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Suggestions for K2 Options

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Bernie KF0QS

Suggestions for K2 Options

Dear Folks:

I have just finished building K2 #6922. It took me almost 20 months (I'm a
slow builder), but with the help of God and Gary Surrency (not necessarily
in that order), it fired right up and in just a couple of days, I've worked
8 states and three DX entities (Panama, Venezuela and Japan) with
it. Certainly, a nifty radio.

I already have the KAT2 internal antenna tuner (I don't intend to turn it
into a 100 watt radio). I am planning on gettting the SSB option (even
though I'm not much of an SSB op, it will be cool for when I demonstrate
ham radio to potential newcomers), but only have money for one other
option. I'd be interested in hearing opinions on whether to get the noise
blanker or the audio filter option. I've got a relatively high level of
noise here at the home QTH (sometimes S9 on my Kenwood TS-850S, which has a
crappy noise blanker) but I anticipate using the K2 in the field a lot.

Any Suggestions?

73 de Bernie, KF0QS

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Chip Stratton

Re: Suggestions for K2 Options

The noise limiter of the DSP dramatically cuts the QRN at my QTH. It does
make some CW signals less "pure" sounding, but its a good trade-off for me..

I almost never use the other filtering abilities of the DSP. I haven't yet
learned what advantage that offers over just narrowing down the crystal
filter passband. Maybe someone would like to comment on that?

Chip
AE5KA
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Bernie KF0QS

Re: Suggestions for K2 Options

Chip:

Thanks for your reply. Since I can't afford the DSP right now, I'm going to go with the audio filter.

Here is my thought on your question of the advantage of the DSP over the crystal filter passband. It is just my guess (and I could be off base) but I suspect that the DSP gives you three advantages over the crystal filters. First, my guess is that you can make the passband edge sharper using the DSP. Secondly, whereas the crystal filters are somewhat fixed, you can likely customize the passband more with a DSP. I have an audio DSP (from Timewave) and have quite a lot of options with that thing. Thirdly, if there is a way to link the K2 DSP to a computer, you can likely get software updates from Elecraft?

The reason I'm not that interested in spending the money for the DSP is that, despite these advantages, I'm not convinced that a DSP will result in that much more of an advantage. In other words, though technically I may be able to accomplish more with a DSP, I'm not convinced that my ear and brain will be able to hear and appreciate it. And on those rare occasions when I can hear and appreciate it, I have to then decide if those rare occasions are worth the extra money.

I too would be interested to hear what others think.

Thanks again for your reply.

73 de Bernie, KF0QS

Dave-7

Re: Suggestions for K2 Options

Bernie,

If you already have an external DSP you can get nearly the same effect
with it as you can with the internal one. I have that setup here - K2
w/KAF2 and Timewave 59+ - and for comparison recently borrowed a
friends K2 which had the internal DSP. I could find no situation where
my kludgy setup did not work as well as the internal DSP. In fact, I
prefer my setup. Not as elegant but just as effective. Most of the
time I prefer to use the KAF2 since it does not have the high pitched
noise generated by the KDSP. The Timewave does have its own noise but
I can turn that off with the push of a button.

73 de dave
ab9ca/4

On 12/17/11 11:11 AM, Bernie KF0QS wrote:

> Chip:
>
> Thanks for your reply. Since I can't afford the DSP right now, I'm going to
> go with the audio filter.
>
> Here is my thought on your question of the advantage of the DSP over the
> crystal filter passband. It is just my guess (and I could be off base) but
> I suspect that the DSP gives you three advantages over the crystal filters.
> First, my guess is that you can make the passband edge sharper using the
> DSP. Secondly, whereas the crystal filters are somewhat fixed, you can
> likely customize the passband more with a DSP. I have an audio DSP (from
> Timewave) and have quite a lot of options with that thing. Thirdly, if
> there is a way to link the K2 DSP to a computer, you can likely get software
> updates from Elecraft?
>
> The reason I'm not that interested in spending the money for the DSP is
> that, despite these advantages, I'm not convinced that a DSP will result in
> that much more of an advantage. In other words, though technically I may be
> able to accomplish more with a DSP, I'm not convinced that my ear and brain
> will be able to hear and appreciate it. And on those rare occasions when I
> can hear and appreciate it, I have to then decide if those rare occasions
> are worth the extra money.
>
> I too would be interested to hear what others think.
>
> Thanks again for your reply.
>
> 73 de Bernie, KF0QS
>
> --
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ny4g

Re: Suggestions for K2 Options

In reply to this post by Bernie KF0QS

Chip

I agree with Bernie on all points and I actually have the same setup as him and 99% of the time I just use the crystal filters and the attenuators. I do use the timewave from time to time on really strong signal. I find that using the attenuator better at digging out weak signals out of the noise. This is when the K2 receiver shines.

Ariel NY4G

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 17, 2011, at 12:11 PM, "Bernie KF0QS" <[hidden email]> wrote: