[Elecraft] Contesting with a k2

[Rick Tavan]

If you operate only CW contests (as any self-respecting gentleman or 
lady should do), then the lack of dual simultaneous receive is 
irrelevant. Split frequency operation in CW contests is vanishingly rare 
and if you encounter it, you can still use a dual-VFO, single receiver 
rig like the K2. You just can't listen to both frequencies at once. I 
can't recall the last time I encountered it, anyway.

If you operate SSB DX contests (as I do on occasion, under team 
pressure, but with at least tongue-in-cheek misgivings), then split 
operation is very important on 40m where US hams are restricted to 
transmit SSB above 7150 while hams outside the Americas are restricted 
to transmit (all modes) below 7100. Many South Americans transmit down 
there, too. The only way to communicate is split frequency. The CQing 
station announces a listen frequency, you go there and call. It is bad 
practice to call in the blind, so you should listen first. It is most 
productive to call on the frequency used by the CQer's previous contact, 
so you should listen continuously, keeping your transmitter on the most 
likely spot. You can try to do this by hopping back and forth between 
two VFO frequencies, but you will lose your sanity rapidly. (Some would 
say you lost it when you entered the SSB contest, but I've done enough 
SSB-bashing for this email.) So dual simultaneous receive is the way to go.

Even with dual-receive split operation, 40M SSB DX contacts are tough 
and call for good antennas, high power, skill and patience. In some 
contests, they are barely worth it and many well equipped hams make a 
very small percentage of QSOs there. You have to decide what it is worth 
for you. I use an FT-1000MP for 40M SSB because it is worth it for me. I 
prefer the K2 on CW. See my review in NCJ or on the Elecraft Web site.

73,

/Rick N6XI

nz7c@cox.net wrote:

>Hi folks -
>I'd like to hear a little feedback from those of you who may do heavy duty contesting with a K2. I did read the contestor's article a short while back. I am not a contestor but I am slowly getting the desire to try. The most common observation I've heard about our K2's in casual conversation is that no dual (as in sumultaneous like the 756ProII) receive and no manual notch is a negative for a contest type. If you are an experienced contestor - could you please share your own impressions of those comments? I don't see those as the slightest problem - but maybe the contesting environment really makes a difference?
>  
>