I'm in the middle of building my K2, and just last week I got to the Phase 2 testing stage, and wow! I'm really impressed.
I done an A/B comparison between my Ten Tec Omni 7 which I thought was a quiet receiver until I compared it to the K2. The noise floor on the K2 is much lower so its much more pleasant to listen to the K2. You wont be disappointed with the K2 and also get a lot more satisfaction with every QSO on a radio that you understand how every part of it works. My K2 should be finished and all the options added ready for the winter when I spend most time on the air. My K1 has been in use since I completed it in June and I also love that little radio. One point to mention, save your self some diagnosis time and follow Gary and Don's advice when it comes to the encoder part. The circuit board strikes the control board if you follow the instructions that come with the kit. You have to trim all the leads short and also put a small insulator of some sort between the board to prevent it making contact. I updated my instructions as below based on this email I sent to support saying I ran into the issue and thought my suggestion might save others some time and hassle. Thats when I heard others had already ran into the same issue. All the other steps in the instructions are great and really easy to follow, quite simply the best I have read! A lot of time must have went into getting them as good as they are, a big thumbs up to the people at Elecraft who worked on them! Email: I just encountered an issue while testing phase 1 of the RF board. Managed to figure out what was causing it, but thought I should highlight what I found and possibly have the step modified for the instructions to save someone else the same troubleshooting time/effort. When I got to the step on page 44 the second check box is to test the VFO knob in both directions. I found my one didn't work unless I held the control board and the front panel board apart at the top. The reason was the encoder board IC pins were coming in contact with the control board. The board and the encoder were all properly seated and the soldering was neat. There simply just isn't much clearance between them. What I had to do was trim the IC pins really short. My suggestion for the encoder step would be a change in the printed instruction sheet that is supplied with the "Elecraft K2 New Encoder Installation" print out. I know it says to trim the leads, but its not normal to trim IC pins as well so just wanted to make that point more prominent. Page 2 of 4 reads as below: "Install the resistors, capacitors and PIC on the pc board as shown below. Be sure to align the notched end of the PIC with the notch in the silk screen outline on the pc board. Solder and trim the leads flush with the reverse side of the PC board" My suggestion is below: "Install the resistors, capacitors and PIC on the pc board as shown below. Be sure to align the notched end of the PIC with the notch in the silk screen outline on the pc board. Solder and trim ALL the leads including the pins on the PIC flush with the reverse side of the PC board" Good luck with your build. 73, Cameron - AF7DK ________________________________ From: Elecraft <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Chip Stratton <lightdazz...@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, September 3, 2016 5:52 AM To: Phil Wheeler Cc: Elecraft Reflector Subject: Re: [Elecraft] In Praise of the K2 Same thing here. I have a couple of more sophisticated and better spec'd radios but still use my K2/100 routinely at the home QTH. I just don't seem to encounter situations where the K2 doesn't do the job as well as I could wish. There are some instances where the electronic crutches offered by the other radios would make things easier, but for routine use I couldn't ask for more. N.B. - I'm no great contestor or DXer! Chip AE5KA On Fri, Sep 2, 2016 at 10:03 PM, Phil Wheeler <w...@socal.rr.com> wrote: > I echo what you say, David. I have K2/100 #380 started in July 1999, with > all the subsequent A-to-B updates and even some 3rd party goodies. It's > still a very solid radio I use in my second operating position. And nice to > know I installed everything in it (excepting part of the KDSP2 which came > pre-installed). > > 73, Phil W7OX (in Torrance, CA) > > > On 9/2/16 6:44 PM, David Inger wrote: > >> I have a 12-13 year old K2/100 that doesn't get use much any more except >> at >> occasional vacation rentals. I keep thinking it's time to sell it. In >> June, I sent it to Don Wilhelm to "tweak and peak" it. It came back from >> Don with a new alignment and a clean bill of health. >> Right now I have my K3 in pieces to do various upgrades, i.e., more >> filters >> and several "K3s upgrades." So the K2 is back in line plugged into my >> KPA-500 and KAT500 tuner. >> What a great little radio the K2 is! Sounds great, adequate filtering, >> and >> drives the KPA500 to full power with about 20-watts from the K2. I know >> there have been tons of technical improvements found in radios such as the >> K3 series and the KX3 (not to mention some other brands), but it is >> amazing >> how competent the K2 is. There is no way it can be considered obsolete. >> I >> think it going to stay in my shack for a lot longer! >> 73 de K6SBA >> David in Santa Barbara, CA >> > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to lightdazz...@gmail.com > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to cameronfranceyut...@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
