[Elecraft] Stingy S-meter on the K2?

[kc4kgu@ENTERZONE.NET]

On Sat, 9 Mar 2002, John J. McDonough wrote:

> My Icom 706 service manual specifies calibrating the S meter at -73 dBm (50
> uV) for S9, which is as close to an agreed upon standard as I've seen.
> After setting S9 you are supposed to set S9+60 at 60 dB over that.

That sounds like a good plan.  I realize that looking at the meter while
keying another transceiver into a dummy load is not exact science by any
means.  I just didn't expect to see the K2 give less than full-scale when
I know that it had TONS of signal sitting at the antenna jack.

> Even if you had a calibrated receiver that was flat across all the bands,
> though, the voltage at your antenna terminals says more about your antenna
> than it does about the incoming signal, so I agree that a subjective report
> is actually more informative.

Well, I don't agree here.  I want an objective measurement.  If my antenna
sucks, I will *know* that my antenna sucks and as such, I wouldn't expect
to hear some DX station at S9 that my neighbor with a super antenna has at
S9.  I want the radio to tell the truth about what it sees at the antenna
jack.  I know that it is going to be somewhat different from band to
band.  I accept that.  I'll get the rig completed and then use a signal
generator to calibrate the S-meter to tell the truth.  Then, if I don't
agree with what the S-meter is saying, I can give a subjective report to
someone.  I don't want the radio being subjective for me though, Mojo or
not.

73 de John - KC4KGU