Now, that was stupid.... Advice?

[Bill Coleman-2]

Well, when setting up for SKN I did a dumb thing with my K2/100. My  
rig for SKN is a 40m two-tube transmitter that puts out about 50  
watts. Somehow, I ended up connecting it to the cable that leads to  
the K2, instead of the one that leads to the antenna.

So, I ended up putting about 50 watts into the KAT100 antenna 1 lead.  
Most of the time, the K2 was listening on antenna 2.

It took me a few minutes to figure out what I had done wrong.  
Amazingly, the K2 appears to be fine, but I'll want to take it apart,  
and the KAT100 and look for any damaged components.

Anyone have any advice on components to check in a K2/100 and KAT100  
that have had RF fed down the wrong way?

I did end up with three contacts for SKN.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901

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[OE5CSP-Chris]

<quote author="Bill Coleman-2">

Well, when setting up for SKN I did a dumb thing with my K2/100. My  
rig for SKN is a 40m two-tube transmitter that puts out about 50  
watts. Somehow, I ended up connecting it to the cable that leads to  
the K2, instead of the one that leads to the antenna.

So, I ended up putting about 50 watts into the KAT100 antenna 1 lead.  
Most of the time, the K2 was listening on antenna 2.

It took me a few minutes to figure out what I had done wrong.  
Amazingly, the K2 appears to be fine, but I'll want to take it apart,  
and the KAT100 and look for any damaged components.

Anyone have any advice on components to check in a K2/100 and KAT100  
that have had RF fed down the wrong way?

I did end up with three contacts for SKN.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [e-mail]


Bill,

same thing happened to me with 100 Watts and strangely enough nothing was harmed, neither the KAT100 nor my K2.


73,Chris-OE5CSP

[Stephen Prior]

Since you transmitted into the antenna tuner, is it nothing more serious
than having a lot of reflected power due to a mismatch?  In such a case we
would expect the tuner to survive that for some time.  Admittedly the K2 was
in receive mode at the time, but I would have expected the tuner components
to withstand that treatment.

73 Stephen G4SJP


On 2/1/08 10:40, "OE5CSP-Chris" <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Well, when setting up for SKN I did a dumb thing with my K2/100. My
> rig for SKN is a 40m two-tube transmitter that puts out about 50
> watts. Somehow, I ended up connecting it to the cable that leads to
> the K2, instead of the one that leads to the antenna.
>
> So, I ended up putting about 50 watts into the KAT100 antenna 1 lead.
> Most of the time, the K2 was listening on antenna 2.
>
> It took me a few minutes to figure out what I had done wrong.
> Amazingly, the K2 appears to be fine, but I'll want to take it apart,
> and the KAT100 and look for any damaged components.
>
> Anyone have any advice on components to check in a K2/100 and KAT100
> that have had RF fed down the wrong way?
>
> I did end up with three contacts for SKN.
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]
>
>
> Bill,
>
> same thing happened to me with 100 Watts and strangely enough nothing was
> harmed, neither the KAT100 nor my K2.
>
>
> 73,Chris-OE5CSP

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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Bill,

The 1N5711 diodes in the KAT100 and the KPA100 wattmeter could have been
damaged from the excessive RF voltage applied,  and it would be wise to
check them.  OTOH, if your power output control and SWR indications are
normal, those diodes are working.
If the K2 receiver works (check with the preamp on/off), then the preamp
and mixer are likely OK.  I would expect the other components to
survive.  The T/R switch diodes in the base K2 can provide a lot of
protection because the rectified voltage would be in opposition to the
normal receive bias levels.

73,
Don W3FPR

OE5CSP-Chris wrote:

>
>
> Well, when setting up for SKN I did a dumb thing with my K2/100. My  
> rig for SKN is a 40m two-tube transmitter that puts out about 50  
> watts. Somehow, I ended up connecting it to the cable that leads to  
> the K2, instead of the one that leads to the antenna.
>
> So, I ended up putting about 50 watts into the KAT100 antenna 1 lead.  
> Most of the time, the K2 was listening on antenna 2.
>
> It took me a few minutes to figure out what I had done wrong.  
> Amazingly, the K2 appears to be fine, but I'll want to take it apart,  
> and the KAT100 and look for any damaged components.
>
> Anyone have any advice on components to check in a K2/100 and KAT100  
> that have had RF fed down the wrong way?
>
> I did end up with three contacts for SKN.
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]
>
>
>  

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