[Elecraft] Re: Help with Birdie (not "tweet tweet!") UPDATE!!

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Okay. Just for the record, I pulled the antenna off of my K2 and tuned =
very
carefully plus/minus 2 kHz. There is a birdie on mine at 28707.24. The
"stepping" of the frequency is quite apparent. It is not at all =
unstable.
Banging and bumping the K2 doesn't have any effect on it.. =20

Next I pulled off the K2 cover and tapped on the board. No sign of any
unusual instability. Keep in mind that this is a VXO! I does shift in
frequency if you touch sensitive parts of the oscillator. D18, C24, T5 =
and
D23, 24, 25, and 26 are all sensitive to capacitive effects which =
include
being touched with an insulated wand. But there is nothing "unstable"
sounding about it, nor does tapping the board cause any change in the
birdie. I must tap directly on one of the sensitive components to hear =
any
shift in frequency and then it is only a few tens of Hz.=20

This birdie is very weak. It's hard to hear at all with an antenna
connected. It is strictly internal - not coming in through the receiver
"front end". That is, the preamp and atten have no effect on its =
strength.=20

Now I'm curious about what you find with two of them doing that!  I'd =
start
with a careful examination of all the solder joints in the PLL Reference
Oscillator circuit around the left front quadrant of the r-f board.=20

BTW, my K2 has the oscillator mods, including the mod to remove one of =
the
crystals from the PLL Reference Oscillator.=20

Ron AC7AC
K2 #1289

-----Original Message-----
First, Ron, No - I do not have DSL - only dial-up. My local
telephone company says their lines are a max capacity...   :-)

Earl,  You're right---- It _IS_ 10x the tuning rate (I wasn't paying =
enough
attention last night).  I do hear the frequency of the birdie being
"stepped" as I tune through it!

Next, I took the top off (just a few minutes ago) and the set is MOST
sensitive to being tapped with a non-conductive rod in the area of the =
PLL
and VFO. For example - K13/14/15, T5, L30 etc.. In fact the whole front =
left
quadrant of the RF board is sensitive to being lightly tapped!! ... Dave
KK7SS K2 #3003