[Elecraft] K1 IF Amp Mod? Some history.

[Don Wilhelm]

Roy,

I think one of the reasons for the change from the MC1350 to the NE612 
followed by the LM386 was due to the fact that when the K1 was designed, 
the MC1350 in its DIP format was "not to be used for current designs".  
Yes, the MC1350 is still available in SMD format, and Elecraft has 
designed a carrier board that allows its use in the DIP format holes 
(for the K2 ongoing support).

To redesign the the K1 to use the MC1350 would be challenging.  The AGC 
system would have to be changed to use that part.  There is nothing 
wrong with the "dual NE612" designs - there are several out there, and 
they perform quite nicely.

BTW - the K2 used the LM380-8 audio amplifier, not the LM386.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 10/17/2014 9:50 PM, r j wrote:
> Well ... Thanks for the history. One can also look at Elecraft's website
>
> http://www.elecraft.com/about_elecraft.htm
>
>
> But my question remains: Why did the (very early) Sierra and the (first
> Elecraft product) K2 have IF amp (MC1350 - and of course the standard AF
> amp LM386), but the K1 was equipped with no IF amp but two AF amps (LM386
> and LM380) and an accordingly somewhat problematic AF based AGC.
>
> Thanks.
> Roy
> RF Tinkerer
>
> On Sat, Oct 18, 2014 at 8:34 AM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft <
> eric at elecraft.com> wrote:
>
>> More history - Elecraft was formally created July of 1998. (We began
>> working on the K2 design well before that.)
>>
>> We shipped the first 100 K2 Field Test Units January and Feb. of 1999.  We
>> took orders for production K2 kits at Dayton in May of 1999.
>>
>> We followed that with the K1, then the KX1, the K3, and most recently the
>> KX3.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Eric
>> elecraft.com
>>
>>