[Elecraft] K2: Temperature of driver Q6 during keydown

[Don Wilhelm]

Michael,

If you are talking of continuous key-down, that long a period could 
cause a problem.  The K2 power should be limited to 5 watts for 
continuous keying (or continuous duty data modes).
'Transmit cycles' of 15 minutes would be transmitting normal CW as in a 
QSO - that places the maximum duty cycle at 50% and you can run 10 watts 
easily.  Set a brick (or other appropriate device) on your dot paddle 
and run it into a dummy load.

In most cases, you will not find a lot of improvement in the QRP K2 
because the heat generating components are far away from the PLL and 
thermistor area, but the heat does increase with the addition of the 
KPA100 - more heat coupled with a smaller space.

73,
Don W3FPR

Michael Linden wrote:
>   Fine tuning of the PLL temperature compensation circuit requires transmit cycles of 15 minutes or so at 10 Watts. However, I've found that driver Q6 gets hot to the touch after just a few minutes of key-down. Is a transmit cycle of 15 minutes really a good idea?
>    
>
>