K2 s/n 6322 is assembled and working!

[Sarah K.]

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I should send a quick update and let everyone know that
my new K2, serial number 006322, is now up and running! The antenna
tuner, SSB adapter, and noise blanker are installed and working. The
power supply for the moment is a 12 volt, 7 amp-hour battery that I
connect with some alligator clips; not fancy, but seems to work just
fine. I also have the internal battery for the K2 on order which
should arrive today. The only thing I haven't put together yet is the
I/O module, which I don't plan to put together right away; I want to
learn how to use what I have first!

The antenna I'm using at the moment is very random wire; it's about
eighty feet of wire run a few inches from the ceiling, starting in the
"work room" (sewing room/computer room/electronics lab/etc) wandering
around the room, down the hall, and around the living room. It looks
terrible, in my opinion, but works ok for now. The two things that
seemed to help were having quite a lot of wire, and getting close to
the ceiling, which I suspect is not backed by chicken wire or some
other faraday-cage-style nuisance. I'll probably try to experiment
with some other antenna ideas but there just aren't all that many
possibilities for an external antenna in my current location; even
"stealth" antennas are kind of iffy due to various circumstances. My
random-ugly-wire seems to tune up pretty well, I think; it seems to
manage SWR's in the 1.something:1 range most of the time. I've heard
clear, strong signals on 80m, 40m, and 20m, so I'm pretty sure the
radio is working now!

I also discovered why I couldn't hear anything on 40m when I first
tried it out... the culprit turns out to be my gigabit ethernet switch
and/or it's accompanying wall wart! With that disconnected, I have a
perfectly nice radio, but when I plug in the switch, I have a very
expensive buzzing machine instead! Pretty much all the bands are
blanked out by the noise! Fortunately the gigabit switch isn't
critical at the moment so I've just left it unplugged, and I'll deal
with it later. There's still quite a lot of noise from the other
apartments in the complex, and a tiny bit from my other network
equipment, but nothing unmanageable.

I've also ordered the Buddistick vertical from Elecraft, along with
the tripod; my hope being that I can use that to easily operate in the
field, which, if nothing else, would get me out of the house a little
more! :-)

And speaking of operating in the field... it looks like I may get to
take a vacation starting next week, which is something, strangely
enough, that I've never really done! My last real vacation was 20+
years ago when I was still in school, so taking time off to go on an
adventure is a new thing for me, really! I'm thinking about just
getting in the car and heading North from San Diego, towards Northern
California, or maybe Oregon or Washington, but without any particular
set plan. I'm of course thinking of bringing my K2 with me, so if
anybody has any travel tips, K2 specific or otherwise, I'd welcome the
advice!

At the moment I still don't have a microphone or a code key (or code
skills), so I haven't actually been communicating with anyone yet...
I'm working on that! Right now there's still a lot to learn from just
listening!

It's quite a lot more exciting to hear a real HF radio signal than to
just read about it! Yesterday I heard people calling from Vancouver
Island to Monterrey, Mexico, and several other nearby states... it was
a lot of fun!

Thanks for your help, everyone!

Sarah AF6FH
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[KBG Luxford]

Great achievement, Sarah, congratulations.

I wonder how the bolting together of K3 modules compares with soldering
a K2 in the sense of achievement stakes?

Enjoy!

73
Kevin
VK3DAP / ZL2DAP

Sarah K. wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I just thought I should send a quick update and let everyone know that
> my new K2, serial number 006322, is now up and running! The antenna
> tuner, SSB adapter, and noise blanker are installed and working. The
> power supply for the moment is a 12 volt, 7 amp-hour battery that I
> connect with some alligator clips; not fancy, but seems to work just
> fine. I also have the internal battery for the K2 on order which
> should arrive today. The only thing I haven't put together yet is the
> I/O module, which I don't plan to put together right away; I want to
> learn how to use what I have first!

  <snip>
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[Sarah K.]

Thanks!

I wouldn't say it's bolting-together vs. soldering; it's more a
question of how many of those darn toroids you have to wind!

At least I've overcome my childhood fear of inductors... :-)

Sarah AF6FH




On Dec 11, 2007 4:35 PM, KBG Luxford <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Great achievement, Sarah, congratulations.
>
> I wonder how the bolting together of K3 modules compares with soldering
> a K2 in the sense of achievement stakes?
>
> Enjoy!
>
> 73
> Kevin
> VK3DAP / ZL2DAP
>
>
> Sarah K. wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > I just thought I should send a quick update and let everyone know that
> > my new K2, serial number 006322, is now up and running! The antenna
> > tuner, SSB adapter, and noise blanker are installed and working. The
> > power supply for the moment is a 12 volt, 7 amp-hour battery that I
> > connect with some alligator clips; not fancy, but seems to work just
> > fine. I also have the internal battery for the K2 on order which
> > should arrive today. The only thing I haven't put together yet is the
> > I/O module, which I don't plan to put together right away; I want to
> > learn how to use what I have first!

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