[Elecraft] [K2] - Very Low Output on 160m

[Ken Alexander]

Last weekend I put up a wire antenna consisting of approx 120 feet of wire in some trees connected to an SGC 237 auto tuner.  Ground for the moment consists of two 30 ft wires lying on the grass (this weekend's project).

The antenna works very well on all bands and for the first time I was able to try using 160m.  When I hit Tune on the K2 the needle on my wattmeter barely moves and the K2 display says "P 0.2" no matter what the setting of the POWER control is.

Thinking it might be the antenna I switched to a dummy load and tried again.  This time the wattmeter needle indicated approx 0.5 watts and the K2 display indicated "P 0.5" at every POWER control setting.

Receive on 160 is very good.

80m works fine on transmit and receive. I get a good 14 to 15 watts out on 80.  I know 80 and 160 share some components so I thought I'd check.  I'm wondering if I should do the 160 Meter Alignment in the Operating Manual, but how likely is it that L3 and L4 could be adjusted to give good output on 80m and zip on 160m?

Any ideas would be gratefully received.

Thanks and 73,

Ken Alexander
VE3HLS