Interesting comparisons! After the K2/100 combo was released, I always considered the K2 one of the "big boys" - just not one of the "really, really expensive boys" Hi!
The K2 is at its best with the pre-amp off below 15 MHz unless it's hooked to a really low-gain antenna like a short whip. The K2 has wonderful dynamic range, so adding the preamp usually doesn't hurt so one would notice. Indeed, sometimes I turn it on on 80 meters to bring some impulse noise up high enough for the noise blanker to react to it. But the preamp does nothing for the sensitivity on the lower bands when hooked to any sort of decent antenna. The test I use is whether the noise floor jumps up when I hook on the antenna. If it does, adding the preamp will do nothing except reduce the dynamic range by about 20 dB. What I can hear is limited entirely by the external QRN. The K2 was designed for low current consumption so some ops have added an external amplified speaker, especially when using the K2 in a noisy environment. 99.9%% of my operating is with the phones so I never notice any shortage of eardrum-rattling gain. Even on it's internal speaker, it is too loud for me in the shack. $4K for the Drakes huh? I always liked their gear but I'd rather have the $2,800 or so that I didn't spend by getting the K2. Tnx for the input! Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 3:53 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] The K2 can compete with the big boys. Had my trusty DRAKE TR-7/R7A, 1978 THE DRAKE 7 LINE WAS TOPS The combo transceiver with the rare R7A weighed in about $4000. Everything was optional. I did some side by side performnce checks. The sensitivity issue is very complicated. The tR-7 does not use a pre-amp at all before the mixer. This gives a dissapointing .5uv instead of .15uv the K2 spec. I often bypass the pre-amp to get a drake sound out of the K2. I did pump the RX audio from the K2 into the drakes audio amp and larger speaker. Amazing The 2 RX's had a low noise floor. Do your self a favor. Bypass the 14db rf amp. Then get an amplified speaker(5w AMP..15w SPEAKER) for your K2 at home. With the 1,8khz filter on SSB, you too will have audio of the big rigs. One of the uses I have for my newly odered T1 was to match my K2 rf output at 1 watt. I would then have the TR-7's overbuilt 250W+ input amp, be the '"mouth piece'' The later TR-7's always had two blank RCA connectors, They must have known some ham would put them to use. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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
