[Elecraft] Q: Building the K2

[Nick Waterman]

Fred Jensen wrote:
> Sorry Nick, "Teeny" and "lightning" in the same sentence is
> oxymoronic.
[...]
> Disconnect your K2.  Disconnect all your gear.  Unplug it from the
> surge

Perhaps you misunderstand me, or perhaps I wasn't making myself clear. I
have my KAT100 switched to a dummy load by default and my antennas on
ANT2 are disconnected by the relays when there's no power...

... BUT I'm not going to pretend that this is going to protect me from a
direct strike, or even something nearby, probably not even something in
my village. I nearly ALWAYS remember to completely unplug my antennas
when not using the rig, but IF, just IF I forget to, and a thunderstorm
passes, I suspect that having my antennas the other side of a relay gap
is still considerably better than having sensitive front-ends directly
connected. I'm not pretending it's adequate lightning protection, but
it's got to buy me a few more miles of safety margin just IF I forgot to
disconnect my K2.

pa3gyu wrote:
> I ended up using a 50 ohm 'terminator' on 'Ant2'. It looks like a BNC
> connector and has a small chain that you can screw down so you can't
> loose it. In the old days these were used to terminate 50 ohm
> Ethernet networks. I'm not sure about the power they are supposed to
> be able to handle

Usually about half a watt.

> but this particular one has survived many of my
> attempts to tune 'Ant2' ....

You're quite lucky, but I guess auto "TUNE" never lasts longer than a
second or two at about 2W, so you'll tend to get away with it. Like my
"slight lightning protection", it's not a real solution, but bound to be
better than "none at all"   :-)

-- 
"Nosey" Nick Waterman, G7RZQ, K2 #5209.
use Std::Disclaimer;    sig at noseynick.net
Many a man's tongue broke his nose. -Seumas MacManus