Calibration Interval
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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? K9NX Jonesy K2 #4198 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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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: [hidden email] 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 |
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In reply to this post by Tim Jones-11
In a message dated 14/04/05 05:36:04 GMT Daylight Time, [hidden email] writes: 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 ---------------------------------------------- What Ron says sums up the situation very well, why would you want to recalibrate the radio unless the performance is falling off. To quote the often used phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Not many hams would do this to the latest Japanese/USA black box, so why do this to a K2? The radio is tested to a degree every time it is switched on and used on the bands. A fall off in TX power output or RX sensitivity soon becomes apparent. Is important however, to record *all* the tests you make on original commissioning, calibration and after any mods that may be done for future troubleshooting if required. By and large unlike earlier tube equipment, solid state equipment performance does not change all that much unless a fault develops and one is usually made aware of this pretty quickly by other hams if not apparent to yourself. Apart from odd quirks that can occur with some radios, I would be rather more worried if the performance does drift as that would not say much about the quality of the original design or the components used. With commercial communication systems these are tested with specific routine maintenance programs on a regular basis to ensure that any defect is picked up before it becomes a problem. The reasoning behind this is to prevent unforeseen outages as these can mean lost revenue for the company or a possible threat to safety. Ham radio does not normally fall into this category, so unless tinkering with the K2 calibration really turns you on, it is far better to use the radio for the purpose it was designed for in the first place, communicating with other hams. Bob, G3VVT (retired comms maint tech) _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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Is there a specific reason why some of you folks don't have your email
software adding the quote characters "> " to the quoted material from the messages to which you are replying, or is it just an accident? It makes it very hard to see what the reply is and who has replied (see below for an example). I've never seen this behavior before I joined this mailing list. Thanks, Paul In a message dated 14/04/05 05:36:04 GMT Daylight Time, [hidden email] writes: 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 ---------------------------------------------- What Ron says sums up the situation very well, why would you want to recalibrate the radio unless the performance is falling off. To quote the often used phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Not many hams would do this to the latest Japanese/USA black box, so why do this to a K2? The radio is tested to a degree every time it is switched on and used on the bands. A fall off in TX power output or RX sensitivity soon becomes apparent. Is important however, to record *all* the tests you make on original commissioning, calibration and after any mods that may be done for future troubleshooting if required. By and large unlike earlier tube equipment, solid state equipment performance does not change all that much unless a fault develops and one is usually made aware of this pretty quickly by other hams if not apparent to yourself. Apart from odd quirks that can occur with some radios, I would be rather more worried if the performance does drift as that would not say much about the quality of the original design or the components used. With commercial communication systems these are tested with specific routine maintenance programs on a regular basis to ensure that any defect is picked up before it becomes a problem. The reasoning behind this is to prevent unforeseen outages as these can mean lost revenue for the company or a possible threat to safety. Ham radio does not normally fall into this category, so unless tinkering with the K2 calibration really turns you on, it is far better to use the radio for the purpose it was designed for in the first place, communicating with other hams. Bob, G3VVT (retired comms maint tech) _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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Paul,
I occasionally have that problem with my e-mail client (MS Outlook). Most days it does indent and prefix with the ">" character, but occasionally it does not. I have not persued any answers, but just put up with it when it happens. The rule here on the reflector is to strip off all but the relevant parts of the previous message and strip off the bottom header. Yes, I agree that the previous text must be identified - I view maybe 100 e-mails a day and don't want to take the time to search for the parts that have been added. When I have trouble spotting the new text, I usually just operate the Delete key. If I had my way, top posting would be the preferred standard - it saves a lot of time. 73, Don W3FPR > -----Original Message----- > > Is there a specific reason why some of you folks don't have your email > software adding the quote characters "> " to the quoted material from > the messages to which you are replying, or is it just an accident? It > makes it very hard to see what the reply is and who has replied (see > below for an example). I've never seen this behavior before I joined > this mailing list. > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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