[Elecraft] K2 & transverter question

[Don Wilhelm]

Mike,

It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations.
I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it would 
ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF frequencies 
were made available.

Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered using 
it as a standard.  Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that will 
produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a tuned 
circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz frequency.  I 
don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think it would be 
viable enough to experiment with.

73,
Don W3FPR

Mike-WE0H wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable 
> reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF 
> freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what 
> oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for 
> over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven 
> oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero 
> drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle 
> drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell 
> sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF & MF station around 
> them.
>
> Thanks much,
> Mike
> WE0H
>
>
>
> Don  wrote:
>   
>> Mike,
>>
>> The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF 
>> frequency band.  The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter 
>> bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz.  These are 
>> 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there.
>>
>> You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100 
>> installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in 
>> your head.  You may be doing that already with your Kenwood.
>> If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify 
>> your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies.
>>
>> You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the 
>> frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to 
>> use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as 
>> the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the 
>> proper frequency.
>>
>> In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter 
>> oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF 
>> bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510 
>> kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz.  If you 
>> selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 50000.00 to 50550.00 on 
>> the K2 display.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>     
>
>   
>> Mike-WE0H wrote:
>>     
>>> Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew 
>>> transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new 
>>> transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter 
>>> option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 
>>> 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's 
>>> signal to get me on 2200, 1750 & 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 
>>> 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at & 
>>> below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not 
>>> the HF power amp.
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>> Mike
>>> WE0H
>>>  
>>>       
>