[Elecraft] T2 and low power on 10 meters was K2 Binocular Core
Hi I have also found that T2 is the most critical part affecting the power out on 10 meters. Here are a few things I do to get it right. It is important that the red winding covers most of the core. After tightly winding the red wire, spread out the winding evenly around the core so the ends match up with the holes in the PC board. Then wind the green winding but allow some extra length on the start lead. Count over about 3 or 4 turns of the red winding and wind the green so each turn interleaves the red turns and do not cross over the red windings. Is important that you end up with alternating red and green turns. Count the red turns that are on either side of the green winding, they should be equal or within one turn of each other. If not remove one turn from one end and add one turn to the other so they are as close to equal as possible. This is why you need to allow some extra start wire length so you can adjust the windings if needed. Now the red winding should be covering 80-90% of the core and you should have the green leads coming out at the sides covering about 50% of the core. Bend the green leads forward close to the core away from the red leads The wires will come off of the sides of the core. Strip the insulation from the wires. I use a small 1/8 inch thick square of double stick foam tape on the PC board under the toroid to space T2 off of the board. This spacing is also important in getting the required power out on 10 meters. Install the toroid making sure the leads are just tight enough to remove any excess length. Do not allow the green winding to get scrambled up over the red by pulling the green leads to tight. The green leads should still exit the core on the sides and make a gentle curve to the PC board holes. I have not really seen T4 winding methods affect the power out much. Just make the windings tight and the correct number of turns. One other thing that is sometimes missed is the voltage drop in the power lead. The K2 will pull up to 3 or so amps at full power. The power draw is greater on the higher bands so this may also show up as low power out on 10 meters because the drop in the power lead is starving the final amp of voltage on transmit causing the current draw to increase. The power supply must be able to provide 13.8-14.0 volts at 3-4 amps for the QRP K2 or 20 amps for the K2/100 or you may not be able to reach full power. Do not use smaller than 20 gage wire or longer than 3 or 4 feet for the power wire. I use 18 gage when I build K2 power cables. That is about the largest that will fit into the round connector. Radio shack sells some red/black 18 gage speaker wire that I use for this that looks and works well. For the K2/100 Elecraft supplies 12 gage red/black wire for the KPA100 so use only that wire or larger or you may have problems with the K2/100 reaching 100 watts. If the power cord is getting warm then you have a problem and you need to use a bigger wire. If you must mount your power supply remotely then use something like a RigRunner with a large gage cable from the power supply to the RigRunner (14 to 12 Ga for a QRP K2 or 10 Ga for a K2/100). Use a short cable from the RigRunner to the K2 with the 18 gage wire for the QRP K2 or the 12 gage for the K2/100 The RigRunner is fused for each power tap so you do not need to build in a in line fuse for the K2/100 power cable if you install a 20 amp fuse into the power tap for the K2/100. Don Brown ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] Beware the low power out jinx!
Finished K2 #4028 in January and never had any problem with low power output, until it showed up on the reflector recently with all the discussion about T2 and the binocular transformer. That did it! I fired up the rig to call an IK2 and no power on 17M and above. 160 thru 40 were fine, 20 was lower than usual. OH me! Down to the bench and out with the scope and hook up everything and the power was back! Decided to take some measurements for future reference and when I touched the XMT buffer output pin, things began to happen. Turned the rig over and reheated everything around the buffer and we are back 100%. Moral of the story, sometimes it takes a while for a problem to show up 73 Jim, W4ATK PS the IK2 was gone by the time I got the rig back in the shack! ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] thanks for answers to living in an apt
Hi folks, thanks for all the answers to my question of antenna selection for apt. Daniel Get your name as your email address. Includes spam protection, 1GB storage, no ads and more Only $1.99/ month - visit http://www.mysite.com/name today! ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[fpqrp] QRP Barbershop NONET: STOP THE PRESSES!!!
This just in: Tonight, we'll also be graced with the presence of Tony, W6ESE, operating from a QTH on a mountain top in San Diego's North County (next to the mountain where the Palomar Observatory Telescope is located). He'll be running the Drake T-4XB/R-4B twins [reduced power]to a 2,000ft rhombic radiating N/E, a Brown Bros. straight key and Brown Bros. iambic paddle, and an ancient Eico 717 keyer. Lloyd, K3ESE for the many Barbers __ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail -To unsubscribe, mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], msg: unsubscribe fpqrp-l -
re:[Elecraft] Fun QSO: 3000 miles, 1.5 watts, 4' whip, elevation delta 9998 feet
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote : Something worth mentioning is that performance of vertical antennas improves quite rapidly as you get very close to salt water -- even few meters makes a difference. Actually Team Vertical did some testing to determine how the proximity to salt water improved signals from a vertical antenna. I believe that the conclusion was that 1/4 wavelength or multiples of such away from the water was optimal. They however used elevated radials. It is worth noting that dry sand has horrible conductivity so if you are using ground mounted radials you will probably fare better if they are on wet sand. For more details on the tests check out http://pages.prodigy.net/k2kw/tests.html Michael VE3WMB P.S. Wayne ... good job on snagging Hawaii KX1/PM .. you are an inspiration to us all! ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[fpqrp] QRP Barbershop: Bryan's Story
Here's Bryan, W0ESE, in his own words: I can't wait for all the fun. I've been a ham for a year now and a barber for about 3 months. I will be running 5W on a K2 into a full wave 20M loop (copper pipe, Vert.) pointed East-West. I will also use a trap Dipole(if possible). ...and that's the news for now. Tune in at nine Eastern, eight central, to catch Bryan and his tonsorial teammates as they dispense shaves and haircuts, willy-nilly, far and wide. K3ESE for the ESEs __ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail -To unsubscribe, mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], msg: unsubscribe fpqrp-l -
[Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Hello All, Does anyone have any suggestions for calibrating a Bird 43 and the respective slugs? I picked up a used one and would like to check it out. Thanks, Julius n2wn ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] K2 Frequency Counter Sensitivity
I am having trouble reading out the frequency of the signal at TP3, the first step of checkout after part 2 of wiring up the RF board. The Frequency Counter probe is fine and all components of the frequency counter from the input through the flip-flop Q9/Q10 check out perfectly with capacitance and ohmmeters. Supply voltage to the flip-flop at U6-10 is 4.75 volts. The frequency readout from the K2 varies from nothing to almost normal (12+ MHz) depending on whether or not I have scope or frequency counter probes attached ( The additional capacitance from the probes increases the signal level slightly and the counter counts, but unsteadily. My external frequency counter reads the signal at TP3 just fine and frequencies are within specification. The signal at TP3 is about 2 volts peak-to-peak. Is this a normal value? It looks marginal to me for triggering the Q9/Q10 flip-flop. If so then the PLL Ref Oscillator has a problem. Don K7FJ ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
There are no user adjustments on the slug or pickup of the Bird that I am aware of. You could check it against some other known standard and construct a graph paper of differences, but the Bird is good plus or minus 5 per cent about as good as it gets for RF unless you go to high dollar calorimetric measuring devices. Check the Bird web site and see what they say about user calibration or not. The whole idea of a Bird, is a mechanically robust pick up and fixed slug that plugs in and out. Now the meter might get off, but that too is mostly rezeroing the mechanical zero stop. 73, Stuart K5KVH ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Hello All, Does anyone have any suggestions for calibrating a Bird 43 and the respective slugs? I picked up a used one and would like to check it out. Thanks, Julius n2wn Lab cal is done by puting power through it measured with a known standard. Adjustment is done with pot acessable after prying off metal label. Check at highest and lowest and in the middle somewere. Bird rates them at +/- 5%, but I have yet to see one better than +/- 10%. They are great for rugged outdoor use, and peaking signal, but no one I know relies on them for precise measurements of power. Roy AB7CE NIST RF Lab Tech ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Put a good dummy load on your transmitter, set the frequency within the range of the plug, turn on CW, and use a calibrated scope to measure the peak to peak voltage. Power = (Vp-p)^2/400 for 50 ohms. Paul w0rw ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Julius, Sorry it has been 30+ years since I had the beast, and gave it away when I left VEland. Have you tried asking somebody in the test equipment department of your local friendly communications / broadcast company? You might even extract a copy of the 43's manual. 73, Geoff GM4ESD - Original Message - From: J F [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 7:10 PM Subject: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration Hello All, Does anyone have any suggestions for calibrating a Bird 43 and the respective slugs? I picked up a used one and would like to check it out. Thanks, Julius n2wn ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
RE: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Where the Birds got a great reputation as the Standard was that every time an FCC engineer would show up on site with the FCC test equipment to check the output power of a transmitter, he would be carrying a Bird. And he was a lot 'easier going' if there was a discrepancy and the maintenance tech drug out the station's Bird and showed that the discrepancy was in the meters. I even had one FCC field engineer doing the annual inspection on a ship tell me Don't bother to change the output power. I'll have this meter checked at the lab and give you a call if there's an issue. That, and the incredible ruggedness of the Bird design has given them a mystique all their own... I have no idea how accurate they really are. As far as I'm concerned even a 20% error is meaningless in terms of range and signal strength in communications equipment. I think the one I was hauling around on ships in the early 1990s had a calibration sticker on it dated in the 1960's. Ron AC7AC -- Lab cal is done by puting power through it measured with a known standard. Adjustment is done with pot acessable after prying off metal label. Check at highest and lowest and in the middle somewere. Bird rates them at +/- 5%, but I have yet to see one better than +/- 10%. They are great for rugged outdoor use, and peaking signal, but no one I know relies on them for precise measurements of power. Roy AB7CE NIST RF Lab Tech ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] Missing some dits and dahs
Hi All, After a few months delay of ignoring my K2, I finally got back to putting the audio board, keying mod and new firmware in, and have noticed what I think is a new problem for me, (not sure if it wasn't there before) When in CW mode, (have the 100 watt pa board) and I first key up, I get nothing out, seems to take about 2 to 3 dits before power comes up, after that, all is fine, If I change bands, the same thing happens, go back to the previous band, its the same, 2 to 3 dits, power comes up, have noticed, that usually on the 2 or third dit, it only comes up to maybe 20-30 watts, then full 100 watts, this does not seem normal, did I forget to turn something on ? or off ?? anybody else come across this ??? 73 de K7ZUM Ken in GresHAM Ore ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Bird 43 Wattmeter calibration
Actually, the Bird type 43 wattmeter elements (slugs) do have a calibration adjustment, but it is done at the factory. The trimmer is located underneath the frequency range power label, which is glued to the top of the element. This adjustment is done once at the factory, and unless one of the components inside the element has been damaged, does not need adjustment. A damaged slug usually makes itself known by being totally inoperative. If you are unsure about the condition of a particular element, a quick comparison check between a known good unit will tell you all you need to know. Remember that because of calibration tolerances, you might see as much as 10% difference between two good elements. - Jim, KL7CC J F wrote: Hello All, Does anyone have any suggestions for calibrating a Bird 43 and the respective slugs? I picked up a used one and would like to check it out. Thanks, Julius n2wn ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] Re: QRP Barbershop OCTET Contest tonight!
Anyone on for the contest??? 20 Meters sure is dead! 73's Trev - K6ESE http://www.qsl.net/k6ese dit dididit dit dit dit - Original Message - From: Lloyd Lachow [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: a new, nice low-energy list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Li'l Piggies [EMAIL PROTECTED]; List Elecraft elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 8:56 AM Subject: QRP Barbershop OCTET Contest tonight! That's right...we might have EIGHT Barbers on hand tonight! If you work all eight on all three bands, you'd get 24,000 bonus points. But it's simply not possible. Your Barbers: Joe, AA4NN, operating his club call, K5ESE. Joe's in Delhi, LA, tonight, operating his K2 at 5W to a center-fed Zepp at 17 feet. Jeff, K9ESE, in Muncie, IN, will be running his Red Hot 40 and Red Hot 20 at 5W to a vertical end-fed Zepp for 20 and 40 meters, and an NVIS horizontal end-fed Zepp for 40 meters. The NVIS antenna will be 16 feet off the ground, with a wire reflector directly under it. Both antennas tuned with LDG Z-11 tuners. Be tough to work Jeff on 80M tonight. Trev, K6ESE, will be coming to you from Los Angeles, CA, on his K2 at 5W into an 88' EDZ inverted vee, 40' at the apex, and 12' at the ends. The ends face roughly North-South. His paddle will be either the Schurr Profi II or Begali Magnetic Signature. Monty, N5ESE, in Austin, TX, is also running a K2 at 5W, and it's hooked up to a 40M inverted vee. I'm ALMOST sure Monty will be in there... Tom, K2ESE, in Elizabeth, NJ, one of our new Barbers, will be using an FT-1000 MK5 (cranked down to 5 watts, of course), an Alpha Delta LB Plus dipole (160~40 ), and a beam for the higher bands. Bryan, W0ESE, of Holts Summit, MO, is another new Barber. Joe Rutledge, W7ESE, of Seattle, WA, rounds out our current crop of first-time Barbers. He wanted to use his Rock-Mite, but, hopefully, I've convinced him to use his my FT-897 at 5 watts, to give more of us a chance to work him. Joe is using a trap dipole. Lloyd, K3ESE, in Reisterstown, MD, is using his multiPIG+ at 5W to an 88' EDZ at 45' and a 302' horizontal loop up about 50', both fed with balanced line and tuned with a ZM-2. Barbers will call CQ ESE, and Customers will call CQ BS. Barbers may work split, if necessary. All the details, an easy-to-use autolog for reporting your scores afterwards, and results will be found at http://www.io.com/~n5fc/barbershop_contest.htm . This event combines the non-stop action of a two-hour sprint with the hunt-type event, albeit with eight ops being hunted, rather than one or two. The Barbers are spread out across the US, so everyone ought to be able to grab some of those bonus points. ...got two bits...? for the Barbers, Lloyd, K3ESE __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Now with 25x more storage than before! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] Re: QRP Barbershop OCTET Contest tonight!
Trev - K6ESE wrote: Anyone on for the contest??? 20 Meters sure is dead! Trev, 20 Meters really bit the big one tonight! I only had two Qs on 20. As usual. 40 Meters was the place to be. I hung out on 80 Meters for a while and was disappointed to not see more activity there. 73 de Larry W2LJ ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
RE: [Elecraft] Missing some dits and dahs
That's normal in all K2's, QRP or QRO, Ken. Unless you have a neo-geo-gravitational flux going over on the east side of Portland that we don't have on the west side (in Forest Grove) G. What's happening is that the K2 power control is actually a requested power control. When you change the POWER knob setting, the next time you transmit the power monitoring circuit compares the RF power output with what you've requested and then adjusts the RF output to match it, assuming that it can. That's why the POWER control lets you set it for power levels above what the K2 actually produces on most bands. In order for the K2 to know whether to change the power output to match what you've requested, it be making RF. The logic circuits monitoring the power output are polled at intervals, so if you send some dits it might take several before the K2 is actually making RF long enough for the power control circuit to adjust things properly. For safety's sake, when you first turn the K2 on, the internal power control automatically sets the output to zero, so the first dit or two are sent at nearly zero watts. You can bump up the power faster after turn-on by sending a dah instead of dits. Ron AC7AC -Original Message- After a few months delay of ignoring my K2, I finally got back to putting the audio board, keying mod and new firmware in, and have noticed what I think is a new problem for me, (not sure if it wasn't there before) When in CW mode, (have the 100 watt pa board) and I first key up, I get nothing out, seems to take about 2 to 3 dits before power comes up, after that, all is fine, If I change bands, the same thing happens, go back to the previous band, its the same, 2 to 3 dits, power comes up, have noticed, that usually on the 2 or third dit, it only comes up to maybe 20-30 watts, then full 100 watts, this does not seem normal, did I forget to turn something on ? or off ?? anybody else come across this ??? 73 de K7ZUM Ken in GresHAM Ore ___ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
