Elecraft K2 S/n 01432 ...Alignment Question 40M Onwards...

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Elecraft K2 S/n 01432 ...Alignment Question 40M Onwards...

Andy Cunningham-2
Guys...

For the last few days, on an off..I have been attempting my first time
...ever...with the alignment of my (at the moment) "basic" CW K2...

I have "tried" as far as I can see, to do the "40m Aligment" proceedure from
Page 57 onwards in my manual...  I followed the "linerization" proceedure as
per the manual for 40 meters... here's my FIRST question....

Question 1 ...  "...Does the constructor ...have to do the "linerization"
step that is carried out for 40M "only" (or so the manual states at that
stage) ...for the rest of the bands installed..? "

In other words, do I need to do the "linerization" step for EACH of the
bands.. Particularly when setting up the "BFO and FILTER(s)" on CW and
CW/Reversed...?

I did NOT do the "linerization" step for ANY of the other bands, only once
per the manual for 40m ...where I did receive all the correct information on
the rig's digital display...

As for the "BFO and FILTER" Alignment, in the steps of the manual
afterwards... I followed the instructions, pressing the relevent buttons
when asked... and all that I did "really" there, was just make sure that the
"digital frequency display" ...showed exactly what was in the manual at that
stage...I did that for ALL the bands, ..adjusting "only" the VFO knob...to
make sure my display read for each "BFO" and "FILTER" reading "per"
band...what was in the manual...

Question 2...  "... WAS this the correct proceedure to do for the above part
in the manual...did I get the steps correct..."  Yeah I KNOW it says so in
the manual...but Hey Guy's this is the first time ever in my life, that I
have done this sort of thing.... so as well as being unsure what to do, and
unsure wether I have followed things correctly,..obviously I was "airing on
the side of caution" as not to do any damage at this point in particular,
that would need to be un-done by my "elmer" John Ross GM1BSG....

After doing all that I have mentioned I moved onto around Page 61 and
proceeded to do the next part of the alignment stage, as far as I could
anyway...  I followed the proceedure regarding turning L34 with the "tuning
tool" provided....setting the digital frequency display up as mentioned in
my manual...

 I DID hear the generated "tone" at the bottom of 40m...

SO..proceeded to do what the manual asked... and "peak" for MAXIMUM
SIGNAL...and MINIMUM NOISE...on 40M ONLY...  which I "seemed" to have
achieved...  At this point I have to point out that I was NOT hearing any
"stations" on 40m while or during this aligment.... only the "test tone"....

The final part of my "plea" to y'all is this...

Near the end of Page 61... the manual asks the constructor to "peak" or
"turn".....L1 and L2 for "peak signal strength"... and use the K2's S-meter
for this purpose to see when things are at their maximum peak...

Question 3... In this step I have to report that I DID NOT..see "much" of a
"signal peak" here at all... and also...that during ALL of the above "story"
... I WAS NOT..hearing ANY "stations" AT ALL on 40m......"only" noise...and
the generated "test tone"...

Question 4... IS THIS NORMAL..??  Or do I have a problem..??

My "thoughts" were that I "should" be hearing stations on 40m by now...
atleast..??  Perhaps not...

One last thing to mention...is that back in the manual...  Just before
putting the componants on the "RF Board" near the back left hand side of the
board...  I WAS getting my digital display to light up...  After doing that
part of the manual...and continuing to my present position... carrying on
with the alignment section..  I can now report that for some "reason" I
don't seem to be getting a "light" on the digital display anymore...

Could this be mearly due to the "wire jumpers" that were installed a few
pages back, by-passing the parts of the circuit to allow the display to
"light"..??   Hopefully all of this stuff...is nothing to worry about ...

We'll just have to wait n see..  Your "thoughts" are duely welcomed guy's...
Thanks For The Bandwith...

72s 73s
Andy
[hidden email]          "...I Just See It.!.."  John A. Ross
(RSD Communications circa 2004)
A.R.S.
GM0NWI QRP                                       "..It is vain to do with
more....             "A Dis-Orientated Kiwi...
"K2 S/n 01432 Soon To Be On-Air"                    what can be done with
less..             In The Northern Hemisphere..."

GQRP No.9576
QRP-L No.2165
ARCI No.10561
Central Florida DX Association (CFDXA)
Alaska QRP Club No.190
Flying Pigs QRP Club No. FP#-1061
ICQ No.31899603

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Re: Elecraft K2 S/n 01432 ...Alignment Question 40M Onwards...

Vic K2VCO
Andy GM0NWI wrote:

> Question 1 ...  "...Does the constructor ...have to do the
> "linerization" step that is carried out for 40M "only" (or so the manual
> states at that stage) ...for the rest of the bands installed..? "

The CAL PLL is ONLY done on 40 meters. It won't run on other bands, anyway!

> As for the "BFO and FILTER" Alignment, in the steps of the manual
> afterwards... I followed the instructions, pressing the relevent buttons
> when asked... and all that I did "really" there, was just make sure that
> the "digital frequency display" ...showed exactly what was in the manual
> at that stage...I did that for ALL the bands, ..adjusting "only" the VFO
> knob...to make sure my display read for each "BFO" and "FILTER" reading
> "per" band...what was in the manual...

This procedure gets you close to optimum settings.  However, you can improve the
filter performance by using the Spectrogram procedure, which requires a computer
with sound card and some form of the spectrogram program.  See
<http://www.n0ss.net/index.html#Spectrogram>

> SO..proceeded to do what the manual asked... and "peak" for MAXIMUM
> SIGNAL...and MINIMUM NOISE...on 40M ONLY...  which I "seemed" to have
> achieved...  At this point I have to point out that I was NOT hearing
> any "stations" on 40m while or during this aligment.... only the "test
> tone"....

This is correct, and the adjustment is not critical.

> Near the end of Page 61... the manual asks the constructor to "peak" or
> "turn".....L1 and L2 for "peak signal strength"... and use the K2's
> S-meter for this purpose to see when things are at their maximum peak...
>
> Question 3... In this step I have to report that I DID NOT..see "much"
> of a "signal peak" here at all... and also...that during ALL of the
> above "story" ... I WAS NOT..hearing ANY "stations" AT ALL on
> 40m......"only" noise...and the generated "test tone"...

You should get a noticeable peak.  Also the noise should increase significantly
when you connect an antenna to the K2 and decrease when you disconnect it.  If
this doesn't happen, there might be a problem with the bandpass or lowpass
filters.  The small capacitor (C8) between L1 and L2 is very easy to damage if
you have twisted the leads.

> My "thoughts" were that I "should" be hearing stations on 40m by now...
> atleast..??  Perhaps not...

Yes, you should.


> One last thing to mention...is that back in the manual...  Just before
> putting the componants on the "RF Board" near the back left hand side of
> the board...  I WAS getting my digital display to light up...  After
> doing that part of the manual...and continuing to my present position...
> carrying on with the alignment section..  I can now report that for some
> "reason" I don't seem to be getting a "light" on the digital display
> anymore...

The LCD backlight can be turned off in the menu by setting the LCD to DAY
instead of NITE.  Perhaps you accidentally did this?

--
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco

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