[Elecraft] Just how good is the K2?

[Dan Presley]

Hey George-thanks for the kind words! To those who may not know, I 
believe George is currently leading ( or very close!) in the QRP-L 
foxhunt contest on 40M ( every Tuesday night ((Wed 0200-0400 UTC) 
7038-42 +/-. He is a great operator, so I listen closely when he 
speaks.
  George, I think what is different about the K2 is the design and use 
as compared to other rigs. What I mean ( for me) is that it may not 
have all of the filtering tools that other rigs might have, but what 
it does have is the ability to hear the signals in its passband a lot 
clearer and cleaner, which for my ears makes it much easier to pick 
out one signal even if there's another very close by. I know it sorta 
fights the logic we've all used for many years-that what is essential 
is to attain 'single-signal' performance out of our rigs, but what I 
see has happened with a lot of the rigs out there is the ability to 
filter out the signal, but by the time you do this and 're-process' 
it, so to speak,it's lost a lot of clarity and in some cases it's so 
hard to actually copy it that what might have been gained in reducing 
qrm is ultimately a negative result.With the K2 it doesn't bother me 
nearly as much if there's a close signal because it's so much easier 
and quicker to pull out the one I want, and with a lot less 
fatigue.The filtering ( I use the KAF2) is still awfully good, and by 
the time I kick the regular plus audio filters in I really wouldn't 
want much beyond that. The signals pop right out and it's a real 
pleasure even under fairly intense qrm.
Try this for fun-on the night of the next foxhunt ( Tuesday local 
date) after you bag your pelts, fire up the K2 and pretend you're the 
fox and try to see how quickly you can pick out the calls. This is 
also a good practice skill for dx'ing and contesting in general (for 
those who may not know about the foxhunts, drop me an email an I'll 
forward to you the info).I first tried this before my turn as a 'fox' 
a couple of seasons ago to see how the K2 would stack up. I had been 
trying just about every rig I could get my hands on because I was 
having a lot of trouble as a fox picking out stations. I 
thought,'well, middle age/bad hearing/ slow brain/ poor propagation/ 
lack of sleep must be the cause ( and they still take a toll!) so I 
gave a go to various rigs to see what would help.I had built a bunch 
of Wayne's kits before ( NC 40, Sierra,SST) and always liked them, so 
it wasn't a hard sell to go for the K2 just for fun value, but boy 
was I surprised at how well it performed compared to the big buck 
rigs.
  A great deal of this is also personal preference and what an 
operator is used to. A really good op will always be able to wring 
out a strong performance on a less than optimum rig because they 
learn how to use it  to best advantage.I think of the K2 as giving 
middle of the road guys like me a real edge. George, if you tweak 
that K2 and go with it, the rest of us don't stand a chance !:)
-- 
Dan Presley-N7CQR-Portland, Or QRP-L #502
n7cqr@arrl.net