load...or at least the LED display says it won't.

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Alexandra Carter

Re: KX1 Issue

If it won't tune to a dummy load then something is really wrong. 73
de Alex NS.Y.

On Jun 20, 2006, at 6:24 AM, Brian Murrey wrote:

> Any experts on KXAT1 debugging?
>
> Yesterday I had the KX1 in the car with the 20m hamstick and for
> about half
> the
> day I was about to work Florida, Mass, Texas...with 2w and the
> KX1. I was
> using the KXAT1 to tune my hamstick, even though I have the
> hamstick adjusted
> to 1.2 : 1 without the tuner.
>
> BIG storm comes along, I'm not running CW now, I'm driving and
> listening to CW
> and lots of static. So I shut off the rig and keep tooling on down
> the road.
>
> About 20 mins later I pull into Riley Park in Greenfield IN and and
> park so I
> can play radio...except the KXAT1 is saying I am only putting out .
> 05 watts,
> then sometimes maybe .09 watts...SWR is like 8:1 now. So I move
> the car...I
> am in the clear...nothing metal near me...same thing. huh.
>
> When I get home I take the rig in to the radio room and attach it
> to the attic
> dipole, that never fails.
>
> I put it in auto tune mode...on 40m...SWR reads 9:1 on the KX1 but
> 1.2:1 on my
> external meter. I take it out of auto tune...do a manual
> tune...KXAT! says SWR
> is 9.9:1 and power out is less than half a watt...on a 14.0v power
> supply.
>
> So I go through the ATU setting, no error code (showing E00). I
> yank the
> KXAT1, jumper pins 1 and 3 on J7...which now makes it a KX1 without an
> internal ATU.
>
> I connect it to my external antenna tuner/SWR meter and tune for
> 1:1 SWR and
> I'm getting almost 3w on 40m, 4w on 30m, and 2.8w on 20m....like
> normal...according to the external meter. Made a couple of QSO's
> and got 579
> and
> 599...meter showing just about 3w as expected.
>
> So what happened to my KXAT1? Did the firmware take a dive?
>
> I also notice that when I transmit now, I only get one LED at the
> far left of
> the display to pop on...it used to show three or four...external
> meter shows
> 3w usually. I did reset to factory defaults, turned the 30m back
> on...maybe I
> don't know what the SIG settings should be...
>
> Anyone have any ideas? I have tuned C9 on the KXAT1 for the lowest
> DC voltage
> at the REFL point...I'm getting .62 vDC. I have stepped through the
> relays and
> they all click when activated, so I'm kind of stumped other than
> thinking the
> firmware got hosered up somehow in the storm. It will not tune to a
> dummy
> load...or at least the LED display says it won't.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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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Brian Murrey-2

Re: KX1 Issue

I agree.

Is anyone else having trouble bringing up the Elecraft website? For the last
few days, when I go to the site it takes several minutes to come up. If I go
to "no frames" it comes up a little faster but not much.

My ISP is Sprint/Embarq and they have been screwing with their internal
network settings since the name change, so I wonder if that has anything to do
with it.

73

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexandra Carter" <[hidden email]>
To: "Brian Murrey" <[hidden email]>
Cc: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 12:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX1 Issue

> If it won't tune to a dummy load then something is really wrong. 73
> de Alex NS.Y.

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Don Wilhelm-3

RE: KX1 Issue

In reply to this post by Brian Murrey-2

Brian,

If you have relays clicking and it attempts to tune, then the firmware chip
is likely just fine.
You said it failed after a storm, which gives me cause to believe that the
two diodes in the wattmeter should be replaced. Put new 1N5711s in the D1
and D2 positions and I would believe the problem will go away.

Note that these diodes are sitting in the wattmeter section which hangs
directly off the antenna jack, making them most vulnerable to
static/lightning damage. Disconnect your rig from the antenna during a
storm.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> Any experts on KXAT1 debugging?
>
> Yesterday I had the KX1 in the car with the 20m hamstick and for
> about half
> the
> day I was about to work Florida, Mass, Texas...with 2w and the KX1. I was
> using the KXAT1 to tune my hamstick, even though I have the
> hamstick adjusted
> to 1.2 : 1 without the tuner.
>
> BIG storm comes along, I'm not running CW now, I'm driving and
> listening to CW
> and lots of static. So I shut off the rig and keep tooling on
> down the road.
>
> About 20 mins later I pull into Riley Park in Greenfield IN and
> and park so I
> can play radio...except the KXAT1 is saying I am only putting out
> .05 watts,
> then sometimes maybe .09 watts...SWR is like 8:1 now. So I move
> the car...I
> am in the clear...nothing metal near me...same thing. huh.
>
> When I get home I take the rig in to the radio room and attach it
> to the attic
> dipole, that never fails.
>
> I put it in auto tune mode...on 40m...SWR reads 9:1 on the KX1
> but 1.2:1 on my
> external meter. I take it out of auto tune...do a manual
> tune...KXAT! says SWR
> is 9.9:1 and power out is less than half a watt...on a 14.0v power supply.
>
> So I go through the ATU setting, no error code (showing E00). I yank the
> KXAT1, jumper pins 1 and 3 on J7...which now makes it a KX1 without an
> internal ATU.
>

Brian Murrey-2

Re: KX1 Issue

Don,

Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look at those. I was operating mobile with the
KX1 and drove through a pretty strong thunderstorm, I was using a Anttron
Hamwhip for 20m on the trunk mount.

I did not build this KX1 or the KXAT1, I bought it from another ham and it was
working great until the mobile operations on Monday. I think I have some
5711's in the junkbox. I'll try that tonight.

I did a system reset on the KX1 also, but it didn't help. I did work Indy to
San Diego last night on 2w and my attic dipole, so the main rig seems to be in
good shape.

73

----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Wilhelm" <[hidden email]>
To: "Brian Murrey" <[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 7:37 AM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] KX1 Issue

> Brian,
>
> If you have relays clicking and it attempts to tune, then the firmware chip
> is likely just fine.
> You said it failed after a storm, which gives me cause to believe that the
> two diodes in the wattmeter should be replaced. Put new 1N5711s in the D1
> and D2 positions and I would believe the problem will go away.
>
> Note that these diodes are sitting in the wattmeter section which hangs
> directly off the antenna jack, making them most vulnerable to
> static/lightning damage. Disconnect your rig from the antenna during a
> storm.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > Any experts on KXAT1 debugging?
> >
> > Yesterday I had the KX1 in the car with the 20m hamstick and for
> > about half
> > the
> > day I was about to work Florida, Mass, Texas...with 2w and the KX1. I was
> > using the KXAT1 to tune my hamstick, even though I have the
> > hamstick adjusted
> > to 1.2 : 1 without the tuner.
> >
> > BIG storm comes along, I'm not running CW now, I'm driving and
> > listening to CW
> > and lots of static. So I shut off the rig and keep tooling on
> > down the road.
> >
> > About 20 mins later I pull into Riley Park in Greenfield IN and
> > and park so I
> > can play radio...except the KXAT1 is saying I am only putting out
> > .05 watts,
> > then sometimes maybe .09 watts...SWR is like 8:1 now. So I move
> > the car...I
> > am in the clear...nothing metal near me...same thing. huh.
> >
> > When I get home I take the rig in to the radio room and attach it
> > to the attic
> > dipole, that never fails.
> >
> > I put it in auto tune mode...on 40m...SWR reads 9:1 on the KX1
> > but 1.2:1 on my
> > external meter. I take it out of auto tune...do a manual
> > tune...KXAT! says SWR
> > is 9.9:1 and power out is less than half a watt...on a 14.0v power supply.
> >
> > So I go through the ATU setting, no error code (showing E00). I yank the
> > KXAT1, jumper pins 1 and 3 on J7...which now makes it a KX1 without an
> > internal ATU.
> >
>