[Elecraft] problems with topband

[Tom Hammond]

John.s.Griffin wrote:

>Hi All, I don't seem to have any receive on topband, The r'ant is off, and 
>the aatu is tuning SWR 1.0.1 with the ant attached, With the r'ant on I 
>can hear a signal but it doesn't disappear when moving the vfo almost as 
>if the vfo is locked, But it isn't, Signals that are strong on my FT897 
>cannot be heard on the K2, help!!!!!

First, there's darn little to the K160RX module... no real 'electronics' 
per se, so signal tracing should be a snap.

  1) Connect one end of a cliplead (clips on each end) to
     pin 1 of J1 on the K160RX board. Alternatively, you
     can connect the cliplead to C114 (.01uf) on the K2 RF
     Board.

  2) To the other end of the cliplead, connect one lead of
     a capacitor (any value .001uF thru .1uF will work). The
     free (unattached) lead of the capacitor will be used as
     a 'signal injector'.

  3) Set the K2 to 160M.

  4) Touch the free lead of the cap to the center conductor
     of your 160M receiving antenna.

  5) If you CAN hear signals, then you have verified that
     the K2 CAN receive on 160M. Proceed.

  6) Now, connect the 160M RX antenna to the K2's ANT jack.
     This should allow signals from the antenna to be routed
     thru the K160RX when 160M operation is selected.

  7) Touch the free lead of the cap to each of the following
     points on the K160RX PC board. If you CAN hear 160M
     sigs then you have signal up to that point. Once you
     lose the signal, you have a good chance that the problem
     exists between the LAST successful test point and the
     point you just touched.

     NOTE: Soldered connections can sometimes become covered
           with a very thin residue of the rosin remaining
           after the joint was soldered. Rosin is an
           INSULATOR! So, in order to obtain a patent
           electrical connection between the radio and the
           free end of your capacitor, you may find that you
           must punch and poke the end of the capacitor THRU
           any rosin residue. If at first you don't get a
           good connection, try a number of times before you
           assume that there really is a signal loss at that
           point!

     Test points (in order) on K160RX PC board:

       Pins 12-14 of J1
       Jct. of L2/C3
       Jct. of L2/C2/L1
       Jct of L1/C1
       Pins 7-9 of J1

By this time, if you have a problem with your 160M option board, you should 
have found the point where the signal disappears and can take steps to fix 
the problem. Generally such problems result from one or more poorly tinned 
toroidal inductor leads, or an errant 'smear' of solder between adjacent 
soldered connections.

>Also how do you set the clock it's a couple of minuets slow, I didn't 
>build the radio but I have all the manuals for the options that are 
>fitted, = KSB2 SSB,KNB2, K160RX With receive ant switch,
>KAF2, KAT2 A.A.T.U, The Firmware is 2.01H 1.02

 From the KAF2 manual:


   Setting the Date and Time

   Turn the K2 on. Tap MENU, then tap DISPLAY to switch to the
   secondary menu, and locate the RTC menu entry. EDIT the
   parameter and change it to ON using BAND+ or BAND-. (This
   enables the clock feature.) Tap MENU twice to return to the
   frequency display.

   To set the real-time clock you must set the date first, then
   the time, as described below. (The KAF2 firmware enforces this
   sequence to help prevent accidental time changes. If you
   attempt to set the time first, or if you switch between time
   and date display more than once, any changes will be disabled.)

   1. Turn the K2 off, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on.
      If you plan to use WWV or some other onair time
      announcement, tune it in now. If you're setting the clock to
      UTC, don't forget to use the UTC date if it's different from
      the local date.

   2. Tap DISPLAY. After about 1 second, you should see a time
      display (HH.MM.SS). The time may not be changing at this
      point, and may be set to 01.01.01 or to a random time. Note:
      The receiver is not muted when time is displayed, so you may
      hear microcontroller-generated noise. If the noise is
      objectionable, turn down the AF gain when leaving the clock
      displayed for long periods of time.

   3. Hold BAND+ and BAND- together to switch to date display
      (MM-DD-YY or DD-MM-YY).

   4. Tapping BAND+ or BAND- will now change the day, and holding
      BAND+ or BAND- will change the month. To change the year: If
      the month is set to 12, each subsequent hold of BAND+ will
      increment the year. If the month is set to 1, each
      subsequent hold of BAND- will decrement the year. Once the
      desired year is selected, you can set the month by moving it
      back in the other direction.

   5. With the date now set, hold BAND+ and BAND- together to
      switch back to time display.

   6. Tapping BAND+ or BAND- will now change the minute, and
      holding BAND+ or BAND- will change the hour. Every change
      resets seconds to 00, so you can sync to a time reference if
      desired.

   7. To disable further changes, switch to date display, then
      back to time display. Then move the VFO knob or tap DISPLAY
      twice to return to the normal frequency display.

73,

Tom   N0SS