[Elecraft] Re: Frustrated!

wayne burdick n6kr at elecraft.com
Sat Jan 8 13:44:23 EST 2005


On Jan 8, 2005, at 10:24 AM, Ed Palmer wrote:

> I still can't get this silly K2 to work on 20 and 30 meters. It 
> appears to work well on all the other bands however.

Hi Ed,

Having built (and designed) many kits, I can empathize with your 
frustration at not being able to get part of it to work correctly. 
Please don't take a hammer to it quite yet -- it's really a great rig  
;)  The fact that it's working on the other bands means you're 99% 
there, and you really have successfully completed the kit.

It sounds like you've tried all of the things I would try, initially, 
but here are some more recommendations:

   - The transmit mode signal-tracing procedure in Appendix E of the 
manual is very easy, and very effective
     at locating where the signal is disappearing. An easy to build RF 
probe is supplied with the kit.
     Chances are you can find out exactly where the signal is getting 
lost -- probably the band-pass or
     low-pass filters, but without tracing, you can't be sure.

   - If you build a simple test oscillator like that shown in Appendix 
E, you can inject a signal at the antenna
     jack, and trace it using the RF probe. To do this, switch to 20 or 
30 meters, shut off the rig, then
     trace backwards with the RF probe starting at the antenna jack.

My guess is that you have a short on the RF board in the 20/30-meter 
lowpass filter. Sometimes these shorts can be hard to find.

If all else fails, please send the rig to Gary, our customer support 
engineer. He's seen just about everything, and I'm sure he can quickly 
fix it for you. If it turns out that the RF board was defective, the 
repair will be entirely on us.

73,
Wayne, N6KR
(principle designer of the K2)


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http://www.elecraft.com



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