Hi Don, OK on the KAT2.
On the current question, I am seeing 14.36v supplied to the radio on receive and 14.21v on transmit. A little bit of a drop with the long wires to my assembly bench where I have been testing the K2 at. Power output using the TUNE button and running through a Bird 43 meter into a 50 ohm Decibel load, varies from 10w at 1.8mc, 15-18w from 3.5mc thru 24.9mc and back down to 10w at 28.5mc. The power setting is at 10.0w on the radio. I did not see any high current indicator when I tested it a few minutes ago. I seen the high current message last night with the current setting as it was factory default. It is now set to 3.5a. I noticed the radio will put out 20w on any band from 75m thru 17m but as you said keep it at 10w. Voltage measurements are with a Fluke 77 DVM measured at the radio's power cable. Mike WE0H Don Wilhelm wrote: > Mike, > > What is the voltage of your power supply? If it is 13.8 volts or > higher, there should be no HI CUR messages during normal operation > with CAL CUR set to 3.50. If the PS voltage is low (or you have a bad > power cable connection), you may see those messages at higher power > settings. The K2 maintains power level, and for any given power, it > will take more current if the voltage is low. > > If you power supply voltage is good, but your power output is low, Hi > Curr warnings are an indication of a problem. I assume the power > outputs that you site are average readings on SSB - if so, that is > probably OK. What do you get when you use TUNE is the real question. > > You may leave the CAL CUR setting at 3.50 Amps or even higher. You > might see some HI CURR messages on particular bands if you run the > power control all the way to max - but don't do that, just set the > power to 12 watts or less and you should not see any. > > Yes, the CAL CUR setting will limit the power output if that current > is exceeded. That is really a helpful indicator if one is running > from a battery - the message tells you that the battery voltage has > dropped and a re-charge may be necessary. If used in that manner, you > can set the CAL CUR to any point you desire, but with an AC power > source, you can run CAL CUR up to 4 amps with no problem. > > 73, > Don W3FPR > > Mike-WE0H wrote: >> What should I have my Current setting set at? I see it occasionally >> showing high current when running SSB on the bench into a 50 ohm >> load. Is this some sort of current limiting setting for the power >> amp? It was set at 2.x amps and I set it to ~3.5a tonight and noticed >> the 160m power shot up to 10w on the Bird meter after that. Before >> moving the current setting up, it would show maybe 2-5w output just >> talking into the mic. I run the compression at 2:1 and the other >> setting at 3. I think I am saying that right but I am a newbie to >> this rig so...hi hi... >> Also using a Kenwood MC-43S mic. The audio sounds clean listening on >> a TS-440 on all bands 160 thru 10m, skipping 30m of course... >> >> Thanks much, >> Mike >> WE0H >> K2 S/N 6698 >> > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
