[1000mp] K2 vs Goliath and QSK clicks.

[lhlousek]

I built my K2 in Jan 2001 and got my MkV in May of 2001.  My MkV has a full house of Inrad filters in the option slots,
2x1800Hz, 1x400Hz, 2x250Hz and a 500Hz Inrad/Collins in the sub RX.  In my experience, virtually all HF CW, there is
very little difference in performance between the receivers.  On weak sigs in noise or weak sigs on quite bands I prefer
one over the other about 1/2 the time.  The K2 has a quieter RX (MDS) but the MkV isn't far behind if you have the CW
DSP Demod turned on.  The Inrad filters have steep cutoffs and will work better than the K2s adjustable ladder filter
for very close-in sigs but usually the K2 is more than good enough, even in Field Day condx.  The K2's audio peaking
filter helps a great deal too. I suppose there would be situations where the MkV's somewhat higher 20KHz BDR or the VRF
would make it outperform the K2.

I have played with 6 different K2s.  Four worked the same.  A fifth had a faulty trim cap and bad solder joint but
worked the same as the other 4 once repaired.  The 6th had low audio and I did not get to dig into to find the problem.

QSK on the K2 is silent but not very fast.  The MkV QSK is much faster but can exhibits clicks.  I experience QSK clicks
mainly on Nar1 with the stock 500Hz filter paired with the 400Hz Inrad.  I tried putting the 500Hz Inrad/Collins filter
in place of the 400Hz filter and it did reduce the clicks.  Another thing I found is that changing the keyer weighting
helps reduce the clicks somewhat.  I use a dot weight of 15 and dash of 40.  (Default is 10 and 30.  You need to
increase the dash by twice the amount you increase the dot to keep the relative timing correct).  This also makes the
sig a little easier to copy in tuff condx.  I have the "Break in time" set to 0.

A set of 6 Inrad filters for a MkV costs more than a K2.

Lou W7DZN