[Elecraft] Sick KAT100

[bills4570@att.net]

All,

I just finished checking all the inductors and relays for solder quality.  
Everything looked OK, but I did reflow a few joints just to make sure. Thanks 
to Tom Hammond (and others)for the suggestions.

Also checked to make sure each inductor and capacitor was placed correctly on 
the board  --  nothing wrong there.

I checked all the relays during operation to be certain that pin 5 was grounded 
when activated, and that the NO and common contacts had continuity.

Not finding anything wrong, I wasn't surprised that the unit still would not 
tune on 40, 80 or 160 M; even into a 50 ohm dummy load.  Everything works just 
fine at 10 Mhz and higher.

I gathered a bit more evidence which may help piece the solution together:

Generally, the tuner works better on high power (20w) than low power (2w).  
Using high power, 40 M frequencies would tune at 4.0:1, but using low power , 
the tuner just cycled for a few seconds and gave up.  I reinitialized the tuner 
memory, returned to the "auto" mode and tuned into the dummy load again on 10 M 
and 20 M.  In each case the tuner would not find a solution on low power, but 
tuned in just a few seconds on high power.

I turned the KAT100 off by selecting ATU CAL, and attempted to tune into the 
dummy load.  In each case, the K2 showed "Hi-Current" then displayed 1:1 SWR 
but at greatly reduced power.

I'm using the KAT100 and KPA100 in an EC-2 enclosure outboard of the K2.  My 
interconnecting RF and control cables are 36" or less.

Anyone have any fresh ideas?  I'm stumped!


--
Bill Schwantes
W7QQ K2 2715