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K2 & transverter question

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WE0H

K2 & transverter question

Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter
option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a
3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal
to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station
on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at & below 80 meters?
I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp.

Many thanks,
Mike
WE0H
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Ken Wagner K3IU

Re: K2 & transverter question

Hi Mike:
I got out a l'il FCC-2 freq counter/vfo that I built, hooked it up to
the K2 and was able to hear a signal on the K2 to down just below
2740kc. The VCO unlocked just below that. At 3000kc the output power was
about 10 watts. I don't know what kind of sensitivity is available in
the K2 that far out of its specified band, but my guess is that it
should be OK for what you intend.
Good luck with the project.
73, Ken K3IU
K2 #5413
K3 #202

Mike-WE0H wrote:

> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter
> option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a
> 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal
> to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station
> on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at & below 80 meters?
> I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp.
>
> Many thanks,
> Mike
> WE0H
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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WE0H

Re: K2 & transverter question

Thank you Ken. Looks like it will be just fine then. Just built a FCC-2
MK-II a few weeks ago. It is a very nice DDS VFO.

73
Mike
WE0H

Ken K3IU wrote:

> Hi Mike:
> I got out a l'il FCC-2 freq counter/vfo that I built, hooked it up to
> the K2 and was able to hear a signal on the K2 to down just below
> 2740kc. The VCO unlocked just below that. At 3000kc the output power
> was about 10 watts. I don't know what kind of sensitivity is available
> in the K2 that far out of its specified band, but my guess is that it
> should be OK for what you intend.
> Good luck with the project.
> 73, Ken K3IU
> K2 #5413
> K3 #202
>
> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter
>> option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a
>> 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal
>> to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station
>> on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at & below 80 meters?
>> I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> Mike
>> WE0H

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K2 & transverter question

In reply to this post by WE0H

Mike,

The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF frequency
band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter bands are
limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are 'bottom of the
band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.

You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100
installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in your
head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify your
transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.

You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the frequency
in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to use the
K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as the RF band
and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the proper frequency.

In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter
oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF
bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510
kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you selected
50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 50000.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display.

73,
Don W3FPR

Mike-WE0H wrote:

WE0H

Re: K2 & transverter question

Hi Don,

Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable
reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF
freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what
oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for
over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven
oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero
drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle
drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell
sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF & MF station around
them.

Thanks much,
Mike
WE0H

Don wrote:

> Mike,
>
> The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF
> frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter
> bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are
> 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.
>
> You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100
> installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in
> your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
> If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify
> your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.
>
> You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the
> frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to
> use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as
> the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the
> proper frequency.
>
> In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter
> oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF
> bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510
> kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you
> selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 50000.00 to 50550.00 on
> the K2 display.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR

>
> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter
>> option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a
>> 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's
>> signal to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part
>> 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at &
>> below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not
>> the HF power amp.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> Mike
>> WE0H
>>
>

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K2 & transverter question

Mike,

It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations.
I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it would
ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF frequencies
were made available.

Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered using
it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that will
produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a tuned
circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz frequency. I
don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think it would be
viable enough to experiment with.

73,
Don W3FPR

Mike-WE0H wrote:

> Hi Don,
>
> Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable
> reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF
> freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what
> oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for
> over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven
> oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero
> drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle
> drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell
> sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF & MF station around
> them.
>
> Thanks much,
> Mike
> WE0H
>
>
>
> Don wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF
>> frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter
>> bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are
>> 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.
>>
>> You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100
>> installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in
>> your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
>> If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify
>> your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.
>>
>> You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the
>> frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to
>> use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as
>> the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the
>> proper frequency.
>>
>> In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter
>> oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF
>> bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510
>> kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you
>> selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 50000.00 to 50550.00 on
>> the K2 display.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>
>
>> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>>
>>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
>>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
>>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter
>>> option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a
>>> 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's
>>> signal to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part
>>> 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at &
>>> below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not
>>> the HF power amp.
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>> Mike
>>> WE0H
>>>
>>>
>

WE0H

Re: K2 & transverter question

Hi Don,

I can drop the level down and divide as you said. That would be easy
enough. I wonder if the software of the K2 could be changed to allow any
HF band to be used as an IF with that K60XV board? Who would I speak
with about changing the software?

Otherwise I'll continue to look for a oven oscillator at those 4
baseband freq's. If I can't find one then I will have to use your method
to generate some harmonics and pick the 7.0mc signal and buffer/filter
it for the mixer. One way or the other it'll get done...hi hi...

Thanks,
Mike

Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Mike,
>
> It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations.
> I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it
> would ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF
> frequencies were made available.
>
> Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered
> using it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that
> will produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a
> tuned circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz
> frequency. I don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think
> it would be viable enough to experiment with.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>> Hi Don,
>>
>> Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a
>> suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of
>> odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion
>> on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1
>> cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now
>> run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month
>> and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't
>> tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial
>> assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and
>> built my LF & MF station around them.
>>
>> Thanks much,
>> Mike
>> WE0H
>>
>>
>>
>> Don wrote:
>>
>>> Mike,
>>>
>>> The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF
>>> frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter
>>> bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are
>>> 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.
>>>
>>> You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100
>>> installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in
>>> your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
>>> If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify
>>> your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.
>>>
>>> You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the
>>> frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter
>>> to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz
>>> as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain
>>> the proper frequency.
>>>
>>> In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the
>>> transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and
>>> reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune
>>> from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to
>>> 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see
>>> 50000.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Don W3FPR
>>>
>>
>>
>>> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>>>
>>>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
>>>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
>>>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the
>>>> transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to
>>>> 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with
>>>> the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am
>>>> licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate
>>>> in that band at & below 80 meters? I only need the transverter
>>>> ports to function, not the HF power amp.
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks,
>>>> Mike
>>>> WE0H
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K2 & transverter question

Mike,

The only person that would change the firmware would be Wayne Burdick
himself. In the K2 it would require replacement of the firmware chip
because K2 firmware is not downloadable like the K3.

You would likely have to pry Wayne away from his K3 MCU firmware efforts
to get his attention, but you certainly could ask.

73,
Don W3FPR

Mike-WE0H wrote:

> Hi Don,
>
> I can drop the level down and divide as you said. That would be easy
> enough. I wonder if the software of the K2 could be changed to allow any
> HF band to be used as an IF with that K60XV board? Who would I speak
> with about changing the software?
>
> Otherwise I'll continue to look for a oven oscillator at those 4
> baseband freq's. If I can't find one then I will have to use your method
> to generate some harmonics and pick the 7.0mc signal and buffer/filter
> it for the mixer. One way or the other it'll get done...hi hi...
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
>
>
>
> Don Wilhelm wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations.
>> I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it
>> would ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF
>> frequencies were made available.
>>
>> Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered
>> using it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that
>> will produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a
>> tuned circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz
>> frequency. I don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think
>> it would be viable enough to experiment with.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Don,
>>>
>>> Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a
>>> suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of
>>> odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion
>>> on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1
>>> cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now
>>> run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month
>>> and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't
>>> tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial
>>> assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and
>>> built my LF & MF station around them.
>>>
>>> Thanks much,
>>> Mike
>>> WE0H
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Don wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Mike,
>>>>
>>>> The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF
>>>> frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter
>>>> bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are
>>>> 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.
>>>>
>>>> You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100
>>>> installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in
>>>> your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
>>>> If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify
>>>> your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.
>>>>
>>>> You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the
>>>> frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter
>>>> to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz
>>>> as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain
>>>> the proper frequency.
>>>>
>>>> In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the
>>>> transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and
>>>> reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune
>>>> from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to
>>>> 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see
>>>> 50000.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display.
>>>>
>>>> 73,
>>>> Don W3FPR
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew
>>>>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new
>>>>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the
>>>>> transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to
>>>>> 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with
>>>>> the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am
>>>>> licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate
>>>>> in that band at & below 80 meters? I only need the transverter
>>>>> ports to function, not the HF power amp.
>>>>>
>>>>> Many thanks,
>>>>> Mike
>>>>> WE0H
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>

WE0H

Re: K2 & transverter question

I wonder if that was Wayne whom I spoke with at the Orlando Hamcation a
couple weekends ago? There was a guy and a lady there at the Elecraft
booth and both were extremely helpful and willing to sit down and answer
tons of questions. That was the best customer service experience I have
seen in a long time. I'll ask Wayne and cross my fingers that it can be
done easily...hi hi...

Mike

Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Mike,
>
> The only person that would change the firmware would be Wayne Burdick
> himself. In the K2 it would require replacement of the firmware chip
> because K2 firmware is not downloadable like the K3.
>
> You would likely have to pry Wayne away from his K3 MCU firmware
> efforts to get his attention, but you certainly could ask.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K2 & transverter question

Mike,

I know that Eric was at Orlando (based on his note to the reflector in
which he referred to "we"), but I don't think Wayne was there. The lady
may have been his wife Lerma, but that is only a guess on my part based
on no valid information - that "we" may have been the 'royal we' or
could have referred to the mouse in his pocket.

I am glad to hear that you had a positive experience at the Elecraft
booth in Orlando.

73,
Don W3FPR

Mike-WE0H wrote:

> I wonder if that was Wayne whom I spoke with at the Orlando Hamcation a
> couple weekends ago? There was a guy and a lady there at the Elecraft
> booth and both were extremely helpful and willing to sit down and answer
> tons of questions. That was the best customer service experience I have
> seen in a long time. I'll ask Wayne and cross my fingers that it can be
> done easily...hi hi...
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>