I had the same problem with a ts-850 and a Heathkit HL-2200(SB-221 same ciruit) Some tube amps(especialy Heath kits) have to be modified for proper operation. Tube amps may present as much as a 2:1 SWR to a transistor final rig. With a tube rig, this is compensated for by the final load control. In fact some tube rigs load control will match up to a 3:1 SWR. An antenna tuner may not be needed in fact. At tube rig can be run without an antenna tuner If the SWR is not that high. Indeed the older antenna tuners used a PI network . Of course transistor finals do not have a load control. One will use a T network type tuner to match up to greater than 10:1 SWR's So transistor finals need power fold back protection. It could be your power fold back was not set right and you had a 2:1 or greater SWR. Over time the transistor final may go into thermal runaway. Also the older Kilowatt amplifiers used up to 100VDC for the key down T/R relay. ALC on my heathkit is -55 VOLTS ! Just about any solid state final rig use 12V max for that T/R relay. The new 1-2KILOWATT amps also use much lower ALC control voltages. -6-8V. Did you use a relay or opto-isolator to prevent the K2 from switcing the higher voltage. What is the ALC's max voltage of the vintage Collins amp? 2) You may have had a ground loop situation too. I have seen 50 VAC ground differentials. That is why one should Ground the rig and linear together. 3)Perhaps your bias was not set right on the K2 finals. You said you get 20W output. The Finals should output 16V MAXIMUM. K2;s rated output is `10-15W. 4) You could have just been unlucky and got a not so good final Hope this helps 73 DE Mike _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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