[Elecraft] K2 Low Power?

[Don Wilhelm]

Mike,

If resistor R50 is open, in most cases you will have very little (less 
than 1 watt) output.  My best guess is that one of the PA transistors 
opened up when you encountered a very high SWR.  When experimenting with 
antennas, it is best to keep the power down to one or two watts.
When practicing CW, either turn the power all the way down or put it 
into CW Test (Hold the MODE button).  Caution, CW Test is turned off if 
you power cycle the K2.

You can do Transmit Signal Tracing at any power level, but the Expected 
values in the manual will not be what is listed unless the power is set 
to 5 watts AND the K2 is not capable of producing 5 watts.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/16/2011 4:49 PM, vicki glover wrote:
> Hello all,
> I don't think my K2 is developing normal output power.  Been having some complaints about not being heard well enough to copy, so I hooked it up to a dummy load and caluculated that when set to call for 15 watts it is only producting about 8.56 watts with a current draw of 2.06A with supply voltage of 13.7volts.  Even if I run the supply voltage up to 15 volts it is still under 10 watts.  When it is set to call for 10 watts the output is under 5 watts.  I have been using the TEST mode to practice CW with a paddle (am used to a bug).  Would this have damaged the rig.   I checked the troubleshooting section in the manual about low power, but what is too low before I should start doing the signal tracing?  I did see a Hi-Cur warning a couple of times when experimenting with some antennas, could the resistor R-50 be open?  Any thoughts would be welcome.
> 73
>