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NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

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John Hoaglun-2

NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

I am having a problem with the 160m alignment.

When I power up the radio I do not get any error messages. If I test the
receive antenna via the menu I can hear the K2 relay open and close as
expected.

When I disable the ATU with the CALP/CALS setting and then try to engage the
radio via the Tune button @ the 2w level I am getting a "LO P" message.

--I am hearing signals on 80m and 160m. (160m sounds great on the K2.)
--Using an analog DVM I see a blip on pin16 when I change bands which
suggests that relay K1 is working.
--I can also hear relay K1 when I switch between the bands.
--If I put my finger on the relay I can also feel the relay move.
At this point I think that relays K1 and K2 work as expected.

--C75, C13, and C14 are installed on the RF board.
--C68 and C153 on the RF board are installed and the proper values.
--I used a solder pot when I prep'ed the toroids so I am confident that I
have a good connection.
80m worked well before I added the 160m module. Now I get "LO P" messages on
80 & 160m.

Any suggestions?

-----------------------------
John Hoaglun
NG0R - EN25
http://www.hoaglun.com

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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

John,

There may be no problem - set the power to something grater than 2
watts. With the KAT2 installed, the K2 automatically limits the power
to 2 watts for tuning. If your power setting is a bit below that, the
LO PWR message may result.

73,
Don W3FPR

John Hoaglun wrote:

> I am having a problem with the 160m alignment.
>
> When I power up the radio I do not get any error messages. If I test the
> receive antenna via the menu I can hear the K2 relay open and close as
> expected.
>
> When I disable the ATU with the CALP/CALS setting and then try to engage the
> radio via the Tune button @ the 2w level I am getting a "LO P" message.
>
> --I am hearing signals on 80m and 160m. (160m sounds great on the K2.)
> --Using an analog DVM I see a blip on pin16 when I change bands which
> suggests that relay K1 is working.
> --I can also hear relay K1 when I switch between the bands.
> --If I put my finger on the relay I can also feel the relay move.
> At this point I think that relays K1 and K2 work as expected.
>
> --C75, C13, and C14 are installed on the RF board.
> --C68 and C153 on the RF board are installed and the proper values.
> --I used a solder pot when I prep'ed the toroids so I am confident that I
> have a good connection.
> 80m worked well before I added the 160m module. Now I get "LO P" messages on
> 80 & 160m.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> -----------------------------
> John Hoaglun
> NG0R - EN25
> http://www.hoaglun.com
>
>

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John Hoaglun-2

Re: NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

Hi Don,

It does not appear to have anything to do with the power setting. The LO P
message is there at any power setting for 80m and 160m since the 160m module
was added last night.

I am assuming that LO P is a status that is read from the RF Product
Detector circuit at the output the of low pass filter rail.

I am assuming that since the other bands are working that with the W1 bypass
removed that it indicates that J1:pin1 to relay K2 to J1:pin9 works as
expected or there would be no RF for the other bands.

My line of thinking puts the 160m LP filter or relay K1 as the issue... but
that does not explain why 80m is a problem as well.

Other debugging/troubleshooting steps?

Thanks, JH

-----------------------------
John Hoaglun
NG0R - EN25
http://www.hoaglun.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:14 PM
To: [hidden email]
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

John,

There may be no problem - set the power to something grater than 2 watts.
With the KAT2 installed, the K2 automatically limits the power to 2 watts
for tuning. If your power setting is a bit below that, the LO PWR message
may result.

73,
Don W3FPR

John Hoaglun wrote:
> I am having a problem with the 160m alignment.
>
> When I power up the radio I do not get any error messages. If I test
> the receive antenna via the menu I can hear the K2 relay open and
> close as expected.
>
> When I disable the ATU with the CALP/CALS setting and then try to
> engage the radio via the Tune button @ the 2w level I am getting a "LO P"
message.

>
> --I am hearing signals on 80m and 160m. (160m sounds great on the K2.)
> --Using an analog DVM I see a blip on pin16 when I change bands which
> suggests that relay K1 is working.
> --I can also hear relay K1 when I switch between the bands.
> --If I put my finger on the relay I can also feel the relay move.
> At this point I think that relays K1 and K2 work as expected.
>
> --C75, C13, and C14 are installed on the RF board.
> --C68 and C153 on the RF board are installed and the proper values.
> --I used a solder pot when I prep'ed the toroids so I am confident
> that I have a good connection.
> 80m worked well before I added the 160m module. Now I get "LO P"
> messages on 80 & 160m.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> -----------------------------
> John Hoaglun
> NG0R - EN25
> http://www.hoaglun.com
>
>

David Woolley (E.L)

Re: NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

John Hoaglun wrote:

>
> I am assuming that LO P is a status that is read from the RF Product
> Detector circuit at the output the of low pass filter rail.

There is only an envelope detector there, but I would have thought, if
you have the KAT2, that it was the forward power from the SWR bridge. A
very mismatched load could, presumably, give a very low forward power.

--
David Woolley
"The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to
Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio"
List Guidelines <http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_list_guidelines.htm>
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John Hoaglun-2

Re: NG0R - K2 160m alignment problem.

In reply to this post by John Hoaglun-2

Don and the members of the list,

I am still troubleshooting the alignment issue. I am better now than I was a
couple of days ago. Don and I have been comparing notes. I have removed the
ATU from the circuit and tried some other things. After some poking around
with the RF probe I have confirmed that the issue is within the 80/160m band
pass filter. (Lots of RF into the filter... very little coming out.) I have
been messing with C13/C14 making sure that they have a good connection.

After some poking around with the probe I was noticing an occasional
oscillation at which point the RF power levels would change and I would see
some significant RF.

It seems like L4 is extremely sensitive after the addition of the 160m
module and C13/C4. Now if I move my hand or a plastic screwdriver by it the
circuit is detuned or goes into a slight oscillation. That made it extremely
hard to tune up the band pass filter initially. After some tweaking I am now
seeing 11-13.5w out on 80m & 160m without the ATU in the circuit. I am going
to add the ATU back into the circuit and do some more testing. (The ATU was
not the issue... it was removed as part of the troubleshooting steps.)

Has anyone else noticed L4 being ultra sensitive after the addition of the
160m module?

Thanks, JH

-----------------------------
John Hoaglun
NG0R - EN25
http://www.hoaglun.com

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