[Elecraft] Thumps or pops and now a dead sidetone - What next? de AL7FS (long)

[David A. Belsley]

Jim:
  Could be that when you punched and played with several buttons you turned 
the side-tone source to the wrong setting in the menu.  Go into the menu, 
push display to get to the secondary menu, then scroll to the side-tone 
source setting.  Push display to toggle the two positions (U8 and U6) to 
get to the right one.

best wishes,

dave belsley, w1euy

--On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 8:14 AM -0800 Jim Larsen - AL7FS 
<AL7FS@ARRL.NET> wrote:

> My K2 is slowly fading by inches.  I have been working with Gary on my
> problem but now it has escalated to a dead sidetone.  Here is the story.
>
> I wrote to Gary and described pops or thumps at the end of a key down,
> i.e., if I key a string of dashes as each dash ends the headphones or the
> speaker thumps or pops at the end of each dash.  Sometimes it did not do
> it and at other times the rig was not very useable it was so bad.  I never
> could identify what variable made it happen or not happen.  Gary responded
> as follows:
>
> "I'd try another power supply or power cable. Make sure the DC
> connector fits well, and the size and length of the cord is 3 ft of #16 or
># 18 AWG.  If there is too much voltage drop or droop in TX, you might be
># on
> the edge of adequate regulation.
>
> **  DC cord is a short length and probably a #16 but at least #18.
> Voltage per the rig's voltmeter is 12.7 volts.  That is about right as I
> am running my power supply a bit low to not overcook a 40 amp hour gel
> cell being floated.  I have both the PS and the gel cell on line at all
> times.  No voltage sag.
>
> Also see if changing the t-r delay in the Menu makes any difference. You
> could have marginal muting.
>
> **  I reduced the t-r to zero and it seemed to reduce the thump and I
> liked the setting better (full QSK versus semi-QSK).  Last night the
> thump was back. (More detail below.)
>
> I've had RF get into some types of headphones and cause weird stuff like
> this.
>
> ** This occurs both in headphones and in the K2 speaker.
>
> Check your antenna cables for poor connections too. I've had that problem
> on
> several occasions.
>
> **  I tried a different cable and saw no change.
>
> 73, Gary AB7MY
> =====================
>
> Yesterday I built up the audio filter and installed it in the K2.  Seems
> to work fine.  All setup steps worked as advertised.  Then the thump
> started up again.  (Note: may not be relevant but I raised max current to
> allow short test at max output, about 15 watts on the K2 meter.  Keyed and
> checked then backed the power back down to 5 watts.)  I played with the
> audio filter a bit more and was punching buttons here and there.
>
> Finally the sidetone quit.  I researched my 33,000+ Elecraft message files
> and found that it is possible to have set the sidetone source to the wrong
> source.  I checked.  It is ok.  I changed it over and changed it back
> several times.  I powered up the rig and down several times.  I unplugged
> the rig several times.
>
> The only thing left that seems easy is to open the top and flipped the AF
> in and out a few times.  I will do that.  Question: Should the AF go to
> off when the rig is turned off?  Seems awkward to always have to turn it
> back on every time I turn on the rig.
>
> One owner did a full reset of the CPU.  Ugh.  I will have to read to see
> what notes I have to make before I reset and just how to do that.  I can't
> remember the keystrokes for the reset at this point either.  I would mind
> if someone can let me know what to do and what not to forget so I don't
> have to do Spectrogram and everything else all over again.
>
> On a positive note...with the sidetone totally dead, the thump or pop
> problem has gone away.  :-)
>
> Could the thump or pop have been a precursor to something about to fail?
> And now it has?  Doesn't seem likely but...
>
> I am trying to get the K2 ready for my trip to San Diego and yesterday I
> just bought a ton of extra accessories.  I hope to have this fixed in the
> next day or two before the NB, SSB, tuner, battery, mike, etc. arrives.
>
> Thank you list members for tolerating my public message versus just
> working only with Gary (Thanks, Gary).
>
> 73, Jim
> --
> Jim Larsen, AL7FS, Anchorage, Alaska
> (BP51cc) - 61.101 North, 149.824 West
> ex-WA0LPK AK-QRP#003  SOC#003  10-X-#12094
> mailto:al7fs@arrl.net - http://www.qsl.net/al7fs/
>
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----------------------------------
David A. Belsley
Professor of Economics