[Elecraft] K2 KPA100 overheating/erratic fan problem

[nu6n at yahoo.com]

Hi Don,

I think I tracked the problem and I would like to document it for future generations :).
I noticed that during SKCC events I don’t have the issue. In the following  contest instead of using internal keyer though serial port I switched to an external keyer and sure enough the issue did not surface. That brought me to a serial port cable that was provided by the previous owner of the K2. I found that the cable was just a standard serial extension cable. I quickly made a makeshift serial per Elecraft recommendation and was not able reproduce the problem with the correct cable. I ran the K2 in Winter RAC and it worked as intended. I am happy that I did not fry a chip with the wrong cable but apparently wrong cabling may introduce a quite strange side effect that makes the chip work incorrectly when it is under the temperature pressure.

73, Arkady/NU6N