This is a follow up to my prior posting about the AGC cutting power back to less than a watt in continuous modes like PSK31. Thanks, folks, for the advice several of you sent. No, I don't believe it's RF--for one thing, I rather doubt a few watts can louse up the system, when 100 watts on the Yaesu (switched in and out by two simple changes to the Rigblaster connections) are RF "cold" in the system. I can't tell what starts the AGC aggressively knocking down the power, except I think I can induce the problem by overdriving. Then, I can't fix it until the K2 is off for a while or I fiddle with it in an unrepeatable pattern. Perhaps, still, it is a heat problem. At full steam, when the K2 is running right, it idles in PSK31 at about 3 watts. Text transmission kicks it to 5 watts, and the steady tone at the end of transmission kicks it momentarily to 7 watts. This seems to be the norm for proper 5 watt operation, and IMD is minimal, according to reports. And, I think the K2 will run this way without the annoying cut back so long as I make sure the AGC light remains off entirely (i.e. no bar even flickers in AGC meter mode). However, there is something in the AGC which, once "set" by slight overdrive, won't return to normal unless the rig is off, or the radio is played with by making band/power/freq/input changes of various kinds. It is puzzling. Note, I only do digital modes on 20 meters, where the beam is either very low SWR or the LDG automatic antenna tuner kicks in and brings the SWR down to 1:1 as seen by the K2. Anyway, I have rediscovered the hardiness of the old Yaesu 757 GX, whose specs allowed for continuous operation in high duty cycle modes. And these days, with sunspots in the zero range, PSK31 is much more fun at 75 watts than at 5 watts--and this from a confirmed QRPer. So, I reconnected the desk mike to the K2 (and the keyer, of course). Thanks again for the suggestions--anybody else experiencing something similar? Preston Douglas WJ2V _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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