I have triple checked the wiring for both a straight key and a bug and also verified it with a meter that the wiring is correct and there are no short circuits. Every time I set the rig to CW and use either key, the rig powers down - like a crowbar short.
Suggestions?
JJ KN4SH
I suspect you may have common mode RF on the shield of your coax.
I often experience USB audio or serial crashes if I use a USB cable without ferrites when doing 100% duty cycle transmissions. Less common but it has happened is complete shutdown like you describe, usually on a particular band, 17m in my case.
So a question I have is do you experience this behavior on a particular band? Common mode magnitude tends to be frequency dependant.
An amendment for common mode issues is a common mode choke (CMC). Usually located outside the building but close to the entry point. Commercially, they are also called 1:1 line isolators. They can be fabricated out of a coax patch and an FT240-43 ferrite toroid (Google for dimensions) or a coax “Ugly Balun” (again Google for dimensions).
Another amendment is a “1/4 wave fan” virtual ground. People who particularly have upstairs shacks tend to have CM problems that a virtual ground will fix. You can fabricate one out of ribbon cable by cutting a 1/4 wave for each band, and bonding all the conductors together. This bundle of resonant wires are attached to your system ground electrically close to the radio or directly on the radio’s ground lug. This will “suck out” the common mode RF. Ideally, your system ground should also be bonded to a direct wire to a buried ground rod.
73;
Bob KV4PC