[Elecraft] pre-K2 build Q's

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

LL/K3ESE wrote:

 I have an Elecraft BL1 balun... I've been using a ZM-2 to tune these, and
so the feedline terminates in bananner plugs. I'm thinking I should solder
an alligator clip to a short length of stout hookup wire, screw the hookup
wire to the terminals on the balun, and clip the gators to the 'nanner
plugs. Anyone have a more elegant solution?

  Also, I see that you can order a tilt-stand for the
EC2, but not for the K2 - does this mean that the K2
is supplied with a tilt-stand?
---------------------------------------

BL1 connectors:

I like banana plugs and jacks for open wire lines, end fed wires and other
antenna not using coaxial cable too. For my BL1 I found in my junque box
some low-profile banana jacks that mount using a 4-40 threaded stud. They
look a lot like Mouser P/N 164R101B although I'm sure mine came from a Radio
Shack some time in the long past. The Mouser version from Kobiconn doesn't
give the threaded shaft size, but it looks like it might be #6 and might
actually simply thread into the current terminal in place of the little
thumb nut. 

My jacks with the 4-40 shafts slipped through the threaded holes for the
thumb nuts and I secured each one with a nut on the back. The 4-40 nut just
fits in the space. 

Now I have three banana jacks - two red for the feeders and one black for
the ground - that will accept banana plugs or, by unscrewing the nylon 'nut'
a wire through the hole in the jack body. The "wire through hole" attachment
is more secure than the thumb nut in any case. 

Whatever version you use just be sure that the insulated plastic parts of
the jacks do *not* touch each other. The great downside to using banana
plugs and jacks at RF is that all the banana jacks that I've seen use Nylon
for insulation. Nylon is hydroscopic and makes an abysmal insulator at RF.
Even the Kobiconn jacks from Mouser lists Nylon as the insulation. 

The insulated parts of the jacks on mine clear each other by about 1/16
inch.

Tilt Stand:

Yep. The K2 comes with the tilt-up stand. 


Ron AC7AC