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 <G>. For transmit, I have a record of the maximum power out on each band into a good dummy load. I have a K2/100 so I have the numbers with the amp on and with it off. For receive, I use the XG1 to note the S-meter response it provides on each band. That's an excellent way to check the receiver sensitivity. Do it with the preamp on and off to confirm normal preamp operation. A note of the current draw from the power supply reported key down at full power and key up in receive gives me a check of the current drain. Spectrogram allows capturing the screen shots of the filter responses which I have. If I ever suspect something going strange in the BFO frequencies or in the filter itself, a quick comparison with the saved spectrogram plot will confirm or refute any change. I also log the settings in CAL FIL and other menu parameters I've set up in case I ever change anything, or have a problem that requires resetting the values, so I can quickly reset things to "normal" if I've been tinkering and forgot where I started from. This is the result of a lifetime habit, since I've always operated equipment I built myself, a lot of it of my own design. Once in a while what I think is a receiver or transmitter turns into a smoke generator. Having a log of critical data (and the schematic where I can find it) helps me figure out how to turn off the smoke. I usually keep a binder with data on each rig. My K2 is S/N 1289 built in May of 2000. My notes and data on changes, mods, and accessories that I've added now fills a 2 inch binder, and that does not include the original manual! But any time I open it up and ask, "What is that for?" I can check the notes and find out. For me, every piece of equipment is a work in progress. It's only finished when I retire it completely. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ 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
