[Elecraft] Contesting with my K2

[Ken Alexander]

Hi All,

Just spent this past weekend in the ARRL International
DX Contest (CW) with my K2.  I haven't spent more than
a few minutes in front of it despite getting it back
in August '06 so this was a good opportunity to become
acquainted with it.

Previous transceivers I have owned were an HW-101,
Icom 706 MkIIG, Yaesu FT-857D, and a KX1.  As a
contest rig, in my limited experience my K2 leaves the
Icom and Yaesu far behind as an easy to use
transceiver.  However, the time spent with it this
weekend naturally leads to a list of likes and wish
list items for future products so here goes:

Filters - Absolutely lovely.  Better than the optional
filters I added to my Icom 706 and my Yaesu 857D.  I
only wish there were UP and DOWN buttons to select
them, like the Band select buttons.  Yeah, I know
there are only 4 filters!

DSP - I kept it on throughout the contest and loved
the way even weak signals popped up out of an
almost-silent background.  It eliminates the noise
from my notebook computer's charger and greatly
reduces listening fatigue.  However, I'm still
struggling with the controls and I've yet to find the
real time clock.

RIT - In my entire 33-year ham career I have never
felt the need for RIT (and XIT even less).  Not
exactly a complaint (it's probably just me) but to me
the RIT control takes up a lot of real estate on a
cramped front panel.  Make the RIT control an encoder
(if it isn’t already) and then you can have it do any
number of other cool adjustments at the press of a
button (I’d put the keyer speed control on there if it
was me and make some room on the front panel).

AF Gain/RF Gain/Speed/Power Controls - Way too close
together.  I found the best way to use them was to
push directly on the end of the knob with my fingertip
and turn it that way, rather than trying to grasp the
knob.  How about putting AF/RF Gain to the left of the
tuning knob and Speed & Power to the right?  (also see
the above RIT comment)

Display - OK, as far as it goes.  I'd take out the
bargraph S-Meter and expand the LCD display to fill
the space.  Use a dot matrix LCD and run a bargraph
S-meter along the bottom of the LCD display.  A dot
matrix LCD gives you tons of flexibility to show
additional information, like the status of many of the
controls such as DSP (if installed) and filter
selections.

Tune Button – How about making it so that hitting Tune
automatically reduces transmitter output to just a few
watts for the tune operation, then returns the K2 back
to it’s previously set output when tuning is complete?

I was using the N1MM Logger software and a MicroHam
Winkey-based keyer so hands-on control of the K2 was
limited to mostly tuning and filter selection.  N1MM
Logger and the K2 get along very well together.  I
can't comment on the K2's keyer.

Hope this is of some interest.

73,

Ken Alexander, VE3HLS