[Elecraft] K2 S/N 3128 assembled and tuned

[Stephan Walder, HB9DDO - K2]

Hello all

after running into a few little problems while tuning my K2 I picked up =
a decent frequency counter and a proper RF power meter at my fathers =
(HB9CXE) house I repeated a few steps in the tuning procedures and now =
everything seems to be fine. So I'm happy to announce that K2 S/N 3128 =
is ready to go. I'll probably take the trip to our club station later =
this week to hopefully complete my first QSO. I'd rather try it from =
home but the G5RV came down in heavy winds in january 2nd and as we just =
experience a period of cold weather  couldn't convince myself yet to =
repair it (and rather enjoyed soldering my K2 in a warm room).
The good news is that there are a bunch of the options waiting to be =
assembled and I'll probably take more time to enjoy building with these =
now that the base unit is finished.

Problems along the way included a rather high lower frequency on the BFO =
(also the range was 4 Kc) and I tried the suggested mod with some =
capacity between the XTAL and GND suggested in this list earlier. Should =
I really mention that I build the capacity from 2 pieces, 1 inch each, =
of the enamel wire ? But it proved that this really brings down the =
frequency. As it's probably not a very good idea to have this extra wire =
floating around an RF-environment I'll replace it with a real cap (I =
picked up a couple of these too). But first I'll want to try with a QSO.

Special thanks goes to Dominik, HB9CZF, who not only brought the K2 to =
my attention but kept supporting me with a few good hints and was my =
backup should I run into more severe problems (he doesn't know that but =
for me it felt like having an insurance ;-)

Another thanks goes to the Torroid Guy, Mychael, who not only provided =
me with excellent material bit did this with exceptional support all =
along the way, wanting to be well informed if everything arrived.
Actually the torroids arrived today, along the way since I ordered them =
I decided to give it a try anyway and it seems they turned out ok also =
my homebrew oneslook a lot less professional than Mychaels. I'll decide =
later if I keep mine or if I replace them and use Mychaels for the K2 =
we'll probably build for our club station (I'm still working on =
convincing the other guys there).

And last but not least thanks to everybody on the list which I started =
reading shortly before I started building the kit. First of all it was =
fun to browse thru the comments between soldering sessions and more =
important it reassured me that I was not alone and should I run into any =
problem I (or Dominik) couldn't solve there would be many helpful =
friends out there to help.

vy 73 and I look forward to meet many of you on the bands, Stephan, =
HB9DDO, K2 S/N 3128



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