[Elecraft] K2 S/N 2434 Blue Smoke and Flames

[Benjy Cline AC4XO]

Hi,

I finished my K2 yesterday.  I turned it on and there were *no* flames
or blue smoke, so I was pretty happy.  Even more surprising,
it actually worked!

My second contact with the K2 was with Ton, PA1CC on 12M.  He
said we had worked before.  I told him I was running 9 watts from a
new K2.  He replied that last time we worked I was running just 2
watts [from my Sierra].  At this rate, any decade now I'll be running
QRO :-)

I really like the rig.  But, the receiver is a bit of a disappointment.
I tuned into a CW pileup where the DX was working split.  I could
still hear the ops calling on the DX's xmit frequency, and I could
hear the DX Police sending, "UP", just like with my old rig :-).
Maybe I just don't know how to adjust the filters yet :-)

I did have one major problem with the kit construction.  The PLL
reference oscillator didn't oscillate.  Gary, AB7MY, gave me some
good e-mail help, but it took me some time to isolate the problem.
There was a solder bridge that I could not see on the top of the
board where the 3.3M resistor connects to pin 1 of the PLL chip.

The folks at Elecraft did a great job designing the radio and producing
the kit.  But, of course, most of you know that already.

So, I'm off to do more operating with the K2 before building the
SSB kit.

72 de Benjy

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Benjy Cline AC4XO, K2 S/N 2434
http://www.tuxcat.com/benjy