[Elecraft] K2 a little deaf?

[Don Wilhelm]

Lenny,

Check the obvious - is the Receive Antenna (RANT) on?
Is transmit power full output?

If both are correct, you will have to go through the Receive Signal 
Tracing in the Troubleshooting Appendix of the manual.
If you have an oscilloscope with a 10X probe, you can use the HP8640B to 
drive the K2 receiver input.  Set the signal generator so you have an 
obviously measurable signal at the BNC jack.  The signal level should 
decrease only slightly through the T/R switch, but will decrease some 
through the BandPass filter.  The preamp will bring it back up as will 
the Post Mixer Amplifier.

If you can achieve enough signal to give you as much 'scope deflection 
as the listed "Expected" values, that will give you some guide for the 
signal levels along the receive path.
I can usually make a judgement about the relative levels as I progress 
through the receiver without consulting the receive chart, but then I 
have had a lot of practice.
Note that with the inclusion of the back to back diodes across the IF 
amplifier, the expected values after that point have changed - if you 
get to that point, you can temporarily remove one end of the diode pair.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/2/2018 2:22 PM, w2bvh wrote:
> Thanks Don,
>
> As you say, I also would expect the signal from the 8640B to be 
> clearly audible at -140 dBm on the K2.
>
> I took your advice checked the filter bandwidths. I used the old noise 
> source I built when I originally built the K2 ( Tom Hammond design?) 
> along with the filter measurement instructions from your web site, and 
> the Spectrogram 5.17 program.  No changes were needed. The filters are 
> centered on 550 Hz. So that is not causing the MDS problem. It was 
> well worth doing to eliminate that as a possible cause.
>
> The reply on the Elecraft reflector from KN5L was helpful for me to 
> make more MDS measurements and help me validate the ones I made 
> originally. I used the instructions that come with the XG3 manual to 
> set up the K2 and calculate the MDS. I used the 8640B as the signal 
> source.  The results of those measurements are:
>
> _XFil BW Hz)                    MDS (dBm)
> _400                                  -125
> 700                                  -123
> 1500                                -121.5
>
> So these results are actually a couple of dB WORSE (at the same 
> bandwidth)  than the ones I originally got (e.g. the ones from my 
> original email to the reflector a couple of days ago).
>
> Any additional advice you may have would be greatly appreciated. I 
> don't know if you have fixed this type of problem before, but if you 
> have, maybe I should be mailing it off to you to fix it?
>
> I did a qrp-qrp qso with an F5  last night on 40M, but it was pulling 
> teeth to copy him. Another 1 1/2 s-units (or so) of signal would have 
> been very welcome!
>
> Please let me know either way.
>
> 73 & happy 4th,
> --Lenny W2BVH
>
> ps - as for bringing the siggen to the K2  or vice versa, the siggen 
> had to be upstairs in the shack for antenna measurements (can't bring 
> the antenna connection down to the basement ;-). MDS measurement was 
> an afterthought -- which I'm glad I did.
>
>
>
>
> On 7/1/2018 11:55 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>> Lenny,
>>
>> Are your IF filters aligned so a 550Hz signal is within the passband.
>> With the K2, simply setting STP for 550 Hz will not do it, you must 
>> do CAL FIL to make 550Hz appear well within the receive passband.
>>
>> A properly tuned K2 will typically have a good response to a -140dBm 
>> signal from the HP8640B.
>>
>> It is easier to take the K2 to the signal generator than to lug that 
>> heavy signal generator to the hamshack!
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>> On 7/1/2018 4:35 PM, w2bvh wrote:
>>> I dragged my HP8640B out of the "lab" (basement) to the second floor 
>>> shack to do some antenna testing about a week ago. Before dragging 
>>> this 50 lb instrument back down two flights of stairs I decided to 
>>> do a quick MDS measurement on my K2 and got some results I'm a 
>>> little concerned about.
>>>
>>> Yesterday I did an informal test. K2 set for cw, 1.5 KHz bandwidth, 
>>> 14.05 MHz, AGC on, preamp off. Attached siggen, tuned the K2 to 550 
>>> Hz tone and cranked down the siggen amplitude until the signal and 
>>> noise were about equal, "by ear". Siggen output was -130 dBm. This 
>>> was enough to cause me to look further.
>>>
>>
>