[Elecraft] Appreciation

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

I enjoy rigs that glow in the dark. Careless shocks from HV and hernias
from rigs that weigh more than solid lead aside, I am always amazed at
how well the older, simpler designs perform. 

I have a three-stage superhet that I enjoy sitting alongside my K2 and
trying to find a signal on the K2 that I can't hear in the HB
broad-as-a-barn decidedly low-tech superhet with no i-f and a
regenerative detector. It's really, really hard to find something I can
hear on the K2 that isn't also copyable on the HB receiver. Sure, the K2
is quieter. Sure, the filters in the K2 do most of the rejecting of
other signals while my brain has to tease out the one I want from a
cacophony of signals on the HB superhet. Sure, I am in the country and
not sitting next to another station that is pouring volts of r-f into my
receiver to desensitize it. But I'm still amazed at just how LITTLE
things have improved over the past 50 years, compared to the massive
increase in complexity in the rigs. 

I'm not saying that the new rigs aren't worth it. I'm not saying that
they aren't easier to use, smaller and much, much lighter. I'm not
saying that I'd rather have a 1945 National HRO receiver or my old HB
transmitter instead of my K2. 

But I AM surprised at how LITTLE real difference in ability to work
other stations there is between a 60 year-old design and my K2. 

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289