[Elecraft] K2: Debugging low transmit power

[Owen B. Mehegan]

Well that did it! I verified that I put C6 in the wrong two holes,  
corrected it, and now I'm getting good power out on 40m! Thanks Don!  
I'm still seeing only .3-.4 watts on 12m and 10m, but I realize I'm  
getting ahead of myself. Should I just proceed through the alignment  
until I get to 12m and 10m, or should I continue looking for another  
fault?

--
owen at nerdnetworks.org (Owen B. Mehegan)
'This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.'
   --William Shakespeare

On Oct 6, 2010, at 5:05 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Owen,
>
> I will have to take some of the blame about the wording in the  
> manual errata sheet.  I had though specifying the outer holes of the  
> set of three was sufficient - but I was apparently thinking only of  
> a "set" in mathematical language terms (I am certain any  
> mathematician would select the right holes from that statement), so  
> Ron got approval and made the errata item that reads like yours.
> After hearing about several builders who still were having trouble,  
> we decided to change the errata again to state explicitly that the  
> middle hole of the 3 should be empty (or some wording to that  
> effect). We hope this wording clears up the confusion once and for  
> all.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 10/6/2010 5:31 PM, Owen B. Mehegan wrote:
>> Ah, so you did, Don. My mistake for not taking heed, I would have
>> pressed on with the signal tracing. However, while sitting here at  
>> work
>> and pondering the problem, I just re-read your message below for  
>> the 3rd
>> or 4th time, and something clicked: AHA! I _did_ put C6 in the wrong
>> holes!! When I realized you were specifically referring to a strip  
>> of 3
>> holes it jogged my memory. There's even an errata about this, which I
>> dutifully added to the manual, but it still confused me. The errata
>> says:
>>
>> Add to the end of the step, "Use the outer of the three holes, not  
>> the
>> two holes closest to the left edge of the pc board."
>>
>> Somehow I just interpreted that as "use the two holes closest to the
>> right edge." Since I'm at work at the K2 is at home, I thought I  
>> would
>> have to wait to confirm my mistake, but I remembered that I sent some
>> friends a picture of the board when I finished it. I just pulled it  
>> up
>> in my email, and I can clearly see that C6 is in the wrong holes!
>>
>> I'll correct this tonight and see what that gets me. Thanks Don!
>>
>