[Elecraft] RE: K2 Front Panel Extension

[Solosko, Robert B (Bob)]

Hello All,

	Thanks everyone, there have been a lot of good suggestions. Some of them seem to move beyond a simple front panel extension into the realm of a remote front panel, which also has been explicitly mentioned. Perhaps there could be two different products here, a simple front panel extension and a separate remote front panel.

	Mike, WA1SEO, pointed to his web page where he has a photo of his version of a front panel extension. Mike, I'd be interested in hearing how well this works from a performance perspective, since that was a concern that was raised, e.g., slow K2 response to commands over the KIO2. 

	It appears that Mike used rotary switches in his box. My preference is for push buttons with associated LEDs, but more important when designing something for manufacturing is to use the same parts that are already used in other products and minimize the number of new parts introduced (as a System Engineer in Product Development, manufacturing and resource utilization issues are always part of the new product thought process). Also, I didn't include any knobs/pots functions in my original list as I know how much more complex (i.e., expensive) that would make the front panel extension, and I didn't see any existing knob/pot functions that are not already easily accessible on the K2 front panel - that changes, of course, when we get away from a simple front panel extension into the realm of a remote front panel.

	73

Bob W1SRB