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New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

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Philip Cochran

New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

I recently purchased a new KX2 with all the trimmings (AX1, AXE1, CW
paddles, binding posts, etc.). Unfortunately, I’m hearing nothing but
static. I had expected the KX2 to significantly exceed the receiving
quality of my inexpensive SWL receivers.

I am within 5 miles line of sight from some powerful AM stations. My
Midland emergency radio has no problem in picking up the local AM stations
- even the telescoping antenna fully retracted into the body of the radio. My
KX2 cannot hear these stations. I cannot hear WWV on the KX2 (although my
$20 clock radios can synchronize to it). I cannot hear any FT8 signals.
Likewise, no CW.

Granted, I am only using the Elecraft AX1 whip and not an outdoor antenna. But
the AX1 whip is considerably larger than the telescoping antenna on my
Midland even when extended. I’ve checked the RF GAIN (it’s at -0 db), the
AF GAIN knob is turned up, and PRE is showing near the middle of the
display.

Maybe I am a complete idiot and am doing something wrong. Or perhaps my
brand new KX2 was dead on arrival. Can anyone suggest next steps?
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MartySkitch

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

You did not mention what bands you're listening to and when? I would
expect no signals on 10 meters and signals on 30-17 meters during the day
and 40 meters and below at night.
72
Marty NR3Z
[hidden email]
[hidden email]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 2:57 PM Philip Cochran <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> I recently purchased a new KX2 with all the trimmings (AX1, AXE1, CW
> paddles, binding posts, etc.). Unfortunately, I’m hearing nothing but
> static. I had expected the KX2 to significantly exceed the receiving
> quality of my inexpensive SWL receivers.
>
>
> I am within 5 miles line of sight from some powerful AM stations. My
> Midland emergency radio has no problem in picking up the local AM stations
> - even the telescoping antenna fully retracted into the body of the
> radio. My
> KX2 cannot hear these stations. I cannot hear WWV on the KX2 (although my
> $20 clock radios can synchronize to it). I cannot hear any FT8 signals.
> Likewise, no CW.
>
>
> Granted, I am only using the Elecraft AX1 whip and not an outdoor
> antenna. But
> the AX1 whip is considerably larger than the telescoping antenna on my
> Midland even when extended. I’ve checked the RF GAIN (it’s at -0 db), the
> AF GAIN knob is turned up, and PRE is showing near the middle of the
> display.
>
>
> Maybe I am a complete idiot and am doing something wrong. Or perhaps my
> brand new KX2 was dead on arrival. Can anyone suggest next steps?
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

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Philip Cochran

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

I tried 80, 40, 20, 17, and 10 meter ham bands. I tried WWV on 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. I tried the common SWL frequencies. I tried mornings, afternoons and evenings. What is puzzling is that I am hearing nothing but static. It is as if there is no antenna. I tried a wire antenna in lieu of the whip. Still nothing. I’ve either got some software switch set wrong or there is a fault with the rig.

FWIW - I was first licensed many years ago, built several analog radios from scratch, built Heathkits, and had contacts from all over the world. Although my knowledge is seriously dated I have a sense of what a good receiver can pick up. My old Drake 2B could usually hear many stations at any time of day.

I did contact Elecraft. They gave me some initial suggestions. None worked. Waiting for a a reply from my email yesterday..

Phil Cochran
________________________________
From: Marty Skitch <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2020 3:00:29 PM
To: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Cc: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

You did not mention what bands you're listening to and when? I would expect no signals on 10 meters and signals on 30-17 meters during the day and 40 meters and below at night.
72
Marty NR3Z
[hidden email]
[hidden email]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 2:57 PM Philip Cochran <[hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
I recently purchased a new KX2 with all the trimmings (AX1, AXE1, CW
paddles, binding posts, etc.). Unfortunately, I’m hearing nothing but
static. I had expected the KX2 to significantly exceed the receiving
quality of my inexpensive SWL receivers.

I am within 5 miles line of sight from some powerful AM stations. My
Midland emergency radio has no problem in picking up the local AM stations
- even the telescoping antenna fully retracted into the body of the radio. My
KX2 cannot hear these stations. I cannot hear WWV on the KX2 (although my
$20 clock radios can synchronize to it). I cannot hear any FT8 signals.
Likewise, no CW.

Granted, I am only using the Elecraft AX1 whip and not an outdoor antenna. But
the AX1 whip is considerably larger than the telescoping antenna on my
Midland even when extended. I’ve checked the RF GAIN (it’s at -0 db), the
AF GAIN knob is turned up, and PRE is showing near the middle of the
display.

Maybe I am a complete idiot and am doing something wrong. Or perhaps my
brand new KX2 was dead on arrival. Can anyone suggest next steps?
______________________________________________________________
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Don Wilhelm

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

Phil,

Do you have the counterpoise wire connected to a screw on the KX2?
The AX1 is not much of an antenna without it.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/23/2020 3:27 PM, Philip Cochran wrote:
> I tried 80, 40, 20, 17, and 10 meter ham bands. I tried WWV on 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. I tried the common SWL frequencies. I tried mornings, afternoons and evenings. What is puzzling is that I am hearing nothing but static. It is as if there is no antenna. I tried a wire antenna in lieu of the whip. Still nothing. I’ve either got some software switch set wrong or there is a fault with the rig.
>
> FWIW - I was first licensed many years ago, built several analog radios from scratch, built Heathkits, and had contacts from all over the world. Although my knowledge is seriously dated I have a sense of what a good receiver can pick up. My old Drake 2B could usually hear many stations at any time of day.
>
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Philip Cochran

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

Yes, I have a counterpoise attached. I’m in my home office. The counterpoise just lies on the floor. I do not (yet) have an external antenna. My concern is that I hear nothing at all on any band at any time. It’s as if there is no antenna or a broken connection internally. My experience years ago was that I could regularly hear something on at least some bands.

Phil Cochran
________________________________
From: Don Wilhelm <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2020 3:41:21 PM
To: Philip Cochran <[hidden email]>; Marty Skitch <[hidden email]>
Cc: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

Phil,

Do you have the counterpoise wire connected to a screw on the KX2?
The AX1 is not much of an antenna without it.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/23/2020 3:27 PM, Philip Cochran wrote:
> I tried 80, 40, 20, 17, and 10 meter ham bands. I tried WWV on 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. I tried the common SWL frequencies. I tried mornings, afternoons and evenings. What is puzzling is that I am hearing nothing but static. It is as if there is no antenna. I tried a wire antenna in lieu of the whip. Still nothing. I’ve either got some software switch set wrong or there is a fault with the rig.
>
> FWIW - I was first licensed many years ago, built several analog radios from scratch, built Heathkits, and had contacts from all over the world. Although my knowledge is seriously dated I have a sense of what a good receiver can pick up. My old Drake 2B could usually hear many stations at any time of day.
>
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Doug Daniels

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

In reply to this post by Philip Cochran

Have you only tried the AX1 or have you tried the BNC binding post with two
wires connected to it? I've tested my KX2 by painter's taping the antenna
wire to my ceiling and running the counterpoise along the floor. If that
works, you know it's the AX1 and not the rig. CQ WW CW is this weekend,
there will be people wall to wall on the bands, good time for testing.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 2:57 PM Philip Cochran <[hidden email]>
wrote:

--

--... ...--
Doug
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Don Wilhelm

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

In reply to this post by Philip Cochran

Philip,

What kind of a building are you in? As an example, I live in a stucco
house, and with the wire on the walls before the stucco went on, I live
in a faraday shield and few if any signals are received inside the
house. That does include cellphone signals as well as ham frequencies.
The AX1 does not work inside my house unless I take it near a window.

So take a look at your situation - take the KX2 outside with the AX1 and
a trailing counterpoise wire to see if you can hear any signals.

Make sure the switch on the AX1 is set to the band you are listening to.
Do a TUNE to set the KX2 ATU to the frequency of interest.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/23/2020 2:55 PM, Philip Cochran wrote:

Bill Frantz

Re: New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

I will add, the Elecraft tuners can tune almost anything. When
you do a tune (Don's last step below), if the relays click for a
long time before settling into a not-super-good solution, that
is a symptom of no antenna, or a short circuit in place of an
antenna. If you are on the same band as the setting on the AX1,
tuning should be fairly quick.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 11/23/20 at 6:50 PM, [hidden email] (Don Wilhelm) wrote:

>What kind of a building are you in? As an example, I live in a
>stucco house, and with the wire on the walls before the stucco
>went on, I live in a faraday shield and few if any signals are
>received inside the house. That does include cellphone signals
>as well as ham frequencies.
>The AX1 does not work inside my house unless I take it near a window.
>
>So take a look at your situation - take the KX2 outside with
>the AX1 and a trailing counterpoise wire to see if you can hear
>any signals.
>
>Make sure the switch on the AX1 is set to the band you are listening to.
>Do a TUNE to set the KX2 ATU to the frequency of interest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | Concurrency is hard. 12 | Periwinkle
(408)348-7900 | out 10 programmers get it | 150 Rivermead
Rd #235
www.pwpconsult.com | wrong. - Jeff Frantz | Peterborough,
NH 03458

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