[Elecraft] Funny power measurements

[Francis Belliveau]

Okay, I guess I left out some critical details from my original post.

I am using a 50 ohm load that is intended to be used to convert test
equipment from hi-impedence input to 50 ohms.  It is labled 50 ohms and
measures 50 ohms with my DMM.  It should be purely resistive and I do not
have any equipment to prove that it is.

The need to load it properly using the KAT2 was only because I wanted the
KAT2 in-circuit for improved forward power measurement within the K2.  I
knew that it would need to load things to cancel itself out.

Based upon what Ron, Don and Jack have said, I guess that I should remove
the KAT2 and RF probe and try something similar to what I tried last time I
attempted to understand how well this radio tracks against the published
specifications.

Would it be reasonable to just place a short piece of coax between the load
and an O'Scope, measure the peak-to-peak voltage, divide by 2*SQRT(2) and go
from there?

Would this require knowing the coax velocity factor and dealing with prioper
lengths of coax based upon wavelength (half or quarter) at the different
frequencies?

I ask these questions because last time I tried using my Scope to make these
measurements, the measurements were obviously incorrect because they
indicated that my rig was way more than 100% efficient.

What I expect is that I can make apropriate measurements at 3 points on each
band and see that I get no more that 10% variation across said band and from
band-to-band.  I expect that I have a problem on 10 Meters because I am
getting a HiCur indication at 3 amps when set for 10 watts, so something
needs changing there.  However, until I have trustable measurements on the
other bands, I expect that untangling the issues will be impossible.

Help from the experts is needed on how to make such measurements without
fancy RF power meters.  Obviously a purely resistive 50 ohm load is the
first requirement, and I believe that I have that.

73,
Fran