[Elecraft] Test and Repair Equipment

[Paul Clay]

Thanks, Mike.  No, this is going to be strictly a 
hobby activity for me, not going in to it to make 
money.

I hear you about the (bad) economics of the 
electronic repair business.  A friend of mine had 
an old 60s era Sony stereo amp go out on him, and 
we couldn't really find anyone to work on it; the 
days of the local tv-radio repair shop seem to be 
over.  Today, if it breaks you generally throw it 
away; cheaper to buy new than to fix.

And you're spot on for me regarding the K2.  I 
partly sold the idea of going with the K2 (which 
I AM very happy with) on it's hot receiver, but 
the truth is I went with it because of the fun of 
building, maintaining, modifying, and repairing 
it.  If all I was interested in was operating, it 
would be pretty hard to justify the K2 in 
comparison to, say, a Kenwood TS-570D(G), on a 
feature (or even performance) per dollar basis.  
But, the fun of putting the unit together, being 
able to somewhat understand its operation and to 
fix and play with its "innards", was well, well 
worth the price premium, for me.

So, I'd like to be able to fix my and my friends 
old vintage gear, and maybe pick up and restore 
some stuff from the old days that I'd like to 
have.  As an oldster, I probably could afford to 
buy a nice HQ180 and Johnson Ranger in good 
operating condition (hot stuff in the days I was 
starting out in ham radio - way beyond what a 
teenager could afford back then), but besides 
paying a lot, I'd miss out on learning a lot.

Finally, the latest digital stuff/surface mount 
stuff is out of my league.  I just got an ICOM 
R-75 for shortwave listening (was hoping that 
Elecraft would come out with one, along the lines 
of the Palstar 30 with maybe sync-AM added, but 
that didn't appear to be in the cards), and 
thought about doing a much recommended mod to its 
synchronous-AM detector circuit.  Until I opened 
the unit.  The K2's components are dinosaur-sized 
compared to the surface-mount components in the 
R-75!

-  Paul, N6LQ

PS:  In a lame attempt to be on-topic, I'm pleased 
to report that my K2's receiver seems to work 
every bit as well, perhaps a bit better, 
actually, than the R-75 in receiving CW and SSB 
signals.  Will say, though, that the twin 
passband tuning in the R-75 would be nice to have 
in the K2.  Course, band conditions have been so 
lousy at my QTH (San Diego area lately that 
separating signals is not really a problem for 
me.  :=)


On Monday 10 November 2003 10:28, you wrote:
> Paul,
>  It may be a bit off the mark, but the best , 
most expensive test 
> equipment is only as good as the technician 
using it. I have seen guys 
.
> 
> If you plan to do this for a living ... make 
certain you have a good job 
> to support you while you build up your 
electronics position. And don't 
> forget the other gear too, cantennas for dummy 
loads [or an equivalent], 
> lot's of different connector types ... vswr 
bridge meters,  cap and 
> resistance boxes ...etc.