[Elecraft] K2 Keying Problems

Wed Sep 10 00:11:00 2003

This afternoon I had two hams within 1000 miles on 40M listen to one of my
K2/100 's and Ameritorn AL-1200 running BTTW.  They could not hear anything
either side of the signal "after the tone went away".  Both of them said I 
was well
over S9.  One was using an TenTec Omni and the other was using an Icom 775 
- both
were most likely using SSB filters.

I'll do some more checking.

73    Hank    K8DD

At 9/9/2003 07:47 PM -0700, Earl W Cunningham wrote:

>Ken N4SO wrote:
>
>"Not aware of key clicks.  None of the Product Reviews mention this."
>----------
>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.
>==========
>
>"Did you run this by Gary Surrency, AB7MY for his comments???"
>----------
>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
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*/     Hank Kohl  K8DD      [email protected]
*/     ARRL TS              http://www.qsl.net/k8dd
*/     MI-QRP - Vice Pres.  QRP-ARCI - Director
*/
If God intended you to be on single sideband, he would have given you only 
one nostril.
- Steve, K2PTS (SK)

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