[Elecraft] New Rev B K2

[George, W5YR]

The K2 is the first kit radio I have had since the Heathkit Green Box
Stations in the 70's. Sadly, I did not build this one, but the fellow who
did was a real craftsman. The soldering looks like the boards went through
a wave-soldering machine.

Now, the point of all this: as an OLD ham, I have worked with radios for
going on 58 years now, designed, built, maintained, modified, even operated
a little (!). The K2 is the first radio I have had since the 70's that I
really enjoy working IN and ON as well as WITH.

I have already made some interesting mods which I have promised to write up
but haven't yet made time to do so. The most interesting and useful has
been to bring out two different IF signals to my Icom PRO using the K2 as a
tunable down-converter. I combine the outstanding front-end of the K2 with
the outstanding IF DSP features and functions of the PRO, including the
Spectrum Scope. Best of both worlds . . .

Would I have done that with another "factory built" radio - possibly but
not as readily.
I did things like that with Heathkits but not with my Icoms, etc.

To me, the K2 is a fantastic little box full of radio that is almost ideal
for its intended purpose(s). But there are other things it can do and
better ways to do some of what it does. It bothers me not a whit to add or
remove parts to the K2. I know what I am doing - most of the time anyway -
and know how to build things to look neat as well as work properly.

Rigs like the K2 satisfy both those who want to"keep it in showroom
condition" and those who like to raise the hood from time to time and
change a few things here and there.

For me, it would be a major sin to just "use" the K2 "as is" without at
least making extensive measurements on it to see for myself just what *my*
K2 was doing: occupied transmit bandwidth, IF/audio spectral responses of
all filters and all modes, transmitter IMD, AGC operation ( threshold and
compression levels) and on and on.

So, I have my cake and get to eat it too! And I guarantee that without
removing the covers you could not tell my K2 from any other - until you
operated it!

73/72, George    
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
K2 #489      Icom IC-765 #2349     Icom IC-756 PRO  #2121



Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> 
> K6SE wrote:
> Although the mods improve the K2, they remove the professional
> appearance of the inner workings of the radio by those unsightly jumper
> wires and added parts... ruin the internal appearance of their radios.
> -----------------------------
> Ruin??
> 
> Perhaps for you and some others, but not for all of us.
> 
> I'm a designer and builder, not a manufacturer of a finished product.
> Some of the "professional" work I have been most proud of was a mass of
> jumpers on the design bench. Once the screws are in the cabinet for the
> last time I start tinkering with something else. That's why I don't own
> a 'factory-built' rig. The "lasting value" in the K2 for me is in the
> constant changes and improvements.
> 
> Not everyone wants to do that, I know. There have been many posts on
> here about keeping their K-rigs "exactly as they came from the
> 'factory'.." That's fine for those ops and their rigs will indeed look
> pristine on the display table forever.
> 
> I'll bet that there are just as many of us who see the rig as just the
> current iteration of a lot of tinkering and fertile ground for a lot of
> ideas to be tried. For us the beauty is not in the lack of cut traces
> and jumpers or odd parts hung on the boards, it is in the latest
> modification that (finally) works properly.
> 
> So "ruined" by adding jumpers and changes?  Perhaps for some, but not
> for everyone.
> 
> Ron AC7AC
> K2 # 1289