[Elecraft] Question about K2 power meter

[Jeff Kinzli N6GQ]

Don and others,

A few weeks back, a user posted about an issue with low power output
with his K2. Don said:

> If you do not have either the KAT2, the KPA100, or the KAT100 installed, the
> K2 does not display the actual power output on the LCD (the requested power
> is displayed briefly when the power control is changed). What is the
> indication on the LED bargraph during transmit?

I'm going through an issue with my K2 where it *appears* to be putting
out too much power. With the KPA100 installed, the output sometimes
jumps up to 150+W.

I removed the KPA100 from the picture and have been seeing if I can
reproduce higher than normal output with just the base K2. So far, the
behavior is that if I enter TUNE mode, the indicated power on the
display of the K2 will rise to 16-17W. My watt meter isn't accurate
enough to tell me what it's *really* putting out though, although with
the KPA100 it is accurate enough to see the 150W+ peaks.

So I was trying to think if it's really putting out 16+W, or if the
power meter is really telling me it's TRYING to put it out (because my
external wattmeter looks like actually less, but again not accurate).

I also thought maybe it's an ALC issue, because if I rotate the power
knob back then back up to max, the indicated power on the K2 will go
to about 15W, but the next time I do TUNE again, it again goes back up
to 16+W.

Any thoughts on this? Should I keep chasing ALC issues? I've already
gone through the base K2 RF board resoldering T1-T4, reheating
anything that looks suspect, etc. to no avail.

I also sent something to this effect to Gary at Support, I'm just hoping
someone might have any ideas that I could chase down.

Thanks,

Jeff