[Elecraft] Power oscillation problem (KPA500+KAT500)

[Clay Autery]

Listen to Jim, guys.  THE most frustrating thing in troubleshooting is 
when the "trouble" is in the cheap/low quality parts used in an assembly.|
ALWAYS buy the best you can find/afford.  Buy the best; buy once. I have 
a FEW more vendors than Jim, but his point is nonetheless valid and 
should be added to the HAM Gospel:

Thou shalt not use cheap crap in thy signal line.  <grin>

This is ALSO why I have eliminated ALL UHF connectors from my station.  
GOOD ones work fine.  Not as well as N and others, but good enough.
Problem is that too many of the connectors/adapters with UHF on one end 
are made like crap or have a fatal flaw in them somewhere.... just a 
matter of a short/inconvenient time to failure.

Be well!

Clay E. Autery, Jr.
KY5G

On 11/21/2023 1:05 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 11/20/2023 8:00 PM, Rick NK7I wrote:
>> In that search, high on the list of suspects (right up there with 
>> failure of any antenna elements) is damage from tiny livestock (mice, 
>> rats, birds that may have gotten into the attic or bugs like mud 
>> wasps); chewed wires, cables and insulators.
>
> More possibilities. Back in Chicago, I traced an intermittent in an 
> antenna to a junk connector adapter. After getting back on the air in 
> 2003 after 20+ years off, I made the mistake of restocking my parts 
> stash with junk adapters from a Chicago flea market. Over the next 
> five years, I traced a half dozen failures to them as a cause. My 
> definition of a junk connector is one that isn't stamped "Belden," or 
> with a MIL part number, or one of the types made for hard line.
>
> Perhaps a ferrite choke that is poorly designed, under-rated for the 
> specific use, or used with a badly imbalanced antenna has failed. They 
> do that. :) And, of course, loose connectors.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
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