[Elecraft] K2 40-Meter Transmitter Alignment Question

[Bill Coleman]

On 3/20/02 10:33 PM, Kirby J. Davis at kb4utz@usa.net wrote:

>Tonight I completed the Part III assembly of the K2 and began the 
>40-Meter Transmitter Alignment section. I have a question regarding 
>the typical current drain figures stated in the manual at 5 watts and 
>10 watts and what I saw on the K2's display.
>
>-- For 5 watts, the manual indicates a current drain of 1.3 to 1.6 
>amps. My K2's current drain at 5 watts peaked at 1.7 amps.
>
>-- For 10 watts, the manual indicates a current drain of 1.8 to 2 
>amps. My K2's current drain at 10 watts peaked at 2.2 amps.
>
>Should I be concerned?

That's about what I saw on my K2 last night for every band. (The CUR menu 
defaults to 2.5 amps, and I was able to see 10 watts or more on each band 
before seeing HI CUR)

After doing the TX alignment on all bands, I did notice that the finals 
were relatively cool (only slightly warm), but the DRIVER transistor was 
considerably warm (uncomfortable to touch).

Oh, and I had trouble getting transmitter output on 20m. I didn't do the 
RX pre-alignment. When I tried 20m, I got no output. I did all the other 
bands (80m, 40m, 17m/15m, 12m/10m) and then came back to 20m. On a whim, 
I tried 30m, and got output. Once I peaked up 30m, I got some output on 
20m, and it peaked up easily.



Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901