K2: CW Alignment Questions

[jperelst]

When I use my (recently built) K2 for CW, I find that stations that respond
to me are always about 100Hz too high infrequency - meaning that I have to
use RIT to listen to them at about 100Hz lower in frequency than the
frequency at which I'm sending.

 

I assume that this indicates an alignment issue in my rig, but I'm a little
unclear as to what it is that needs adjusting and would appreciate advice as
to what to adjust and how.  For information purposes, I have my sidetone
pitch set at the default of 600Hz.

 

Also, in general, I would like to calibrate the rig using WWV at 10MHz.
Since WWV transmits AM and the K2 has only sideband, I have recorded the
frequency where I lose the upper tone while listening on lower sideband
(10.000.03) and the frequency where I lose the lower tone while listening on
upper sideband (9.999.04).  I think that means that I'm pretty close on the
calibration, but I'm not sure.  Any help in understanding how to best use
WWV on a sideband-only receiver would be appreciated.

 

Jon

KB1QBZ

 

 

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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Jon,

Go to my website www.w3fpr.com and follow the instructions in the K2
Dial Calibration article.
That should not only calibrate the frequency readout, but also adjust
the BFOs to center the CW IF filter passbands at your chosen sidetone
pitch of 600 Hz.  The BFO frequencies listed in the K2 manual for your
xtal filter set may be close, but for optimum performance (and accuracy
of the filter center frequency), use Spectrogram and a wideband noise
generator for alignment.  Attempting to align the BFO frequencies using
a single signal is a recipe for frustration.  The website article has
information for aligning the CW, SSB and RTTY filters - do all that you
intend to use.

I strongly suggest using Spectrogram to display the audio tones (500 and
600 Hz) transmitted by WWV to determine the precise tuning of the WWV
signal.  If you have perfect pitch, you can do it by ear, but few of us
possess that quality to a degree that will discern a frequency
difference less than 5 Hz, but Spectrogram can do that for us.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jon Perelstein wrote:

> When I use my (recently built) K2 for CW, I find that stations that respond
> to me are always about 100Hz too high infrequency - meaning that I have to
> use RIT to listen to them at about 100Hz lower in frequency than the
> frequency at which I'm sending.
>
>  
>
> I assume that this indicates an alignment issue in my rig, but I'm a little
> unclear as to what it is that needs adjusting and would appreciate advice as
> to what to adjust and how.  For information purposes, I have my sidetone
> pitch set at the default of 600Hz.
>
>  
>
> Also, in general, I would like to calibrate the rig using WWV at 10MHz.
> Since WWV transmits AM and the K2 has only sideband, I have recorded the
> frequency where I lose the upper tone while listening on lower sideband
> (10.000.03) and the frequency where I lose the lower tone while listening on
> upper sideband (9.999.04).  I think that means that I'm pretty close on the
> calibration, but I'm not sure.  Any help in understanding how to best use
> WWV on a sideband-only receiver would be appreciated.
>  
>

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[David Woolley (E.L)]

Jon Perelstein wrote:
> When I use my (recently built) K2 for CW, I find that stations that respond
> to me are always about 100Hz too high infrequency - meaning that I have to
> use RIT to listen to them at about 100Hz lower in frequency than the
> frequency at which I'm sending.

One factor that can cause a problem is that the 4MHz oscillator
shouldn't actually be exactly 4MHz to get exact frequency counter operation.

It's some time since I did this, but there are details in the archive,
and probably on the web site.



--
David Woolley
"The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to
Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio"
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