[Elecraft] RE: Low output power on SSB after BW mod

[Don Wilhelm]

Gregg,

There should be no direct relationship between doing the bandwidth 
change and lowered SSB output.  You may want to check for something that 
you inadvertently did.

What are you using to measure the peak power output?  What did this same 
instrument read before you installed the new capacitors?

The best instrument I know of to check the peak power output is a 
'scope.  It can indicate the instantaneous RF voltage easily and it is 
easy to compare that level to a CW reference level.  'Peak indicating' 
wattmeters do have a time constant to indicate the peak and can be 
fooled by the audio waveform.  In other words, they are not always 
correct when indicating the peak output of a SSB signal.

Try increasing your compression to 3:1 or even 4:1 and see if that makes 
a difference.

Lastly, put the K2 display in ALC and see if any bars illuminate on the 
right side of the bargraph - if even one bar lights, you are driving the 
K2 adequately with the mic.

73,
Don W3FPR



W6IZT wrote:
> Using an MH2 mic
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: W6IZT [mailto:w6izt at bellsouth.net]
> Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 12:33 PM
> To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Low output power on SSB after BW mod
> 
> I just performed the 2.4 KHz bandwidth mod. While the audio response is
> better the output power is only 80-85 watts on SSB on normal voice peaks
> with ssba set to 2 and ssbc set to 2. If  I whistle loudly into the mic I
> can get 100 watts out. On cw the radio puts out 100w or more on all bands.
> This was not expected as the new filter should have less loss? Any ideas on
> how I can get the SSB output up to 100 watts
> 
> Gregg
> W6IZT