Excellent advice Don. I bought a 100w dummy load kit from OHR. It's called the RFL-100 and it's about $40, comes in a very nice cabinet, and takes less than an hour to build. It has come in handy more times than I can count.

http://www.ohr.com/rfl100.htm

Oak Hills has some good goods.

73 de KB9BVN
Brian Murrey


On 3/24/2015 5:25 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
Tony,

"Scolding time" :-)
One thing that I believe should be in every ham's shack is a dummy load capable of handling the maximum power that your station can develop. Ridge Equipment has a 50 ohm 75 watt dummy load good up to 1.5GHz for $11.95, but you will need an adapter for UHF connectors so that is an additional $5. See https://www.ridgeequipment.com/store/dummyloads.html.

If ever you run into a problem, the first check is to see what happens when you transmit into a dummy load. That removes many variables - like RFI problems and antenna problems. It is the first check I recommend. If the rig works into the dummy load, you need to look for the problem somewhere other than the rig.

I have had rigs sent to me for "repair" only to find that there is nothing wrong. The resulting repair charge is greater than the cost of a good dummy load.

If you look for one at a hamfest, take your ohmmeter along to check if it is still a 50 ohm load - some are burned out from excessive power.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 3/24/2015 3:25 PM, Tony Estep wrote:
Well, now I downloaded the new firmware, only to discover that I have to do the 50W calibration. I have a 5W dummy load, but no 50W. The 5W calibration
went okay. So do I have to get a 50W dummy load before I can use the K3
again? Or should I back down to the previous firmware? Or what?



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