K2-100 For Sale

[Hunsdon Cary III]

K2-100 #4991 for sale; well equipped with KAT2 (internal tuner), KSB2, KDSP2, KIO2, KNB2, FDIMP, and MH-2 hand microphone and Anderson PowerPole cable.  It has Don's (W3FPR) constant-level audio output module installed, as well as the K6XX CW tuning indicator (blinks the far left LED on S-meter when within 20 hertz of a CW signal). Assembled by a very experienced kit builder (NJ3V) who's a Naval Academy graduate (engineer) and high school physics teacher; rig has less than two hours on the finals; non-smoking environment and never outside.  It performs beautifully; all documentation (and it's extensive!).  Reason for selling?  I use it very little since acquiring a K3-100 (#3448) about two years ago.  Kit price today for a K2-100 with these options is about $1900.  Asking $950 and I will ship CONUS only.  Please reply off reflector to [hidden email]
73,
Cary, K4TM
Lynchburg, VA




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[John Huggins, kx4o]

On 11/11/11 10:24 AM, Hunsdon Cary III wrote:
> rig has less than two hours on the finals;
Just wondering why "less than two hours on the finals" is important.  Do
K2 finals have a lifetime issue?

Thanks.
John, kx4o
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

John,

I don't know of any lifetime issues with the K2 finals or any other
transmitter with a solid state PA.  That was an important consideration
with tubes, so maybe it was just an "old school" statement.

The K2 PA transistors are quite hardy, but if one abuses them
sufficiently (for instance transmitting into a high SWR at high power),
they will turn "belly up" in short order.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/12/2011 8:59 AM, John wrote:
> On 11/11/11 10:24 AM, Hunsdon Cary III wrote:
>> rig has less than two hours on the finals;
> Just wondering why "less than two hours on the finals" is important.  Do
> K2 finals have a lifetime issue?
>
>
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[Kurt Cramer-2]

The less then two hours refers to the running time before you tighten the mounting screws. They become loose and need to be tightened once after installation.
Kurt W7QHD

> From: [hidden email]
> To: [hidden email]
> Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:24:59 -0800
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 - Time on K2 Finals
>
> Another 'old school' carryover was to purchase a replacement for a rig's
> final(s) since Murphy decreed they'd fail at the most inconvenient time. So
> I ordered spares for my K2 when I built it in 2000.
>
> In spite of all the normal operating gaffs - transmitting briefly into an
> open load with infinite SWR too many times, hammering away at the key for
> waaaaay too long in a rag chew, etc., the K2 still works like new and the
> replacement "finals" are still in my operating desk drawer somewhere...
>
> Ron AC7AC
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> John,
>
> I don't know of any lifetime issues with the K2 finals or any other
> transmitter with a solid state PA.  That was an important consideration
> with tubes, so maybe it was just an "old school" statement.
>
> The K2 PA transistors are quite hardy, but if one abuses them
> sufficiently (for instance transmitting into a high SWR at high power),
> they will turn "belly up" in short order.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 11/12/2011 8:59 AM, John wrote:
> > On 11/11/11 10:24 AM, Hunsdon Cary III wrote:
> >> rig has less than two hours on the finals;
> > Just wondering why "less than two hours on the finals" is important.  Do
> > K2 finals have a lifetime issue?
> >
> >
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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[John Huggins, kx4o]

Thanks to all for the answers.  A friend of mine had a K2 (QRP) that
kept blowing finals no matter what he tried so I was curious if there
was some known stress point in the design.  He has since moved to a K3
and no longer has the K2 so a resolution to the blowing finals is not known.

Thanks again.
John, kx4o

On 11/12/11 5:04 PM, Kurt Cramer wrote:
> The less then two hours refers to the running time before you tighten the mounting screws. They become loose and need to be tightened once after installation.
> Kurt W7QHD
>
>

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[daleputnam]

I'd take a real close hard look at the antenna, from the radio out... including minute inspection of the connections in the shack that were use by the K2. It may have been an intermittent connector that after being moved, is not in a stressed or disadvantageous situation.


--...   ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy


     
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

On 11/12/2011 6:39 PM, John wrote:
> Thanks to all for the answers.  A friend of mine had a K2 (QRP) that
> kept blowing finals no matter what he tried so I was curious if there
> was some known stress point in the design.  He has since moved to a K3
> and no longer has the K2 so a resolution to the blowing finals is not known.
>
> Thanks again.
> John, kx4o
>
>
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

John and all,

Sorry for the previous blank email - slip of the mouse!.

There are several possible explanations for repeated K2 PA transistor
failure - the most common of which is that the PA bias is not correct.  
The K2PAKIT comes with 2N2222A transistors that are to be replacements
for Q11 and Q13.  If one or both of those transistors are damaged, the
bias to the PA transistors will not be correct and the result is their
early demise.  Q11 and Q13 often fail as a secondary fault when the PA
transistors fail.

There was also a short "glitch" in the PA transistors being used by
Elecraft.  The original PA transistors did not need to be matched
because they came in consistently with an HFE in the 50 to 60 range.  
Then the original supplier of the PA transistors no longer produced
these good transistors, and it was discovered that the HFE of the
transistors being supplied varied substantially.  If one were
unfortunate enough to be supplied with transistors having substantially
different HFE, one would hog the current and eventually fail.  Once that
condition was discovered, Elecraft began supplying matched pair
transistors for the K2 PA.  No problems have been observed since the
transistors have been matched.

Perhaps your friend was trapped in that interim period between the
mismatched transistors and the time when Elecraft began matching them
(or he had a Q11/Q13 problem) - without more details about the time
frame this occurred, it is difficult to make any assessment - what I can
say is that this condition has been corrected.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/12/2011 6:39 PM, John wrote:
> Thanks to all for the answers.  A friend of mine had a K2 (QRP) that
> kept blowing finals no matter what he tried so I was curious if there
> was some known stress point in the design.  He has since moved to a K3
> and no longer has the K2 so a resolution to the blowing finals is not known.
>
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[Hunsdon Cary III]

> Subject: K2-100 For Sale
>
> K2-100 #4991 for sale; well equipped with KAT2 (internal tuner), KSB2, KDSP2, KIO2, KNB2, FDIMP, and MH-2 hand microphone and Anderson PowerPole cable.  It has Don's (W3FPR) constant-level audio output module installed, as well as the K6XX CW tuning indicator (blinks the far right LED on S-meter when within 20 hertz of a CW signal). Assembled by a very experienced kit builder (NJ3V) who's a Naval Academy graduate (engineer) and high school physics teacher; rig has less than two hours on the finals; non-smoking environment and never outside.  It performs beautifully and was just aligned by Don Wilhelm, W3FPR, and is in peak condition, power output is better than specifications.; all documentation (and it's extensive!).  Reason for selling?  I use it very little since acquiring a K3-100 (#3448) about two years ago.  Kit price today for a K2-100 with these options is about $1900+.

> Asking $950 and I will ship CONUS only.  Please reply off reflector to [hidden email]
> 73,
> Cary, K4TM
> Lynchburg, VA

> H. Cary III
  [hidden email]



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[KC6CNN]

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