My KDSP2 arrived late last week, and as I read the instructions
I realized that I really wanted to upgrade my firmware (to get
to the quick-access keys for turning the denoiser off/on). And
since I was doing that, I should also install the keying
bandwidth mod kit to be a good citizen of the airwaves. I
ordered on Saturday, it arrived Tuesday, I did installations today.
Changing the firmware was easy; I had written everything down but
ended up not needing to re-enter anything (I went from 2.03d to 2.04P).
That was a pleasant surprise.
Then I installed the mod kit. Easy enough. I momentarily thought of
jumping straight to the DSP install, but realized I should test first...
Hmm. Well, that's odd. I hooked up my NorCal dummy load so I could
do some accurate measuring. First off, the KAT2 will only get it
to 1.2:1 ! I know it's not perfectly 50 ohm, so perhaps that's
why.
I set the ATU to CALP, the RF Out control to 5.0, and press TUNE.
I get, pretty reliably, 6 bars on the display. If I turn
the POWER down slightly, the bar graph drops to 4 bars.
I can't get 5 bars.
I dropped Don a line at this point, wondering if perhaps I had
disturbed the settings on the KAT2 while disassembling. He didn't
think so, and was suspicious of my dummy load. He suggested looking
at it with an antenna analyzer.
That was an eye-opener. The NorCal SMT dummy load might be a good
construction project, but it's not a very good load! I couldn't
find a band where it was pure resistive. That's really too bad,
since the detector is so handy.
I have two other loads; one is a nice flat R=50 X=0 across 20/30/40,
and the other is a simple detector built into a PL-259 with some
resistors. It's R=49, X=0, and can stand 5W for a little while.
I used them to reset the null and reset the wattmeter on the KAT2.
But still ... I can't get the power out to be 5W. I set POWER to 5.0
and get 6.0 or 6.1. If I use CAL POUT and tweaklize POWER, the display
jumps from 3.5 to 6.0 with pretty much nothing in between.
This just doesn't seem right. I checked all my connections (I think)
and don't see anything wrong. Suggestions would be most welcome ... I
want to get my "full QRP gallon" without cheating :-)
73 de chris K6DBG
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