[Elecraft] K2 Transmit audio bubbly

[Don Wilhelm]

Ed,

I suggest for your first step that you remove the right side panel from 
the K2 and tuck the ribbon cable and speaker wire up into the area near 
the top of the control board.  If those cables are run over the KSB2 
board it can often cause symptoms about like you describe.

Unless you have an 'RF in the shack' condition that creates mic 
feedback, I can't think of anything that would be caused by the addition 
of the KAT100 - except for the additional data traffic on the ribbon 
cable to the KPA100 needed to talk with the KAT100, and dressing that 
cable will help if that is the cause.

One other thing that you could do is to ground the shell of your mic 
jack and be certain the mic cable has a shield connection to the shell 
of the mic plug.

If you still have problems, test for RF in the shack by connecting a 
quarter wavelength wire to the ground lug on the KAT100 (leave the far 
end open, insulated and in the clear, just as you would an antenna end, 
there will be high voltage RF on it).  If the counterpoise wire makes a 
difference, you need to look at your antenna system to see how the RF in 
the shack can be reduced (baluns, feedline chokes, better antenna 
balance, etc.).

Do NOT reset the K2 unless you have recorded all your menu settings 
including the filter and BFO settings.  A master reset is not likely to 
help any with a problem like you have, but it certainly can mess things 
up and you will be in for a CAL PLL and filter alignment job and 
restoration of other settings if you choose to do that reset.

73,
Don W3FPR

eKotz wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Until today I have had no audio problems but this noon while I was in 
> QSO I was told that my audio was clipping and progressively 
> worsening.   This was confirmed by another ham on freq.   I monitored 
> my signal with another radio and my voice audio understandable but 
> sounds rather bubbly or bumpy as if I were operating mobile on a 
> washboard road.
>
> ALC is now showing 1-7 LED's lit with SSBA 2 & SSBC 2-1.   As I 
> recall, when built, the ALC had no more than 2-3 LED's lit.
> No change with substituted mics.
> No change whether powered with battery or power supply.
> Distortion is present on all bands and at all power settings... from 
> .1 to 100 watts.
> Distortion is present even if I am soft talking with 1 LED lit on ALC.
>
> My only change this past week has been the addition of a KAT100 and I 
> have had several QSO's since without problems reported before this 
> occurred.   The assembly, alignment, testing, etc. of the KAT100 went 
> very well.
>
>
> Is there a known problem I need to address?   Do I need to reset the 
> K2 configuration to factory defaults?
>