[Elecraft] Elecraft K2 S/n 01432 ...Alignment Question 40M Onwards...

[Vic Rosenthal]

Andy GM0NWI wrote:

> Question 1 ...  "...Does the constructor ...have to do the 
> "linerization" step that is carried out for 40M "only" (or so the manual 
> states at that stage) ...for the rest of the bands installed..? "

The CAL PLL is ONLY done on 40 meters. It won't run on other bands, anyway!

> As for the "BFO and FILTER" Alignment, in the steps of the manual 
> afterwards... I followed the instructions, pressing the relevent buttons 
> when asked... and all that I did "really" there, was just make sure that 
> the "digital frequency display" ...showed exactly what was in the manual 
> at that stage...I did that for ALL the bands, ..adjusting "only" the VFO 
> knob...to make sure my display read for each "BFO" and "FILTER" reading 
> "per" band...what was in the manual...

This procedure gets you close to optimum settings.  However, you can improve the 
filter performance by using the Spectrogram procedure, which requires a computer 
with sound card and some form of the spectrogram program.  See 
<http://www.n0ss.net/index.html#Spectrogram>

> SO..proceeded to do what the manual asked... and "peak" for MAXIMUM 
> SIGNAL...and MINIMUM NOISE...on 40M ONLY...  which I "seemed" to have 
> achieved...  At this point I have to point out that I was NOT hearing 
> any "stations" on 40m while or during this aligment.... only the "test 
> tone"....

This is correct, and the adjustment is not critical.

> Near the end of Page 61... the manual asks the constructor to "peak" or 
> "turn".....L1 and L2 for "peak signal strength"... and use the K2's 
> S-meter for this purpose to see when things are at their maximum peak...
> 
> Question 3... In this step I have to report that I DID NOT..see "much" 
> of a "signal peak" here at all... and also...that during ALL of the 
> above "story" ... I WAS NOT..hearing ANY "stations" AT ALL on 
> 40m......"only" noise...and the generated "test tone"...

You should get a noticeable peak.  Also the noise should increase significantly 
when you connect an antenna to the K2 and decrease when you disconnect it.  If 
this doesn't happen, there might be a problem with the bandpass or lowpass 
filters.  The small capacitor (C8) between L1 and L2 is very easy to damage if 
you have twisted the leads.

> My "thoughts" were that I "should" be hearing stations on 40m by now... 
> atleast..??  Perhaps not...

Yes, you should.


> One last thing to mention...is that back in the manual...  Just before 
> putting the componants on the "RF Board" near the back left hand side of 
> the board...  I WAS getting my digital display to light up...  After 
> doing that part of the manual...and continuing to my present position... 
> carrying on with the alignment section..  I can now report that for some 
> "reason" I don't seem to be getting a "light" on the digital display 
> anymore...

The LCD backlight can be turned off in the menu by setting the LCD to DAY 
instead of NITE.  Perhaps you accidentally did this?

-- 
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco