Is the K2 a viable radio for MARS work? I found some references in
the archives from back in 2005 suggesting that it won't transmit on
some of the MARS frequencies even though it appears to be transmitting
on them -- the VFO display shows the desired frequency, but that far
out of band it's not
Thanks Don.
Definitely sounds like something I don't want to do. Okay, which of
my kids do I sell to buy a K3?
73s
Jon
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Help:
Eric KG6MZS asked why wouldn't you run more than 70w on PSK
Because with the close spacing of signals in the various PSK sub-bands, a
signal of more than about 50watts will completely annihilate all the other
PSK signals and make that sub-band unusable for everyone else. The rule of
thumb for
I've just recently started using phone on my K2/100 (s/n 6550) and I've
noticed that even at an SSbA setting of 1, I'm getting a lot of ALC (3-7
bars when I talk in what I believe to be a normal voice). I'm using an
Elecraft MH-2 mic. I checked the wiring for the mic last night and I
believe it
As always, thank you Don. I have confirmed that R14 is correct. I'll
leave SSBA setting of 1 with the MH2.
73s
Jon, WB2RYV
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So I have this fantasy. I buy a KX3 and then I take the KPA100 out of my
K2, put it in an enclosure of some sort, and then interface it to the KX3.
Feasible? Pipe dream? Thoughts?
73s
Jon, WB2RYV
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Thank you all for your replies (most of which were off reflector).
While it's true that some digital modes can be heard well below the sound
floor, that's not true of many of the digital modes, and especially some of
the most popular like PSK-31.
The right answer is for me to move up to a K3.
The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years
and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I
can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough
to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house
I didn't notice if you said that you're running Windows or something else.
I'll assume you're on Windows.
I had trouble using fldigi/rigcat with the K2, but the associated flrig
program works fine (also downloadable from the w1hkj site, the same place
you get fldigi). flrig and fldigi work
I have a K2/100 and KAT100, and do remote control using the RS-232 port
using a cable I made over a year as per the instructions in the KAT100
manual. The remote control has been working successfully since June of 2010
(frequency, mode, power, filter, tune, split, and a couple of other things).
I haven't used my KAT100 in a while, but now that Don has tuned up my K2, I
thought I would try it again. The KAT100 seems to be working and tunes up
my antenna -- I'm getting good signal reports.
I hooked up a Watts Up meter to the KAT100's power feed (not the K2's feed,
but rather the KAT100).
Don,
I'm trying to replace D16 and D17 in the KPA100 but I'm having trouble
removing the heat sink so that I can get at them (it looks to me as if I
have to remove the heat sink to get at the bottom of the PC board to
unsolder them).
I have removed the three black pan head screws that attach the
I would like to put my K2/100 back to a basic K2 as part of debugging some
problems I've had around power and RFI distortion. I have the K2, KPA100,
KSB2, and KNB2 installed. My plan is to only remove the KPA100 at first to
see if that corrects the problems I've been having.
As I understand it,
Don,
Thanks as always for your reply.
But you don't seriously believe that my problems with electronic equipment
could be THAT simple, do you?? After all, I'm the guy whose dog ate one of
the ICs while I was building the K2 (no joke).
I ran 5 watts and 2.5 watts, and ran each test five times
OK, thanks Don.
I'll order the diodes (local Radio Shack doesn't carry them anymore). In
the meantime, I think I will remove the KPA100 anyway to see what impact
that has on the RFI problem.
Do you think that this is also impacting the SWR reading that I'm getting in
tune? Both the MFJ and the
Duh! Sorry, I wasn't thinking when I asked that.
The KAT100 is out of the circuit completely. All my testing has been with
the MFJ-941E.
I just removed the KPA100 and tested. My power levels are as commanded
(usually a little better, but not double) AND my PSK31 signal looks like a
I'm still having trouble with RF feedback distortion in my K2. It is probably
an error I made in build and I need help in figuring out how to attack the
problem.
K2 is serial 6550; no additional mods. KSB2 and KPA100. Windom antenna 25'
away at closest OR Buddipole 50' away at closest (no
Don,
As always, thanks for your reply.
I can confirm that I *DO* get distortion when operating into a dummy load. I
can also confirm that I have the distortion when operating with nothing but the
microphone and antenna connected to the K2.
The K2 itself is Rev G dated May 2007, with errata
I'm running a K2 (with KPA100) with an MFJ941E Versatuner.
My antenna is a multi-band Windom that will load up on 80, but is less than a
half-wave on 80. On most bands, lowest SWR per the tuner coincides with the
highest output power showing on the K2 (usually 20 or 21 watts). However, when
I think maybe some people missed something in my original post
The output power I'm reporting is in TUNE mode, which is nominally 20 watts
output. It's not my output during normal operation.
Jon
KB1QBZ
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I'm having problems with PSK (and other digital modes) on my K2. CW and SSB
seem okay.
Rig
--
K2/100, KSB2, power set to 20 watts. RTTY (Reverse) for PSK.
MFJ-941E Versatuner to a Carolina Windom about 35 ft in the air.
SignaLink USB into an Acer Aspire One running Win XP (SP3)
On
I'm having happens when doing PSK with mode USB as
well
with mode RTTY (reverse).
Jon
KB1QBZ
From: Don Wilhelm w3...@embarqmail.com
To: Jon Perelstein jpere...@yahoo.com
Cc: elecraft reflector elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sun, October 10, 2010 8:42:59 PM
Don,
Thanks for the response and info.
The wording in the Operating Manual made me think that the same values are used
for RTTY as for SSB, my mistake. I used Spectogram (surprisingly easy) and
have
everything working nicely now.
On the digital transmission heat issue. The rig is ok on
I'm having a problem with the BFO settings for RTTY. The outputs on the
different filters are centered at significantly different places in the
waterfall. For R-Reverse, they're as follows:
Filter WidthCenter on Waterfall
---
This is a follow-up to a post about two months ago.
I'm still getting pretty high heat on my K2 when running digital modes such as
PSK, Olivia, etc. Per the recommendation of Don and a few others, I'm
adjusting
the K2 so that my desired power output is set on the Power control (25 watts),
Don
Thanks for the quick reply. Fortunately, it appears that uncontrolled power
output is not the problem.
And yes, it is a K2/100.
I connected the rig to an MFJ-941E Versatuner II and connected the Versatuner
to
my antenna. I tuned to a 1.1:1 SWR using the Versatuner and then measured
it
down so the noise does not irritate. It can be placed on top of the heat
sink, moving air away and will be quite effective. See Tom Hammond's
website www.n0ss.net for his implementation.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 9/26/2010 6:49 PM, Jon Perelstein wrote:
Don
Thanks for the quick reply
I'll second what KI6NUL said -- I find a lot of relaxed speed CW at
7.040-7.060. Here in southwestern CT, I think there's more in that range than
up above 7.100.
And, as pretty much everybody said, get on the air and have QSOs, get on the
air
and have QSOs, get on the air and have QSOs.
In
The Winlink web site was down for a couple of days.
It was reported in the Winlink Yahoo Groups and other sources. It's been back
up since sometime yesterday.
Jon
KB1QBZ
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This is an update to a post I made in Nov 2008. I've received a fair number
of off-board emails over the past 1-1/2 yrs asking me about the problem and
solution, so I figure I'll post the solution and save others from some
embarrassment.
My original problem was described as follows:
2. On
For those of you who are having this problem, are any of you running some of
the new Netbook class computers? Generally, these have Intel Atom processors
(1.2GHz or so) and are short on memory (typically 1gig).
I've found that a lot of digital software products like DM780, Digipan, MMTTY,
I find I have the same experience, and I typically run 20w on PSK. I have no
clue as to why that happens. I have pretty good luck at getting QSOs when I
respond to CQs, but I rarely see anyone responding to my own CQs.
I have noticed that the longer my CQ string, or the more I repeat it, the
It is available on DM780. I'm not sure about others.
--- On Tue, 5/11/10, Phil Hystad phys...@mac.com wrote:
Which is a good reason to buy an Apple Mac and help to increase my AAPL stock
value even more...
The CocoaModem digital interface application that runs only on the Mac has a
very nifty
This may have been answered before, but I couldn't find any search terms that
brought up the info I was looking for.
What power and volume settings do people use for PSK-31?
I have a 100w K2 and I use a SignaLink going into the K2's mic jack. The
standard approach that has always been
Don,
I'm having trouble with this approach on 40 meters.
I set the power on the K2 to 30 watts and then adjusted
the TX volume on the SignaLink as high as I could without getting any ALC
reading.
When I do that, I essentially have zero power output. There's no deflection on
the
K2's RF
Is there any chance that Elecraft will develop a data jack add-on kit for
the K2?
I do a lot of PSK and other digital modes with mine, and it's a pain to use
the mic plug and headphone jack as my connection points to the radio (if for
no other reason than the fact that I would like to be able
I built both the K1 and the K2. I had kit building experience 45 years ago
when I built my first novice rig but hadn't really picked up a soldering iron
in the intervening years.
It's true that each kit is one component at a time. However, my sense is that
there are critical places on the K2
I've seen a number of posts about using K3 knobs on K2s or K2 knobs on K1s
to get finger dimples. People seem to be trying to go through a lot of
complicated stuff to get the dimples.
Elecraft sells stick-on dimples for the K1 and K2 tuning knobs. They're $6
per, and they are part number
A paean to the good old days of analog is nice, but the primary reason for
digital processing having becoming the dominant form is that it's more
accurate, can do more things, is more flexible, and generally speaking
(there are exceptions) can do them at a lower cost than equivalent analog
methods
When I use my (recently built) K2 for CW, I find that stations that respond
to me are always about 100Hz too high infrequency - meaning that I have to
use RIT to listen to them at about 100Hz lower in frequency than the
frequency at which I'm sending.
I assume that this indicates an alignment
I have a relatively new K2/KAT100/KPA100 (K2 serial # 06550) with the KAT100
controlled from the K2 via the serial cable.
Occasionally (and I do mean occasionally as opposed to sometimes or
frequently), when I hit tune on the K2, the display on the K2 correctly shows
20 watts, but it doesn't
Page 49 of the KPA100 instructions calls for testing the resistance between
ground and the tab of Q9 on the KPA100 board (or center conductor of the PA KEY
output jack, J7).
According to the instructions, the resistance should drop to less than 3 ohms
when the K2 is put into TUNE mode. Mine
How embarrassing is this?
As I was working on the KPA100 last night, the EL5146CN op-amp (a small 8-pin
IC) slipped out of my fingers and fell to the floor - right in front of the
idiot lab/pit mix who promptly decided to taste it. She didn't swallow it
(fortunately), but it's well chewed
The manual calls for five .001 microF (102).
I did not receive any 102's. I did receive five 104s (the larger brown 104s
similar in size to the 473s).
Is this a change or did I receive the wrong parts?
Jon
KB1QBZ
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The instructions/user manual calls for Ref Diode U1 as a ZXRE125DR.
The part that I received is a ZXRE1004D.
Can anyone confirm that the 1004D replaces the 125DR?
Thanks.
Jon
KB1QBZ
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One other possibility.
The symptoms you're describing sound exactly like what I was getting when I got
to BFO testing on page 65. Everything tested out perfectly (voltages,
soldering, etc.) except that the frequency display was changing rapidly when I
did the tests on page 65.
The problem
I redid all the Alignment and Test, Part II steps starting on pg. 63, plus
checked the VCO frequency at the low end of each band against the chart at the
lower left corner of the Schematic Key sheet in Appendix B of the manual. In
doing all that, I re-ran the VFO Linearization (which my notes
I just finished building the K2 and am in process of checking it out. All
voltage tests, current tests, power tests, alignment tests and alignment
activities were completed successfully. I've been through the receiver
alignment twice just to make sure, and got good peaking on each band.
I'm
I've reached page 78 (40 Meter Transmitter Alignment). All previous tests and
alignments were conducted successfully.
When turning on the unit, voltage shows about 13.6v and current shows about
240mA.
I was able to get a nice peaking on L1 and L2.
The testing at 5.0 watts went fine, with
I think.
I was looking at something on the MJF web site and for the hell of it looked up
the 4110. Even though the MFJ-4110 itself has a label saying 14v at 2800mA,
the web site says that typical output is 13.8v at 1.3 amps!
So I hooked the K2 up to my PowerFlex battery (13.8v at 15
I can't find the last of the 100pf capacitors for C222 (NPO, 101)
I happen to have a spare 100pf that I used for another project, but it's
the bigger, kind of orange colored, and roundish type instead of the little
blue pillow-shaped type. Is it ok to substitute the bigger one for the blue
According to the manual, it should be an NPO with markings of 2R7, 3, 3.3, or
3R3. The picture shows one of those round NPO caps. I can't find it.
I do have a very very small, pillow-shaped NPO marked 2.7C. It's blue, not
dark green. It does not have a black mark on top. The markings do
I'm getting ready to build my W1 SWR/Watt meter. Before I start, are things
I should consider. Enclosure? Mounting BNC off-board? External power?
COM port mounting?
I have mine sitting out on my desk without an enclosure. I use it with a K1,
with an IC-746Pro, and a buddy's K2. Indoors,
those to replace Control Board Q9 and Q10 and send a
request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for replacement 2N transistors.
Jon Perelstein wrote:
I had the subject wrong when I wrote my first post on this. It is the
Frequency Counter that's a problem and not the PLL Ref Oscillator.
I've checked
Board, and Q9
and Q10.
73,
Don W3FPR
Jon Perelstein wrote:
On page 47 of the manual, I was testing the frequency counter. I put
the counter probe tip to the left side of C22 (actually, it wasn't
clear which left side, but I put it to the left facing the panel as it
is mounted in the radio
On page 47 of the manual, I was testing the frequency counter. I put the
counter probe tip to the left side of C22 (actually, it wasn't clear which left
side, but I put it to the left facing the panel as it is mounted in the
radio). The LCD was jumping all over the place, from about 00200 to
I think that I received a full-sized 100 microH RF choke instead of a miniature.
I have four green-bodied brown-black-brown RF chokes and a tan-bodied
brown-black-brown RF choke -- all the same physical size. Actually, I'm can't
tell for sure if the tan-bodied is a brown-black-brown or an
My question de jour.
Page21 of the manual (rev G) is the Key Shaping Components.
How exactly do I mount them? The holes of the pads to which they are mounted
are already filled with other components (Q8, R21 and U8). Do I just drop a
blob of solder on the surface of each pad and hope that
I just started building a K2 and I have a couple of questions:
1. On the Control Board, when I installed capacitor C4 (0.47 microF,
monolithic cap 474), it somewhat overhangs and touches diode D1 (1N4148). C4
is a rather thick (fat) capacitor and there doesn't seem to be any way to
install
Page 20 of the K2 manual (Rev G, May 29, 2007) specifies U1 as an NE602 or
SA602.
I received an SA612, not 602. Does anyone know if this Is correct, or was I
given the wrong part?
Thanks.
Jon
KB1QBZ
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1. I understand the tuning range can be set to either 75kHz or 150kHz.
My inclination is to go with the 75kHz range, for the slower tuning rate.
I went for the wider tuning range (I mostly operate 40 and 20 meters) and I'm
glad that I did. I find, for me, that the tuning rate is fine at the
I installed the KTBT1 internal battery at the beginning of June and have had no
problems with the radio -- until tonight.
Tonight, the frequency would jump by 1-20+ KHz without warning. One moment I'd
be on 7044.2Khz and then suddenly I was on 7023.8. It was definitely frequency
change and
I have an Elecraft W1 wattmeter/swr meter installed outboard of the K1's
antenna jack (i.e., between the antenna jack and the antenna). I have the KAT1
Internal Automatic Antenna Tuner installed.
When I put the radio in tune mode, the W1 shows an appropriately low power
output, and continues
I recently built the W1 Wattmeter/SWR Bridge to use in tuning my antenna.
I've noticed that whenever I have it in-line between my K1 and the antenna, I
hear a dramatic increase in receiver noise level. The S-meter on the K1 goes
from 2 bars to 4 bars. This happens whether I have the W1
I'm thinking of building a K2. My thought is that I eventually want a K2 w/
100 watts and SSB, but I'd like to take it in stages by first building a K2,
then upping it to 100 watts, and then finally adding SSB.
More specifically, I thought I'd do the following:
1. Order the K2 and a KAT100
All the big radios laughed at my K1 when I set it up at the club Field Day site.
But they stopped laughing when it churned out QSO after QSO on 40 and 20 meters
-- mainly because it has a better receiver for CW than ICOM 746 and 756 base
stations.
And they especially stopped laughing when one
When building an Elecraft kit, even one as simple as the W1 Wattmeter and SWR
Bridge,
R E A D T H E I N S T R U C T I O N S C A R E F U L L Y!
That is all, you may go back to your regularly scheduled QSOs now.
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On 40 meters.
Still having some problems with it on 20 meters, but it's definitely on the air
having just gotten
a nice 589 from CT to WV.
My problem on 20 meters now is that the KAT1 is giving me an SWR 9.9:1 (it's
1.2:1 on 40 meters).
Given that I'm running a Carolina Windom from Radio
I ordered a K1 based that They all
have built-in test equipment to simplify
alignment and
testing (from the Elecraft web site). Now -- according to Elecraft support --
I have to source
obsolete parts from China, buy drill equipment and copper bathroom pipe, and
rip apart my
television (or
Thank you all for your responses.
There are two clubs near me -- one of which I joined last week and the other I
will be joining in
two weeks (just a function of the meeting schedules). I feel a little
uncomfortable showing up at
a club meeting the very first time and asking people to lend me
I would appreciate peoples' thoughts, suggestions, experiences setting the VFO
range at 80KHz vs.
150KHz on a K-1.
I've got a dual-bander running 40 meters and 20 meters. I'm a general class.
Normal range for a
general on 40 meters is 7,025Khz - 7.125KHz (100KHz spread) and on 20 meters is
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