To assemble a K2, you need a decent soldering iron and multimeter. Eventually you really should have a dummy load for transmitter alignment.
Here in the US we can use WWV for a frequency standard. I hear there is a Russian equivalent that you Europeans can use. I built a K1 first because I was afraid QRP wouldn't work well enough and that I didn't want to waste as much money as the K2 if I had problems building it. The kits are not that hard. A bit time consuming, and sometimes brain numbing, but not hard. Personally, my weakness is in soldering lots of wires into connectors, which happens rarely in the build process. What do you mean about wanting to learn about how radios work? There are multiple levels of knowlege of this. First of all, there is the "big" building blocks - for example, what is an intermediate frequency. Also there is the small scale side as well - as in inductor X and Capacitor Y will form an LC circuit to do Z. In building the K1 and K2, I learned a lot about the first but not so much about the second. Yes, I put the pieces together and the scematic is there for me to digest if I want, but it gets so detailed that I want to ask why each part is there... To get the second type of knowlege, I am aware of two resources - I have not gone through the process with either one, but have heard good things about both. First is the Book _The Electronics of Radio_ which goes through building a NorCal 40a kit. The other one is the QRP-L Elmer 101 which goes through the Small Wonder Labs SW-40. If this is the type of detail knowlege you want, then you might want to look into these more. But if it is just the fuctional blocks information, I while the K3 is no-solder, I can't believe that there isn't quite a bit you can learn about what board plugs into what, etc. Since assembly is faster, you might miss it because it goes by so fast, but I can't believe it wouldn't be there. On the other hand, I don't know the K3. Like you, I have had a quite minimal station for must of my ham career. Because of this, I found the K2 usefull because it was a one box solution that I could take anywhere. It has been set up in multiple parks on picnic tables and the like with temporary antennas. At home, I have used multiple types of stealth antennas. The options I have found the most useful are: K2ATU - lets me load up just about any hunk of wire to get on the air. Internal battery - All I need to power the radio for a few hours of operating. SSB - If you want it. Even with this option the K2 is a much better CW radio than SSB radio. 160 - I know you say you can't get on, but I worked stations up to about 2km away using an INDOOR loop just around my bedroom. The Noise Blanker is quite useful for ignition type noise. If you need it, you will really need it. The Audio filter is nice, but hardly needed _most_ of the time. It does make the K2 nicer to listen to though. The included Real Time Clock will help tell you what hour it is, but I wouldn't trust it much farther. But if I were looking now instead of in 2001 when I got my Elecrafts, I would probably get the base K3 and either of the "simpler" radios I mentioned to get the real basics. On the other hand, I have enjoyed my K2 over the years and hardly would call it a mistake. Ken McGuire KC8LTL -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/A-few-questions-before-ordering-the-K2-kit-tp5251717p5256477.html Sent from the [K2] mailing list archive at Nabble.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
