[Elecraft] K1 Transmitter Alignment

[Morrow, Michael A.]

From John Pfeifer:=20

>I finished the RF Board, Part 2 (transmitter) assembly. All the
>resistance and voltage checks were good.  Did the preparation for
>transmit alignment per page 46 of the manual and set the power to 2.0
>watts.
>
>When I begin the alignment and put the K1 into TUNE mode, the display
>reads P0.1 and I get no indication of power output on my external
>wattmeter, even when the wattmeter range is set to 100mW.

John,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your description above sounds as if you
expected some power out when you began the transmitter alignment, even
though you had not yet tweaked the filter board tuning after putting the
K1 in transmit.  Often this does not happen.

The tuning will be quite critical for the tranmit alignment.  Even if
you peaked the filter board circuits for a great receive signal, it's
likely that when you begin the transmit alignment the output will be
very low or non-existent until you begin to re-adjust the tuning and
find the point at which the transmit output power is peaked.  The
earlier receiver alignment only gets the tuning in the ball park.  The
transmit adjustment is where the real alignment of the same caps (K1-4)
or coils (K1-2) that you had tuned for max receiver sensitivity is
finalized.

Try it again, and slowly tweak the tuning once you are in transmit.
Likely you'll see the power output begin to come up in short order
afterwards.

73,
Mike / KK5F