[Elecraft] K2 Matched Xtals

Wed Nov 13 08:41:00 2002

Some time before the CW Sweepstakes, John - NP2B sent me his K2/100 to 
tweak and evaluate for use in SS from his shack.  I was particularly 
impressed with his CW filters and ordered the 14 xtal matched set from 
Elecraft.  Now that I finally have some time, yesterday I installed all 
14 xtals and, at the same time, did the SSB filter "flattening" mod.  My 
K2 sounds excellent receiving SSB, but to be honest, I can't even 
remember which of the various mics in the shack (Icom, Yaesu, and 
Kenwood!) I jumpered the K2 to match.  :-)  So it might be some time 
before I determine if the rig still transmits on SSB...

While installing the CW xtals, I changed the grounding point from the 
tops of the cans to the sides, about 1/4 of the way up from the PCB.  I 
did not install a second set of ground wires thinking that any further 
improvement would probably be insignificant.  I set the filters up with 
Spectrogram and changed my bandwidths to match John's.  Originally, I 
had them set to OP1, 700, 400, and 100.  They are now set to 1000, 750, 
500, and 250.  The 100 was just too tight and also had excessive loss...
All filters fell right into place with no significant change in pitch 
among the eight selections (CW & CW reverse).  I have not done (and 
probably won't do) any test instrument evaluation, but by ear the first 
thing I noticed was that I have much more volume in the tightest filter 
setting.  The skirts also seem very steep to my ear.  At this point, I'm 
very happy with the results and would recommend the xtal replacement to 
anyone who has an older K2 like mine.

P.S. From the 3830 Reflector, reported scores so far show NP2B as #2 in 
the Low Power category.  My third year at John's QTH for CW SS, and the 
highest score so far was accomplished with the K2...

-- 
73,     Bob Patten, N4BP                Plantation, FL

E-Mail: [email protected]                Website: http://www.qsl.net/n4bp
QRP ARCI #3412    SOC #1    ARS #799    Whiners #6   FISTS #7871

---------------------------------------------
Introducing NetZero Long Distance
1st month Free!
Sign up today at: www.netzerolongdistance.com