[Elecraft] K2 S/N 5556 Transmitter Alignment
Hello all, This is my first post to the group so I hope it works correctly! Happy to report that K2 S/N 5556 is alive in Australia! However I'm slightly concerned about the results I'm getting during transmitter alignment. After running through the TX alignment procedure twice the best results I can get for max power out are as follows: 80m - 8.1w 40m - 9.6w 30m - 10.8w 20m - 14.5w 17m - 13.6w 15m - 9.1w 12m - 10.5w 10m - 10.6w These power figures come from the internal K2 power meter but a CB radio pwr/swr meter connected between K2 and 50 ohm commercial dummy load agrees with these figures with surprising accuracy. The question being are these output figures 'normal'? Output on 80m, 15m and perhaps even 40m seems a bit low to me. Simply because I'm expecting to see 10w or more on each band. In addition I got a 'Hi Cur' warning are soon as I raised the power level to maximum. My K2 consistently draws 2.69A on all bands according to the digital current meter in the power supply but the K2 current meter registers values from 2.52A to 2.54A. I'm inclined to believe the K2 but as yet have not checked the current draw with a meter. I have for the moment increased the 'Hi Cur' warning threshold to 3.0A. Again, same question, is this current draw 'normal' or abnormally high? I have double checked the 80m bandpass filter components, toroid type/number of turns and the capacitor values and all appears to be correct. So I'm not sure if I have a problem or not. A sincere thanks guys for all your combined help getting me to this point. No I haven't posted to the list before but when confused (and that happened regularly !-) my questions were always answered by the list archives! Cheers from 'down-under' Steve VK2SJA K2 S/N 5556 ___ 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] K2 S/N 5556 Transmitter Alignment - Doh!
G'day again, I feel such a fool! I almost have to ask everyone to disregard my previous post. After turning off all the equipment ready to shuffle off to bed (it's very late/early here) I'm looking at the lab style bench power supply that I'm using an realise that it's max supply current is only 2.5A. I was hitting the current max of the supply and it was going into 'current limit' dropping the supply voltage to about 10-11 volts and I had not realised. Switching to a slighly larger lab supply capable of 3.0A output changes things slightly! I'm now getting the following power output from my K2:- 80m - 17.2w 40m - 16.5w 30m - 15.7w 20m - 15.6w 17m - 15.6w 15m - 14.5w 12m - 14.0w 10m - 11.5w Again these figures from the internal K2 power meter but the CB radio pwr/swr meter agrees. Very happy chap with these figures :) So now the only question that remains is the current draw. The K2 now shows current draw values between 2.58A and 2.92A. Is this current draw 'normal' for these power output figures? Cheers, and sorry to trouble the group with my false alarm! Steve VK2SJA K2 S/N 5556 ___ 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] K2 S/N 5556 Transmitter Alignment - Doh!
Steve, Honestly, if we had a contest for the most unbelieveable, boneheaded, mindless mistakes ever made in electronics, you wouldn't even come in the running. I would beat you and everyone else on this list so badly, they would have to give points to even it up. Just shake it off and go to the next step. Regards, Vin Cortina KR2F K1-4 s/n:1977 KX1 s/n:1476 (even still under construction) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Stephen Arnold Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 11:30 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 S/N 5556 Transmitter Alignment - Doh! G'day again, I feel such a fool! I almost have to ask everyone to disregard my previous post. After turning off all the equipment ready to ... ___ 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] K2 S/N 5556 Transmitter Alignment - Doh!
Steve, FB on your power supply confusion there. The answer to your question depends on the voltage out of your power supply (under load). If it is only 12 volts, then my answer is yes, the current draw is OK. But if your power supply is developing 13.8 volts or a bit more, then your current draw is a bit on the high side of normal. It is not so high that it would be something to worry about. If you limit the power to 12 watts, you will normally see 2.5 amps or less on all bands except for 10 meters. Partial explaination: The K2 does internal power level control and will try to ramp up the power to the level requested by the POWER knob. To develop 12 watts with a 12 volt supply requires more current than if the voltage is higher - it is a simple matter of Volts times Amps equals Power - the more volts, the less current required since the K2 tries to keep the power constant. 73, Don W3FPR -Original Message- I almost have to ask everyone to disregard my previous post. After turning off all the equipment ready to shuffle off to bed (it's very late/early here) I'm looking at the lab style bench power supply that I'm using an realise that it's max supply current is only 2.5A. I was hitting the current max of the supply and it was going into 'current limit' dropping the supply voltage to about 10-11 volts and I had not realised. Switching to a slighly larger lab supply capable of 3.0A output changes things slightly! I'm now getting the following power output from my K2:- 80m - 17.2w 40m - 16.5w 30m - 15.7w 20m - 15.6w 17m - 15.6w 15m - 14.5w 12m - 14.0w 10m - 11.5w Again these figures from the internal K2 power meter but the CB radio pwr/swr meter agrees. Very happy chap with these figures :) So now the only question that remains is the current draw. The K2 now shows current draw values between 2.58A and 2.92A. Is this current draw 'normal' for these power output figures? Cheers, and sorry to trouble the group with my false alarm! Steve VK2SJA K2 S/N 5556 ___ 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
