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K2 Question

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ARDUJENSKI

K2 Question

QUESTION: For those who have only one radio to use for base station and
occasional field operations have you found the K2 to be more than adequate or
do you recommend the K2/100 with external ATU? I am a casual operator; both
CW (90%) and SSB (10%).

Do those of you who have or had the K2/20 have regrets not getting the
K2/100?

Thank you in advance for your feedback

Alan KB7MBI
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Johnny Siu

K2 Question

Hello Alan,

If you are mostly CW, 15 watt output from K2 would be adequate for most of the cases. I find the K2+KAT2 combination is very good for field day because of the low standby current.

However, KX3 will be on the pipe line and offers similar or better performance. It will depend on whether you really like a through hole soldering kit. If yes, go for K2.

TNX & 73,

Johnny VR2XMC

從︰ "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>
收件人︰ [hidden email]
傳送日期︰ 2011年07月20日 (週三) 12:10 PM
主題︰ [Elecraft] K2 Question

QUESTION: For those who have only one radio to use for base station and
occasional field operations have you found the K2 to be more than adequate or
do you recommend the K2/100 with external ATU? I am a casual operator; both
CW (90%) and SSB (10%).

Do those of you who have or had the K2/20 have regrets not getting the
K2/100?

Thank you in advance for your feedback

Alan KB7MBI
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Jessie Oberreuter-2

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

The basic 15w K2 w/ internal ATU is my primary rig and, as a mostly
CW op, completely meets my needs. My contesting partner, Ki7el, runs a
40m MFJ on sideband, and we do just fine together. Personally, we love
the ability to pack our gear in a pair of laptop bags and be on the air
with no fuss. I've also operated a fair amount of sideband on the K2 and
it servers me just fine :).
I did buy the 100w PA with my K3 b/c I thought it would be nice to
have at least one radio with some punch, but I practically never turn the
wick up.
Wait, you have a K3 but the K2 is your primary rig? Yep. The K3 is
the fancy shack rig; the K2 lives on my bedroom desk and also does all of
the contest traveling. What can I say? It's smaller, lighter, simpler,
more at home in the rough, and it's a great performer!

On Wed, 20 Jul 2011, [hidden email] wrote:

> QUESTION: For those who have only one radio to use for base station and
> occasional field operations have you found the K2 to be more than adequate or
> do you recommend the K2/100 with external ATU? I am a casual operator; both
> CW (90%) and SSB (10%).
>
> Do those of you who have or had the K2/20 have regrets not getting the
> K2/100?
>
> Thank you in advance for your feedback
>
> Alan KB7MBI
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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John Ragle

Re: K2 Question by Alan KB7MBI...

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

Hi, Alan...

My history with these radios is as follows: (1) a few years back, I
bought a K2/10 CW only as a kit for therapy on manual dexterity (chemo
badly damaged my peripheral sensitivities). I put it together and used
it for a while, then added first the ATU, then the 100 watt amp and
later the ssb board, though I have been primarily a CW operator since my
first license in 1946. This was a sweet little radio, and served me very
well in this configuration for about a year.

Then (2) "technolust" got hold of me, and I sold the K2 and bought
a Flex 3000. This was an absolute disaster as a rig. The CW didn't work
right, and the antenna tuner would not handle my 10 or 6 meter antennas
because the values of the switched components were chosen too coarse
(for the lower frequency bands, I guess).

I sold the Flex 3K to a SSB/AM only guy (!!) and, needing no
further physical therapy, (3) I bought a factory-assembled K3/100 with
the interface and eventually with the XV144 external transverter, and
have now used this combo for almost 2 years. I recently added a P3.

My reaction is the following:

(a) the K3 is much the nicer rig than the K2, but it is somewhat
heavier, larger, and best chosen for base station use.

(b) the Flex3000 ...well, enough said. The Flex1500 seems to have
disappeared from the market (?). It was vaporware for years, and I guess
people got tired of waiting.

(c) The K2/10 (no amp, no ssb) would make a very nice CW/transportable
rig. If one wants to make use of PSK or other digital modes, or RTTY,
then one would need to add the ssb board, since all that is done using AFSK.

(d) the K2 with ssb does not contain a soundcard interface, so one would
need something like a SignaLink USB and a small netbook to go fully
digital. When I was using the K2, I bought a SignaLink USB for it. I
*still* use the SignaLink with the K3, as it is more flexible than the
built-in capabilities in the K3. I run FLDIGI for all digital modes
*except* CW, which I do "the old-fashioned way" with paddles.

For portable use, I have several of the QRP "riglets" -- a Small Wonders
Labs PSK-20 which is a delight, and two of the Weber dual-band CW toy
rigs (not yet completed). I still need to carry a small power supply (a
regulated/filtered Notebook supply (mine is an MFJ 1317) and a small
tuner, as "hotel antennas" are not great for matching without it. I use
an ASUS EEE PC-901 which I got very inexpensively from an Amazon
close-out. It works fine for the PSK-20, and runs either FLDIGI or
DigiPan/Airlink Express (no SignaLink).

Now, as to the future...I am *definitely* going to get a KX3 with tuner
when those become available. Again, one will have to carry a small power
supply, but presumably the internal ATU will be just fine. For digital,
I expect to be able to use the ASUS netbook.

Antennas are a real problem. I have a Buddipole but it is again much too
cumbersome for hotelling.. Throwing a wire with a weight out the hotel
window is not very satisfactory, though an end-fed half-wave is OK if
you can get it away from the building a foot or two. This means a "jib"
of fiberglass, which works just fine. Often there are no suitable
grounds, e.g. radiators, etc. in a hotel room or suite, so quarter-wave
antennas aren't much use unless you want to run a radial or two inside
the room (ugh!). The Buddipole is fine for beach-front activities. One
then needs a battery pack with some life to it, or a solar-cell supply.

I hope this gives you some grist for thinking. The two Elecraft boxes
are just great. I have owned a lot of rigs in the past, e.g. home-built,
Hallicrafters, Kenwood TS-520, TenTec Triton IV and Omni VI+, ICOM, etc.
and I am super pleased with the Elecraft boxes; they are the best ever!.
I run the K3 almost every day for a few QSOs, mostly with PSK on HF and
SSB or CW on 6 and 2. On 2 the XV144 runs into a TE Systems amp.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

=====

On 7/20/2011 12:10 AM, [hidden email] wrote:
> QUESTION: For those who have only one radio to use for base station and
> occasional field operations have you found the K2 to be more than adequate or
> do you recommend the K2/100 with external ATU? I am a casual operator; both
> CW (90%) and SSB (10%).
>
> Do those of you who have or had the K2/20 have regrets not getting the
> K2/100?

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AC7AC

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

Gary D Krause

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

Hi Alan,

I also operate mostly CW with just a little SSB. I have the KPA100 but, I
find that most of my operating is done at 10 watts or less. For me, operating
SSB at ten watts is a blast. In fact, I had a SSB contact with Aruba the
other night with just ten watts.

Ten watts is quite adequate for CW, in my opinion. About half of my contacts
are QRP. I should also say that I don't have any beam antennas. I use only a
vertical and magnetic loops.

It all depends on what you want and why you want it.

Have fun deciding!

Gary, N7HTS

On Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:10:15 EDT
[hidden email] wrote:

> QUESTION: For those who have only one radio to use for base station and
> occasional field operations have you found the K2 to be more than adequate
>or
> do you recommend the K2/100 with external ATU? I am a casual operator; both
> CW (90%) and SSB (10%).
>
> Do those of you who have or had the K2/20 have regrets not getting the
> K2/100?
>
> Thank you in advance for your feedback
>
> Alan KB7MBI
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Eric Champine

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

Hey Alan.
You could always do what I am doing.
I am building the K2/10 with the internal tuner and other add-on's for
portable use and I am also building the external antenna tuner in a second
enclosure with the 100w amp. When I am not using it portable I just hook up
the tuner/amp to make it a K2/100 with tuner. Coast a gbit more but gives
you the best of both worlds in my opinion. Hope that helps some how.

73 de W2EEC

Eric

"I am not making any plans, I am just letting the universe surprise me!
John Cusack"
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ARDUJENSKI

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

I want to thank all of you for the outpouring of comments and suggestions
regarding the K2. I did not realize all the options available and you all
have provided me with good information to evaluate making my selection.

As mentioned to some, my goal is to get down to one main radio (besides my
K1) which is capable of battery operation both at home and in the field and
has a good track record. As my soldering days are long behind me, the K2
has a great following upon which I feel I can rely.

Since I am a casual operator with no contesting desires other than sprints
and 90% CW there are many features which would not be necessary.

Regards

Alan KB7MBI
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RobertG

Re: K2 Question

In reply to this post by ARDUJENSKI

Alan...

I have the K2/100 as my exclusive radio. It has served all my needs
admirably. Other radios are no doubt "better," but only marginally. The
100w amp can be swapped out for QRP when that mode is desired. I operate
virtually 100% cw and in this mode, it's a very serviceable radio. And,
as many others have said, I built it myself!

...robert

On 7/20/2011 04:10, [hidden email] wrote:

--
Robert G. Strickland, PhD, ABPH - KE2WY
[hidden email]
Syracuse, New York, USA
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