[Elecraft] New Guy

Sun Jul 6 15:29:00 2003

Hi,

I'm Bill Spaulding, NA7Y, located near Spokane, WA.  I am building a K2 =
with several options (including QRO - shame), and am almost done with =
the RF board.  There has been a LOT of work and even more frustration at =
times, but the reward of powering up this little radio and having it =
work 100% is extremely satisfying.  The whole thing fits together like a =
glove - amazing product design.  I doubt if these could be built on an =
assembly line even in China!

I think it's because most of us are fundamentally CW jocks that elevates =
the level of humor in these notes.  CW guys are a creative lot in my =
experience.

I am moved to add WD40 as an important additive for antenna performance. =
 WD40 has well-known water repellant qualities.  It is made of the =
ethers in the first place, and, therefore, helps provide a match from =
the antenna to the ethers and beyond.............

I have also never seen any iron oxide on an aluminum vertical, for =
example, after having sprayed with WD40 - unless, of course, iron =
hardware was used.  These magical characteristics of WD40 are limitless.

Now, to some serious stuff.  I like to sweep my filters with a network =
analyzer to optimize their performance.  When doing so, it's always nice =
to pay as much attention to the stop band characteristics of the stop =
band in addition to the inband transmission performance.

So, does anyone know, or have access to, the design center values for =
the transmission zeroes for the filters on the RF board.  It would be a =
big help to me to have these data while tweaking up this neat little =
machine!

War story:  After tweaking up the 40 Meter input filter, I got curious, =
and attached a very short wire to the center of the antenna BNC.  I =
heard a "8N" (Japan?) prefix handing out signal reports on 7.0018 =
(roughly) MHz.  That blew my socks off. It fired me up to keep plowing =
through the rest of the work and frustrations.

Then there are all the options after that............

QUIZ:  What does BNC stand for?

Thanks to all.  I look forward to working with this group..

73

Bill
NA7Y

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