[Elecraft] New KX2 - what am I doing wrong?

[Don Wilhelm]

Philip,

What kind of a building are you in?  As an example, I live in a stucco 
house, and with the wire on the walls before the stucco went on, I live 
in a faraday shield and few if any signals are received inside the 
house.  That does include cellphone signals as well as ham frequencies.
The AX1 does not work inside my house unless I take it near a window.

So take a look at your situation - take the KX2 outside with the AX1 and 
a trailing counterpoise wire to see if you can hear any signals.

Make sure the switch on the AX1 is set to the band you are listening to.
Do a TUNE to set the KX2 ATU to the frequency of interest.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 11/23/2020 2:55 PM, Philip Cochran wrote:
> I recently purchased a new KX2 with all the trimmings (AX1, AXE1, CW
> paddles, binding posts, etc.). Unfortunately, I’m hearing nothing but
> static.  I had expected the KX2 to significantly exceed the receiving
> quality of my inexpensive SWL receivers.
> 
> 
> I am within 5 miles line of sight from some powerful AM stations. My
> Midland emergency radio has no problem in picking up the local AM stations
> - even the telescoping antenna fully retracted into the body of the radio.  My
> KX2 cannot hear these stations.  I cannot hear WWV on the KX2 (although my
> $20 clock radios can synchronize to it).  I cannot hear any FT8 signals.
> Likewise, no CW.
> 
> 
> Granted, I am only using the Elecraft AX1 whip and not an outdoor antenna.  But
> the AX1 whip is considerably larger than the telescoping antenna on my
> Midland even when extended.  I’ve checked the RF GAIN (it’s at -0 db), the
> AF GAIN knob is turned up, and PRE is showing near the middle of the
> display.
>