In a message dated 14/04/05 05:36:04 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Jonesy,K9NX wrote: My K2 #4198 is running just fine and I am wondering how often to check the Calibration of my K2 to help make sure it is running at peak performance Say every 6 months or yearly? --------------- Just a guess, but I'd say you can ignore it for a couple of years at least. Even then, 'recalibration' will catch any tuned circuits drifting, but isn't really a test to see if there's performance degradation from other reasons. I have a habit of recalibrating or doing other repairs only when I see something wrong. I see something wrong when some critical values change. I log the key data about a new rig so I can look back from time to time if I'm suspicious that something's amiss or if I'm simply bored and want to tinker ---------------------------------------------- What Ron says sums up the situation very well, why would you want to recalibrate the radio unless the performance is falling off. To quote the often used phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Not many hams would do this to the latest Japanese/USA black box, so why do this to a K2? The radio is tested to a degree every time it is switched on and used on the bands. A fall off in TX power output or RX sensitivity soon becomes apparent. Is important however, to record *all* the tests you make on original commissioning, calibration and after any mods that may be done for future troubleshooting if required. By and large unlike earlier tube equipment, solid state equipment performance does not change all that much unless a fault develops and one is usually made aware of this pretty quickly by other hams if not apparent to yourself. Apart from odd quirks that can occur with some radios, I would be rather more worried if the performance does drift as that would not say much about the quality of the original design or the components used. With commercial communication systems these are tested with specific routine maintenance programs on a regular basis to ensure that any defect is picked up before it becomes a problem. The reasoning behind this is to prevent unforeseen outages as these can mean lost revenue for the company or a possible threat to safety. Ham radio does not normally fall into this category, so unless tinkering with the K2 calibration really turns you on, it is far better to use the radio for the purpose it was designed for in the first place, communicating with other hams. Bob, G3VVT (retired comms maint tech) _______________________________________________ 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 Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
