[Elecraft] K2 60-meter pre-history

[Wayne Burdick]

Hi Bill,

You wrote:

> I agree, what a pain & expense to get the K2 to operate correctly on 60!
> 
> I'm still waiting for Icom to advise what it will cost to get the 756ProII
> to do 60. My TenTec Omni6+  will be a challenge also !!!! THAT'S EXPENSIVE...
> 
> At least the elecraft guys provide a solution...after the spectrum guys
> change the rules.

Amen!

I have a little story for you. 

We designed the K2 in 1998. 60 meters wasn't really on the radar screen, and it
would have complicated the design a lot to add it, so we opted to leave it out.
But just to be sure, we made some phone calls to try and assess the likelihood
that a 60-meter ham band would be forthcoming. Didn't look like it. One source
told us bluntly that 60 meters wouldn't happen "... within the product life of
the K2." (Fooled 'em, didn't we?)

In hindsight, perhaps we could have added 60 meters and also 25 meters (12 MHz),
another rumored band. But this would have added a couple of months to the
development time, and as you can see from the above, we got discouraging words.

The good news is that retrofitting the K2 for 60 meters is pretty easy, although
it does require a few added parts, an adapter, and new firmware. I wish we could
have made it even simpler. But I'm sure that anyone interested in this band will
find the changes worth making. I've been using my barefoot K2 a lot on this
band, and it's a blast. It's weird being channelized and not being able to use
CW, but sometimes operating activities can be rewarding *because* of the constraints.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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