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K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

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Nigel-14

K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

Greetings from Down Under.

With the help and encouragement of the NZ K2 guru Ron, ZL1TW, I have finally
got on the air with K2 Nr 3029. Getting back on air after 40 years I
decided to learn iambic keying so have used my K2 in test mode often for
practise. I find that on some occasions when I have closed both paddles at
"exactly" the same time and held them squeezed I get a steady tone rather
than alternating dots and dashes.

I can repeat this in operating mode and have confirmed that power is being
delivered into a dummy load like if a straight key was held down. Needless
to say it does not happen very often and is an operator error which I
correct, but wondered if others had experienced this too? I have found
that by pointing both index fingers at the paddles, one on either side then
aiming to push them together simultaneously is a way of effecting this and
even then it will take maybe 10 or so tries to make it happen. (BTW this is
not how I send ;-))

My K2 has firmware 2.03d 1.07. has the Temp-compensation PLL mod fitted
but not the Keying bandwidth mod. Installed are KNB2, KAF2 and KAT2. InP
= PDLn, Iab = b and the keyer is set to 15wpm.

Regards

73s, Nigel ZL2DF

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Rich Lentz

RE: K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

It happened to me often enough that I shut off "Auto-Detect" and I use A
mode.

Rich
KE0X

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Sam Binkley

Re: K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

In reply to this post by Nigel-14

Nigel,
Congratulations on getting back on the air and completing the K2. I
have experienced the steady tone on rare occasion. I hope to hear you
on the air soon.
73,
Sam, KL7V/5
Oklahoma
K2 #3158

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Per von Zweigbergk-3

Re: K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

In reply to this post by Nigel-14

This is a feature. :-)

Basically, this is so that you can connect a straight key and a paddle
to the keyer jack at the same time, by connecting both the dit and dah
lines to ground through two diodes, without any need for settings.

This is documented in the manual.

2004-09-05 kl. 04.29 skrev Nigel:

> Greetings from Down Under.
>
> With the help and encouragement of the NZ K2 guru Ron, ZL1TW, I have
> finally
> got on the air with K2 Nr 3029. Getting back on air after 40 years I
> decided to learn iambic keying so have used my K2 in test mode often
> for
> practise. I find that on some occasions when I have closed both
> paddles at
> "exactly" the same time and held them squeezed I get a steady tone
> rather
> than alternating dots and dashes.
>
> I can repeat this in operating mode and have confirmed that power is
> being
> delivered into a dummy load like if a straight key was held down.
> Needless
> to say it does not happen very often and is an operator error which I
> correct, but wondered if others had experienced this too? I have
> found
> that by pointing both index fingers at the paddles, one on either side
> then
> aiming to push them together simultaneously is a way of effecting this
> and
> even then it will take maybe 10 or so tries to make it happen. (BTW
> this is
> not how I send ;-))
>
> My K2 has firmware 2.03d 1.07. has the Temp-compensation PLL mod
> fitted
> but not the Keying bandwidth mod. Installed are KNB2, KAF2 and KAT2.
> InP
> = PDLn, Iab = b and the keyer is set to 15wpm.
>
> Regards
>
> 73s, Nigel ZL2DF
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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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David A. Belsley

Re: K2 Iambic b Strange Effect

In reply to this post by Nigel-14

Nigel:
As has been noted in other posts, this property of the K2 is indeed a
feature, called autodetect, to allow one to use a pair of diodes to
attach a straight key (or external keyer) at the same time as pair of
paddles. It is very clever, but also can cause problems.

What has not been mentioned in previous answers to your post is the
fact that this feature can be turned off in the menus, although this is
done with one of the trickier menu operations (the extended menu
operations). If you are not using the autodetect, turn it off as
follows:

tap menu, and turn VFO knob till you get InP (input). Press and Hold
menu to get to the InP parameter-select mode. Now press DISPLAY. You
will see a very short display that says "ADET Off" or "ADET On"
(autodetect off or on), and each successive press of DISPLAY will
toggle between the two. Leave it when it says "ADET Off", and there
you are.

best wishes,

dave belsley, w1euy

On Sep 4, 2004, at 10:29 PM, Nigel wrote: