[Elecraft] Debate K2 Pro Align and Test Data Issue

[phoon.usinet]

VE1CHS responds to VE3XM:

> WOW! talk about overkill! My fellow countryman, if you will just follow
> the manual alignment instructions I guarantee you will have a very "HOT"
> receiver/transmitter.

You missed my point.  I have no doubt one can follow the existing alignment
instructions and have a good radio.

The problem occurs if you follow the alignment instructions, and DON'T have
a good radio. How do you know if the K2 you have built is "good" or
"mediocre"?

Where is the problem?  Unless you have ac voltages, dc voltages, rf voltages
or power levels specified at many PCB pads, you have no way of comparing
what you observe in your radio, with what should be there.

The late Doug Demaw, in his construction articles, regularly specified rf,
ac and dc voltages at many pads, and throughout his schematics.  I saw only
one or two rf  Pk-Pk voltages in the K2 schematic, and no appendix with
extensive measurements one could check.  This is not good.

>I very much doubt you will improve the performance
> of your K2 with all the equipment you propose to use.

The purpose of  the test equipment is not to improve the performance, but to
confirm through measurements, that the performance meets the designers
intentions.

Again, the standard test equipment I proposed, could help me find problems
faster and more efficiently, if public, standard expected values were
available.

All commecial radios sold, which have tech manuals, have extensive look up
tables with this kind of data.  The K2, as good as it is, should have this
data in the public domain too. This is especially important for a radio that
is constructed at home by thousands of  builders.
>
> I own 2 K2's and could not ask for better performance. Both aligned
> following the manual instructions.

But you still do not know if your VCO is putting out rf at the designers'
specs.  If not, your radio, though subjectively perceived as "good", may not
be performing as well as it COULD.