K-2 Blue Display

[KM4VX]

I would be interested in converting the display in my K-2 to the now popular blue display available in many radios, including the vintage Drake line as well as some of the  modern transceivers. Anyone try this yet?  Where did you find the parts? Many thanks,  and I enjoy reading the  helpful posts on the Reflector.  KM4VX


Ron Cerra
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[daleputnam]

I'd like that option too... blue would be nice, or if it were an led backlit option, one could choose the color of led maybe?


--... ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy






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[DaveL G3TJP]

The K2 display is a soldered-in LCD that sits over a (soldered in) diffuser that is illuminated by LEDs incorporated into the diffuser.  To change colour, it would be neccessary to desolder both.  That's a tall order for a frail LCD display if you don't have the necessary skills and equipment.

Alternatively, the display could be sacrificed and replaced with a new one as the removal of individual pins is an easier task than removing around 40 of them, all attached to glass.  Whether or not the diffuser is available in different background colours is another question.

Some time ago, I refurbished a Yaesu Rx where one of the jobs was to replace all the LCD illumination bulbs that, barring one, had blown.  After removing the pea bulbs AND their sleeves, I decided to use LEDs instead.  Amber, green, blue and white were tried, but all looked pretty awful to me.  Eventually, I located a green-blue LED that closely matched the original colour, and they looked just fine.  It made me wonder whether LCDs are manufactured to suit a particular colour of illumination.

DaveL  G3TJP
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[Dave, G4AON]

I have a 1964 vintage Drake R4A which suffered from faded blue gel
filters. I tried blue LED lamps as sold by a Stateside amateur. While
they worked well and as advertised, the intense blue of the LEDs was
very distracting... I eventually went back to filament lamps with a new
set of gel filters. My PC has a blue LED that lights up the shack, again
that colour isn't pleasing to my eye at least.

I guess what I am suggesting is that some of the modern blue LEDs can be
awful to look at, while I like the older blue displays, I personally
wouldn't expend any time or money changing the K2 illumination to blue.

73 Dave, G4AON
K1, K2 and K3 owner
----------------------------

I would be interested in converting the display in my K-2 to the now
popular blue display available in many radios, including the vintage
Drake line as well as some of the modern transceivers. Anyone try this
yet? Where did you find the parts? Many thanks, and I enjoy reading the
helpful posts on the Reflector. KM4VX

Ron Cerra
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[John Frerichs]

I understand the desire to have a blue backlight for any LCD.  They're very popular in many devices.  Most of these I see, such as my NUE-PSK modem, have white characters against their blue backlights.  Wouldn't the K3's LCD remain black when converting the backlight to blue?  It would seem a little more difficult to read a black character on a blue background.  How would one go about also converting the K3's LCD characters to white?
It seems like it would be a cool project, but would it be worth the time, effort and expense?  Perhaps for some.
Just my US$0.02...

----------------------------
I would be interested in converting the display in my K-2 to the now
popular blue display available in many radios, including the vintage
Drake line as well as some of the modern transceivers. Anyone try this
yet? Where did you find the parts? Many thanks, and I enjoy reading the
helpful posts on the Reflector. KM4VX
Ron Cerra

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[AC7AC]

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[k6dgw]

Dave G4AON wrote:
>
> I guess what I am suggesting is that some of the modern blue LEDs can be
> awful to look at, while I like the older blue displays, I personally
> wouldn't expend any time or money changing the K2 illumination to blue.

I have monochrome vision and a decreased sensitivity at short
wavelengths [poor choice of parents and grandparents :-) ]  Most blues
are indistinguishable from black for me.  I'm pretty happy with my K3
display which is highly readable.  I have a hard time seeing the numeric
legends on the key pad, my wife tells me they are dark red on a dark
gray key, but I've figured out the keypad by position just fine.

OTOH, my total cholesterol is 105, the "good" is high, the "bad" is low,
the result of very good choice of parents.  Life is sort of a crap
shoot, and I'll stick with the stock K3 display.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2009 Cal QSO Party  3-4 Oct 2009
- www.cqp.org
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