[Elecraft] ALC meter response question

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

That's perfectly normal, Andrey.

When you reach full RF output as requested by your setting on the POWER
control, the K2 ALC circuit "turns down" the gain to keep the power from
exceeding that level AND lights the ALC display bars.

So the moment ONE bar flickers, the K2 is putting out all the RF you are
requesting. If you have the POWER control set at 10 watts, it's putting =
out
its full rated RF power (unless you have the KPA100 working!). The =
number of
bars that light only indicates how much the ALC must reduce the transmit
gain to hold the power down to the level you request. That's why more =
bars
light when you reduce the power below 10 watts.=20

You did not mention which band you ran the test on. The RF power output =
in
SSB mode is a function of both the audio gain AND the gain of the RF =
stages
in the transmitter. The gain of the RF stages in the transmitter is =
lowest
at 10 meters on most K2s, so I'd suggest you confirm that you get a =
little
flicker of at least the right hand bar on 10 meter SSB.=20

You will also need a little more audio if you run compression. The =
higher
the compression, the higher the audio needed. So check the output on 10
meters at the highest compression level you are likely to use. If you =
are
still seeing at least a little flicker of one bar, you have plenty of =
audio
for full RF output.

With the bar graph in RF mode it shows "peak" SSB power output, so you =
can
also confirm that you have full RF output by watching the RF output too.
Keep in mind that the peaks of the audio waveform for speech are very =
brief
unless you use a lot of compression, so if you have the RF POWER set for =
10
watts, the 10 watt bar will only flicker very briefly on occasional =
voice
peaks. That's normal and indicates full RF output.=20

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289

-----Original Message-----

I have a question about the ALC meter response:
My K2 is Rev. A with all mods to bring it up to Rev B. Incl VFO/ALC mod. =
I
have the SSB board installed, using MH2 mic, gain set to 2 and =
compression
set to 2:1. Something i have noticed is when I switch the S-meter =
indicator
from RF to ALC mode, during transmit, only the very first (most right) =
LED
from the ALC meter lights up and blinks as i talk. (the output power is =
set
to 10W in this case) Is this normal? I have no complains from my =
transmit
signal. If i decrease the power to about 1-2W, then i can see 3 or 4 =
LEDs
coming up and the meter response looks more "normal", but with Maximum =
power
only the very right one light's up and blinks when i lower my voice. =
Just
dont know if this is the normal readings i should get? Any help will be
appreciated! Thanks in advance!

73s
KB1FZA