[Elecraft] K2's break-in

[Darwin, Keith]

It's funny how different folks really do like (and need) different
things.

K2 QSK:  I love it.  It is quiet.  I've had lots of TT stuff and never
understood the rant about how great their QSK was.  To me it was thumpy
and noisy.  The RX would respond poorly to the sudden rush of incoming
signal and there were switching transients in the headphone monitor that
made the overall experience of carrying on a QSO less than wonderful.
The K2 is much quieter and well behaved.  It sounds great.  I now see
that part of that is that the QSK is a tad on the slow side but so far,
I have not found that to be any sort of limitation.

K2 AGC:  Having a slope to the audio output (more RF in produces more
audio out) sure makes the rig more comfortable to listen to.  S/N ratio
results in an actual difference between the signal and noise in the
cans.  My Kenwood had no slope and the noise between signals was at the
same audio level as the signal.  Tiring to listen to.

As a casual operator and occasional dabbler in contests, the K2 is more
than enough rig!

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