PLUG & PLAY K2 # 5310 ALIVE

[Manuel Wilches]

Hello fellow Elecrafters.

My K2 is on the air CW'ing all over the place....I even entered the RUDX
contest, on this weekend, and I have made a few countries. What a pleasure!
QRP, of course...the KPA100 is still in the box.

I am a Portuguese ham living in Spanish-speaking Argentina. I am 58 and have
been a ham since the age of 15. CW and RTTY are my favourite modes.

PLEASE ALLOW ME THANK A GENTLEMAN FOR HIS HELP
I had a problem for quite some time on the TX side of the rig and, honestly,
I was embarassed to take it up here on the forum. I am sure, from what I
read everyday here, the Elecraft community would get me out of trouble as
well but, my knowledge was so limited, that I did not want to tire everyone
here. Somehow I felt it was surely a silly mistake on my part. Therefore, I
asked Don, W3FPR, to help me and, for a few weeks, Don patiently and
expertly guided me through the testing procedures. I finally found the
problem and yes, you guessed it right, I had a bad solder!
I would like to express my gratitude to Don for his assistance and endless
patience.

THE PROBLEM IN BRIEF FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS
The rx on the K2 was perfect but I could not get more than 200 mw of power.
I was at the 40 METER TRANSMITTER ALIGNMENT section on page 75 (right
column) and adjustment of L1 and L2 did not produce any power results. To
make matters worse I had an old analog meter and I did not have a dummy load
(ooops!).
Don strongly suggested I did away with my analog meter and buy a dummy load.
When all measurements throughout the PREDRIVER-PA BIAS-DRIVER-POWER
AMPLIFIER were over and the situation did not change, and although I had
checked and re-checked all pads many times, indeed I found a bad solder on
C121 and perhaps (I am not sure) another one on one leg of T1. I re-soldered
that and, a few seconds later, my K2 was on the air. It took me the best
part of two weeks to find the problem.

MY PLUG AND PLAY K2:
I would also like to address my experience with the REWORK ELIMINATORS (an
after market K2 accessory) that I bought from Gary Hvizdak, KI4GGX and Ken
Kaplan, WB2ART. My K2 is now a Plug and Play unit for all options, and
assembly, believe you me, was a breeze. All parts arrived in perfect order
and after annotating a few changes on the K2 assembly manual, everything
worked as indicated and what a relief...no rework has to be done and every
option plugs in and works perfectly. Congratulations are due to these two
gentlemen for an innovative and extremely efficent product. Thank you Gary
and Ken!

FINALLY
My gratitude to Elecraft. For someone whose recollection of a soldering iron
dates back to a few 6L6's, some EL84's, a Geloso VFO and an 807, this has
been a rewarding experience. It was a challenge but Elecraft, with their
perfect design, quality of components, perfect packaging and shipment (thank
you Lisa, Pam, Val and Chris) made it possible.
Although they are now fully-loaded with praise I must, however, congratulate
and thank Wayne and Eric for their products. You gentlemen have made me a
very happy ham again!

FOR THOSE WHO WONDER
My previous rig? A Yaesu FT1000MP
Was it good? Yes indeed.
Would I buy another MP? No, but I hope I can buy another K2 and re-live this
soldering fun all over again.
Do I miss the MP's receiver? Honestly? No.

73
Manuel Wilches
LU5OM
CT4IK
ex - CR6IK, XX6IK, D2AIK, CT4IK/LU, LU6TEA, LU6T, AY5OM.

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[Manuel Wilches]

Thank you Slater!
I am really having a lot of fun with the K2. I hope we can meet on CW soon.
73
Manuel
LU5OM
CT4IK
# K2 5310


----- Original Message -----
From: Slater Tubman
To: Manuel Wilches
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PLUG & PLAY K2 # 5310 ALIVE


A very nice letter, and your experience parallels my own.


Hope to meet you on air some day.




Slater  VE5OA
Wolseley, SK Canada
K2 - 4519


On 18-Mar-06, at 9:53 PM, Manuel Wilches wrote:


Hello fellow Elecrafters.


My K2 is on the air CW'ing all over the place....I even entered the RUDX
contest, on this weekend, and I have made a few countries. What a pleasure!
QRP, of course...the KPA100 is still in the box.


I am a Portuguese ham living in Spanish-speaking Argentina. I .......


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