[Elecraft] K2/100 CAL acting up?

[Don Wilhelm]

Casey,

It is a bit difficult to diagnose the KPA100 and the KAT100 when both 
are in the EC2 enclosure.

Take the top off your K2 and connect the KPA100 directly to the base K2, 
and do tests into a dummy load.  Make certain that the Hi CUR messages 
do not occur on any band with the power set to 100 watts.
You must do a TUNE/DISPLAY to obtain full power.
Put a wattmeter between the KPA100 and the dummy load and observe both 
the K2 display and the external wattmeter.  The power reading should be 
within 20% of each other, and the SWR should be 1:1.  If not, you should 
null and then calibrate the KPA100 wattmeter first.

Next, put the QRP top cover on the K2 and test the KAT100 without the 
KPA100 connected.  Plug the control cable into the KIO2 and the KAT100 
just as you would with the K2 'twins' - power the KAT100 from the 2.1mm 
power jack.

Still working with the dummy load, balance the KAT100 wattmeter and 
Balance (null) and calibrate it at 10 watts as indicated in the KAT100 
manual.  You will have to feed the base K2 into the KAT100 ANT1 and RF 
IN jacks.  Put the cable from the K2 back into the RF IN jack and the 
dummy load to the ANT1 jack.
Then switch the ATU Menu to AUTO and tune all bands into the dummy load.

Put the KPA100 back in the EC2 enclosure and again test into a dummy 
load on all bands.

hen go to your antenna and TUNE on all bands of interest.  It should 
tune to an SWR of less than 1.5.

Let us know where that testing goes awry.

If all goes successful up until you try to load the antenna, check your 
antenna to see if it has any open connections, bad feedline, etc.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/5/2017 5:09 PM, TI2/NA7U wrote:
> My KAT2/100 seems to be acting up. Started noticing high SWR problems with a
> tuned antenna, so ran further tests with a dummy load.
>
> First thing is when I set Menu->AtU-CAL, I get high SWR readings. I thought
> this was supposed to zero out/bypass the tuner. Clicking of relays is heard
> but with a dummy load the SWR reading is 4:1 on the LED scale. It's also
> pulling down the voltage as I clearly hear my outboard fan reduce RPM.
>
> If I set it back to Auto, the high SWR remains until I hit TUNE, which
> quickly takes it down to 1:1 (or something reasonable when using an antenna)
> Sometimes, if the rig is in high power range I see a momentary HiCur flash
> at first key down. My current level is set to 3.5A.