[Elecraft] K2 SSB, "Hi Cur" message on PTT

[Brian Machesney]

Doug,

I have owned and used my K2/100 on SSB and CW for almost 10 years, but it
has been relegated to "second radio" duty since getting my K3 a year ago.

I've been getting the K2 ready for a DXpedition for the last few days and I
have noticed a similar symptom to what you describe, as part of a
more-general syndrome that I can't explain and that is very unnerving.

The primary problem is that I frequently turn on the K2 in USB mode but I
can't get any output. Speaking into the mic simply doesn't produce any
output, doesn't move the ALC meter and doesn't produce anything I can hear
on the K3. Even though it all worked together fine the previous day.

As part of the diagnosis procedure, I removed the mic plug from the front
panel and shorted the PTT pin to the adjacent GND pin - I was going to see
if touching the MIC pin in this configuration would create output and
indicate a faulty line from the mic itself. Lo and behold, shorting the PTT
and GND pins produced a *strong* carrier, whose output I could vary with the
POWER control.

Since this didn't produce the expected result (to say the least!), I
remembered that the "dot" side of the paddle would act as PTT, so I plugged
in a paddle and got the same behavior.

Just for grins, I switched to CW and everything worked as expected.

Switching back to USB, it too now works as expected.

At some point in this procedure, I saw both the Hi Cur and the PA Hot
warnings, but both are gone now.

Don - any thoughts on what's going on here? Do I have to do a "reboot" of
the radio?

Brian K1LI