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New K2 Owner

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Eugene Balinski

New K2 Owner

All,

I just acquired a (new to me) K2/100. It is a phenomenal
little radio.

The manual is not the clearest I have seen, so I do have a
few questions.

1) When I tune in a CW station and narrow the CW filter
with XFIL switch, I need to re-tune the radio to recenter
the signal. Is this an issue with the alignment,
or are there other settings that may be in play ?

2) Memories. How does one toggle between the memories and
the VFOs ? I would like to load the 60M frequencies in the
memories and be able to toggle back to the VFOs for general
operation.

3) VFO Mode track. When changing the VFO from A - B, the
mode does not change. In other words, if I have CW mode on
VFO A, and I swap to VFO B, the modes remains CW until I
manually change it to SSB. If I change the VFO back to VFO
A, the mode will stay SSB and does not return to CW as was
first entered. Is this normal for this rig ?

4) I understand that there is a preferred replacement for
the main tuning knob from Kenwood ? Can someone point me
in the right direction ?

Thanks in advance

73
Gene K1NR
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Bill Coleman-2

Re: New K2 Owner

On Jun 8, 2010, at 10:30 PM, Eugene Balinski wrote:

> 1) When I tune in a CW station and narrow the CW filter
> with XFIL switch, I need to re-tune the radio to recenter
> the signal. Is this an issue with the alignment,
> or are there other settings that may be in play ?

Quite possibly the BFO values aren't as close as they could be. Because of the BFO quantization, it isn't always possible to get all the filter settings exactly on the same frequency. An offset of up to 20 Hz may be the best you can do. If it is much more than this, though, you can adjust it to be closer using CAL FIL.

> 2) Memories. How does one toggle between the memories and
> the VFOs ? I would like to load the 60M frequencies in the
> memories and be able to toggle back to the VFOs for general
> operation.

I haven't used the memories much, but I don't recall being able to "tune" the memories. I believe selecting a memory pulls it back into the VFO.

> 3) VFO Mode track. When changing the VFO from A - B, the
> mode does not change. In other words, if I have CW mode on
> VFO A, and I swap to VFO B, the modes remains CW until I
> manually change it to SSB. If I change the VFO back to VFO
> A, the mode will stay SSB and does not return to CW as was
> first entered. Is this normal for this rig ?

The VFO does not store the mode. The mode is stored per-band. It is normal.

> 4) I understand that there is a preferred replacement for
> the main tuning knob from Kenwood ? Can someone point me
> in the right direction ?

Some people are using the knob from the Yaesu FT-100. I would search the email reflector archives for the details.

I make do with the FingerDimple addition sold by Elecraft. I think it is about $6.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: [hidden email]
Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901

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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: New K2 Owner

In reply to this post by Eugene Balinski

Gene,

For your first question, yes you need to align the filters in the K2.
It is actually an easy process, but is best done using Spectrogram as an
aid to visually see when the filter passbands are positioned correctly
at your chosen sidetone pitch. You will need the internal counter probe
to do that job. Hopefully the prior owner supplied that with the K2.
You may want to do the whole frequency calibration process while you are
at it.
For an explanation of the process see the K2 Dial Calibration article on
my website www.w3fpr.com - it includes both the dial calibration and the
filter alignment.

As for the other questions, well, that is just the way the K2 works, so
you will have to eitehr get used to it or develop work-arounds that work
for you.

73,
Don W3FPR

Eugene Balinski wrote:

> All,
>
> I just acquired a (new to me) K2/100. It is a phenomenal
> little radio.
>
> The manual is not the clearest I have seen, so I do have a
> few questions.
>
> 1) When I tune in a CW station and narrow the CW filter
> with XFIL switch, I need to re-tune the radio to recenter
> the signal. Is this an issue with the alignment,
> or are there other settings that may be in play ?
>
> 2) Memories. How does one toggle between the memories and
> the VFOs ? I would like to load the 60M frequencies in the
> memories and be able to toggle back to the VFOs for general
> operation.
>
> 3) VFO Mode track. When changing the VFO from A - B, the
> mode does not change. In other words, if I have CW mode on
> VFO A, and I swap to VFO B, the modes remains CW until I
> manually change it to SSB. If I change the VFO back to VFO
> A, the mode will stay SSB and does not return to CW as was
> first entered. Is this normal for this rig ?
>
> 4) I understand that there is a preferred replacement for
> the main tuning knob from Kenwood ? Can someone point me
> in the right direction ?
>
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> 73
> Gene K1NR
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Web mail provided by NuNet, Inc. The Premier National provider.
> http://www.nni.com/
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX

Re: New K2 Owner

In reply to this post by Eugene Balinski

Gene,
To answer the knob question, see
http://wilcoxengineering.com/amateur-radio/elecraft-k2 about a third
down the page. I used a Yaesu FT-100 knob and it works fine. Many folks
use the original ... it's personal preference.
Alan

Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX (K2-5373, K3-40)
570-321-1516
http://WilcoxEngineering.com
Williamsport, PA 17701

Eugene Balinski wrote:

> All,
>
> I just acquired a (new to me) K2/100. It is a phenomenal
> little radio.
> <snip>
>
> 4) I understand that there is a preferred replacement for
> the main tuning knob from Kenwood ? Can someone point me
> in the right direction ?
>
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> 73
> Gene K1NR
>