[Elecraft] Broken relay in KAT2

[W3FPR - Don Wilhelm]

Chas,

Look for a short between either pins 2 and 3 or pins 8 and 9 of KAT2 K18.
As you have concluded, a short batween those points or a faulty relay is the
only thing that could allow output on ANT 1 when ANT2 is selected.

But OTOH, if the indicator says ANT 1 in all cases, that indicates a problem
with the controls somewhere - double check that the indicator really always
stays at ANT 1 - the combination of the two situations just doesn't make
sense to me right now (the indication comes from the control software while
the RF path comes from the relay points, and I can't see that they are
related under fault conditions.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> One of the relays in my KAT2 is stuck or a relay contact is shorted. When
> you select antenna 1 it is ok. When you select antenna 2 both
> antennas are
> selected (bad), and the indicator stays on Ant1. I guess replacing the
> relay is necessary. I don't know why it stuck. I first noticed it this
> morning while running the 5 watt beacon on 14102 KHz testing my
> EH antenna
> against my Hustler 6BTV vertical. Both external SWR meters read and the
> antenna was detuned. The beacon software is not supposed to hot
> switch, and
> the SWR on both antennas is less than 1.8:1. I have been running
> the beacon
> for over a month, and it switches antennas from 1 to 2 and back
> to 1 every
> 5 minutes. We have had only one lightning storm since the summer,
> and that
> was about a month ago. My K2 is S/N 462, but it has not seen hard or
> frequent use. Seems the relays should be good for more cycles than that.
>
>   Any suggestions which relay is malfunctioning or why?
>
> 73,  Chas,  W1CG
>