Hi Roger,
Well, I work for the Wyoming DOT and I make maps for the highway
projects around the state! Hi! I'm also a professional artist in my
spare time doing mostly portraits.
Ok on all the gear. I have a Ten Tec Argonaut V, a Ten Tec Century 22
and a Kenwood TS-530SP. The reason I'm looking at the K2 is because, I
think it would be fun to build and I would have one of the best
receivers around. I have DSP with the Argonaut V and crystal filters
with the Century 22. I also prefer the crystal filter. It just sounds
cleaner to me. If I get the K2 it will be the 100 watt version with
SSB. I work mostly CW but, I like to work SSB once in a while. It
would be nice to have a rig that can go from 1 to 100 watts. My
antennas are also homebrew with a couple of quarter wave ground plane
verticals up about ten feet. I can work all bands with them since they
are base loaded. I don't have much room in the backyard and these work
perfectly.
Thanks for all of the advice. I'm sure it will be a great experience
and I've noticed how nice the people are here.
Gary, N7HTS
Roger Stein wrote:
Hi Gary,
Wow! You sure got a lot of responses to your inquiry.
Elecraft owners are an enthusiastic bunch and very supportive of
fellow users. It embodies the
'fraternal' aspect of what amateur radio was in the past to me.
Oh, this is Roger, WA7BOC, in Montesano, WA. I work as a civil
engineer for Grays Harbor Co.
You can Google Earth 550 North Main Street in Montesano and see the
QTH. The County
campus is at 100 West Broadway, just 4 blocks from my house. A great
commute!!!!
I have a lot of tall trees on my property for hanging wire
antennas....ah, antennas....my passion!
Back to the work subject...we have a GIS department. They use ARC view
(sp?) for the county mapping
activity. Fascinating subject! WSDOT is our partner in our road and
bridge projects, funding, audits, etc.
And back to ham radio.....I had a Century 21 as well as an Argonaut
with the 405 ? amplifier years ago. Fun
equipment, liked the QSK feature!
Like you, I was kind of dormant from the radio activity for a while.
When I did spin the dial and listen, the bands seemed full of less
than desirable radio activity. This was with a Drake B-line that my
Dad and I had shared over the years. I had spotted the Elecraft ad and
checked out the web-site. Great! My interest was rekindled in amateur
radio.
By chance I stumbled across a collector of Drake gear on the internet
as I was now looking to sell the Drake and purchase a K2. I exchanged
photos of the gear, clean and shiny as it was always warm, dry and in
a non-smoking environment. He liked what he saw. I mentioned that I
was selling the Drake to purchase a K2. Well, he had one as well, plus
a second unit that he had never assembled! The negotiating began! A
deal was struck and that was how I acquired my K2. I later met both
Eric and Wayne at two different Ham Fests, heard both give talks, and
was very impressed with them as individuals and their knowledge and
direction for their products.
I liken the building of the Elecraft gear to a 'journey', it is a lot
of fun along the way and continues to be enjoyable once you get
there.... the finished product.
You tend to acquire an 'ownership' factor during the building process,
for sure when you wind the toroids.
I just grabbed the wire, the cores, the tools and sat down in the
family room and took my time 'sewing', as one fellow replied, away.
It makes for good therapy when you tire of soldering! Just follow
the instructions, get a handy magnifying lens and double check the
turn counts. The tinning is best done over the bench and not the
family room carpet!
The 'solder-blob' method works like a charm, just need to clean up a
little flux off the end of the wire. It is ok if the tinning extends
up to the core as you will cinch the cores down to the circuit board.
The thru-plated holes on the circuit boards are first class and make
for a real nice soldering experience. A temperature controlled
soldering station and some nice flush cutting diagonals are the real
ticket.
There is a lot to read about all this aforementioned info on their
website and in the Reflector archives.
I have had a blast on 160 in a couple of the contests, chase some DX,
ragchew, and continue to tweak around with the CW filter widths, and
seach for the 'best' sidetone frequency! Check out both Don, W3FPR
and Tom N0SS, websites for other neat Elecraft info. I believe that
there are links on the Elecraft site.
All the kits have been fun to assemble, the only problems were do to
my errors. I have the K2 with 160, noise blanker, ssb, 100 watt module
and matching tuner. I had the QRP version tuner but sold it in favor
of the KAT-100, had the audio filter....tried the DSP, sold the AF
unit, and later sold the DSP, not to my liking.
A lot like choosing speakers! All ears hear different. I use an
external Timewave DSP599Z if I come across anything that the regular
K2 filtering can't handle, and that is infrequent!
Also have the n-gen, dummy load, and signal generator.
Well that is my 2 cents worth...... :-)
73, Roger, WA7BOC
K2 #755
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