[Elecraft] K2 Keying Problems

[Earl W Cunningham]

Ken N4SO wrote:

"Not aware of key clicks.  None of the Product Reviews mention this."
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I'm not aware of any review that mentions key clicks for any rig.  The
ARRL reviews usually show CW waveforms.  Any sharp corner on the waveform
means klix.
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"Did you run this by Gary Surrency, AB7MY for his comments???"
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I posted my findings on this refelector several months ago.  I have not
corresponded directly with anyone directly associated with Elecraft about
the problem.

Many hams feel that if a transmitter has key clicks, they will be heard
up and down the band far from the signal frequency.  This was sometimes
true in the old days when cathode keying (or some other "dirty" keying
method) was used.

Most clicks are manifested by wide bandwidth of the CW signal.  When you
tune slightly outside of the passband of your receiver's narrow CW filter
where you  no longer hear the signal, you will hear "clicks".

Some of today's modern transceivers are notorious for clicks.  The Yaesu
FT-1000MP/MkV/Field are among the worst offenders with CW signals almost
5 kHz wide.  Many MP owners have alleviated this built-in problem by
modifying the radio per either of two mods developed by other hams.

The Icom 746Pro and 756Pro2 have clicks that are about 1 kHz wide (+/-500
Hz).  The Elecraft K2's CW bandwidth is about 3 kHz.  That means that
just 33 K2s spaced 3 kHz apart will use up the entire lower 100 kHz of
any band.  This is very undesireable and is frowned upon by most CW
contesters.

A click-free rig is considered by many to be a rig that has a CW
bandwidth of 500 Hz (+/-250 Hz) or less.

In typical Elecraft fashion in their effort to make the K2 #1 in all
respects, Wayne said today in a post to this reflector that he and Eric
will be looking into the K2 keying issue next week.  I have no doubt that
they will come up with an answer to cure problem as they have with many
other past K2 issues.

73, de Earl, K6SE