[Elecraft] K2 keying and voltage display???

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

> I have the SSB option only installed. I noticed tonight that my
> K2's
> keying is very harsh sounding that is on 40M, while listening in another
> rxer.
> Is there any concern I should have other than my personal taste for nice
> sine
> wave keying, Hi Hi. I can live with a harsh sidetone but I would like the
> transmitted
> signal to sound a lot better.
>
> Also, I noticed that the voltage that comes up by pushing the DISPLAY
button
> is off
> from the input in the back of the rig. My PS is ~13.8VDC, +/- 0.1VDC. The
> displayed
> voltage is 13.3VDC with the C at .18, set for maximum mileage out of my
> batteries,
> when I run it off batteries. What could be the problem if any here?
> David, n4in

You should have seen that voltage difference  from the beginning. There is a
reverse-polarity protection diode in the power line that drops the voltage
about 0.6 vdc. So what you are reporting is quite normal.

What do you mean by "harsh" CW? "Harsh" is usually used to describe keying
with too steep rise and fall times at the start and end of each dot or dash.
If that's the case, be sure you aren't overloading the receiver you are
listening on. It's very easy to do that even when you have a shielded dummy
load connected to the K2.

You mention SSB. Unlike some other rigs, the K2 is a true CW rig. It does
not transmit "CW" by injecting an audio tone into the modulator. So the
sound of your sidetone has nothing to do with the sound of your CW on the
air.

The K2 has a reputation for having a slightly distorted sidetone, but that
should have NO effect on the transmitted signal at all. The sidetone problem
comes from an engineering decision to permit a wide range of sidetone
frequencies, and so the sidetone itself is not filtered quite as much as
some would like. There is a mod on the Elecraft web page that adds some
extra filtering to produce a much nicer sidetone at the expense of a lower
sidetone level at lower frequencies.

IF you are hearing something other than "harsh" keying - such as modulation
on your signal, etc., something is very wrong.

A properly-working K2 has a very smooth keying characteristic. Tuning off to
the sides (beyond the passband of your test receiver) should reveal NO
clicks from the K2 IF - and this is important - IF you are not overloading
the test receiver.

Lastly, CONGRATULATIONS! for checking your signal before putting it on the
air. Rigs are so good these days that the idea of checking one's signal in
another receiver has just about disappeared - and there are some
awful-sounding sigs out there as a result. Unfortunately, many ops are
willing to give you an honest report when your signal is clearly lacking.
(May the Wouff Hong haunt them forever!).

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289