[Elecraft] K2 problem or is it the antenna?

[Randy Rathbun NV0U]

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Keith,

One thing you might look at, as you said, is the tuner.

I seem to recall wayyy back when I first got my ticket I had a very  
similar antenna issue. I can't remember the details too much, but it  
turned out the tuner was arcing. It was an MFJ tuner of some sort. I  
distinctly remember hearing a buzzing noise from somewhere in the  
shack when I was keying my Century 21. After listening closely you  
could hear popping coming from it.

I traced it to the tuner and pulled the cover off. Once I did that  
the problem went away. Putting the cover on made it happen again, so  
I turned the cover upside down so I could see inside and watch. There  
was a nice 1/8" arc between the coil and case. The fix was easy - I  
tried various things and ended up settling on a piece of cardboard  
between the coil and the case. It was enough of an insulator to stop  
it. Of course, I was just waiting for the day that the cardboard  
would ignite, but it never did.


On Apr 19, 2006, at 3:56 PM, Darwin, Keith wrote:

> Good Q's Ron.
> I'll find it eventually.  Maybe a bad PL259 on the RG213 coax.   
> Maybe an
> issue inside the tuner.  One thing is sure, I won't need a solder  
> sucker
> to fix the problem :-)

Randy Rathbun NV0U
randy.nv0u at gmail.com
K2 #1981 KX1#1318
QRPARCI #10776, ARS #895, FPQRP #1292, KCQRP #1


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