[Elecraft] Wire size for the ground on the KX2

[Don Wilhelm]

Skip,

Yes, I believe that later Elecraft products do have a static bleed or 
other static prevention across the antenna connections.

BUT for K2 owners, that is not the case.  The original KPA100 design had 
a 100uH RF Choke across the antenna terminals for just that purpose, but 
the latest KPA100 upgrade (to reduce the chance of an oscillation of 
about 8MHz when on 40 meters) the choke was removed because it coupled 
with the base K2 causing the oscillation.

For those K2 that I repair that have damaged wattmeter diodes in the 
KPA100, I have been installing a non-reactive 47k 2 watt resistor across 
the SO-239 jack, and also across the antenna jacks in the KAT100 (I put 
them on the bottom of the board, it is easier than soldering directly to 
the jacks).

The best defense is to disconnect the antenna(s) when not in use.

Your solution of putting a Tee adapter on the rig with a resistor 
soldered into a PL-259 on one side of the Tee is a good one.
The resistor can be smaller than 100-200k, but as the value gets 
smaller, the wattage should go up.  I would not recommend anything less 
than 33k ohms.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 6/17/2017 4:59 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:

> I believe, but do not know for sure, that Elecraft designs all have a 
> static bleed across the antenna connection.  Possibly someone who knows 
> can enlighten all the rest of us. If you want to be sure and don't want 
> to take your radio apart, wire a 100K-200K 1/8 W resistor across a 
> PL-259 [or BNC].  Put a T-adapter onto the radio, resistor on one leg, 
> antenna on the other.