[Elecraft] Impressions of the K2 in a contest

[Jim Brown]

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 18:52:45 -0500, N2TK wrote:

>The QSK worked fine when running stations. It is easier on the ears when you
>aren't listening between dits and dahs. Unfortunately the QSK is not
>adequate when hunting and pouncing. You do need to listen between the dits
>and dahs when calling someone. 

Yes, I strongly agree. I often lost time because of this, and it's a
very important issue when running QRP, where hunt and pounce must
usually be the dominant mode of operation.  I used a K2/100 with KAR100
exclusively for both halves of CQWW and SS this year. For my money, the
slow QSK is the only important shortcoming of the K2 I've found for
contesting.  

On the other hand, the excellent receiver and the memory of the tuner
are REALLY helpful. The switching is good enough that I can switch
between antennas between receive and transmit to take advantage of the
directivity of one antenna to reduce noise or interference, while
taking advantage of the other to put a bigger signal in the direction
of the station I'm calling. Now, if it were only possible to add a
third switched input to the tuner (with the same memory capabilities)! 

Jim K9YC