[Elecraft] that Drake or Collins "sound"

[Darwin, Keith]

I did some A/B testing with my K2, Drake 2B and R4A.  The 2B was in
fabulous condition and had the Q multiplier.  The 4A had some issues
which made it work just not quite right.

I found the 2B to be a wonderful sounding rig for CW.  It was warm and
rich and the signals had a smoothness that was wonderful.  The K2 didn't
sound a nice but it wasn't that far behind.

The AGC in the Drake was not my cup of tea.  It attempted to keep
everything at the same output level (no slope) so the background noise
between elements was as strong as the signal.  Also, it was slow on the
attack.  The leading edge of most elements had a spike for one audio
cycle that could be seen in Spectrograph (or whatever it is called) but
was quick enough to not be heard.  That spike would cause the AGC to
over react a bit so the first part of a long dash would be a bit quieter
than the latter part.  Still, the sound was very sweet.

The K2's AGC was more up to the task.  There was no slow reaction, no
overshoot on the leading edge of an element and no over reacting.

In the end, the sweet, smooth tone of the 2B was not enough to trump the
better overall performance of the K2 who's received tone very good.

We talk about Drake, Collins & the great rigs from years ago, but I'd
like to suggest that thanks to Elecraft, THESE are the good old days!

- Keith N1AS -
- K2 5411.ssb.100 -