Posts Tagged ‘Elecraft K2’
Elecraft K2 out of production……say it’s not so!
I was just reading a post on the Elecraft reflector of an amateur and that he contacted Elecraft to get some spare parts for his K1 and K2. As we all know the K1 is out of production but he was informed the K2 is now out of production!! Say it's not sooooo but then again with parts availability and the market I knew once I heard about the Elecraft KX1 and the K1 had gone the way of the doh doh bird it would not be long before the K2 would follow. I have built 2 of these amazing radios and if the truth is the truth then it is a radio that will be missed.
It’s time for the Kool-Aid…..:)
It's like the Borg connected to the collective! |
New software loading |
A hard decision to make………
My 1/2 built K2 is up for sale |
The K2 was shipped
The K2 ready in it's Pelican case to be shipped |
All is packed and ready |
Where the K2 used to be now a bare spot |
Time to put the K2 package up for sale.
I have resistance for a long time but as the borg say "resistance is futile" and it's time to sell my K2 package. I have seen my rig just sitting on the desk doing lots of nothing. The K3 and KX3 have been getting lots of on air time. As for the K2 I have not flipped the switch for uncounted months. I know there is a ham out there who could put the rig to good use. I am in the process of putting a for sale post together. I say "K2 package" because I am selling the rig, external ATU and KAT100 and the A&A Engineering smart charger for the internal battery.
K2 serial number 6613
KIO2 AUX I/O module
KAT2 ATU
KBT2 (purchased 10/10/2011 installed spring of 2012)
KNB2 Noise blanker
73cnc.com machined weighted vfo knob
VFO knob with tuning dimple as a spare knob
All manuals for the above options and K2
EC2 enclosure with
KAT100-1 ATU
K102 host control Aux I/O
KPA100 100 watt amp
All interconnecting cables between K2, EC2 and PC.
Additional items
K6XX visible LED tuning indicator ( it has not been installed but it’s the complete kit ready to go)
A&A Engineering 1 amp smart charger for the KBT2 keeps the battery topped up and ready to go.
At this point I am trying to come up with a fair price for all the above.
KIO2 AUX I/O module
KAT2 ATU
KBT2 (purchased 10/10/2011 installed spring of 2012)
KNB2 Noise blanker
73cnc.com machined weighted vfo knob
VFO knob with tuning dimple as a spare knob
All manuals for the above options and K2
EC2 enclosure with
KAT100-1 ATU
K102 host control Aux I/O
KPA100 100 watt amp
All interconnecting cables between K2, EC2 and PC.
Additional items
K6XX visible LED tuning indicator ( it has not been installed but it’s the complete kit ready to go)
A&A Engineering 1 amp smart charger for the KBT2 keeps the battery topped up and ready to go.
At this point I am trying to come up with a fair price for all the above.
Times R a changing
Times R a changing with the way the sun is preforming these days. I know we have all wanted the sunspots to go up along with the flux numbers......BUT..........what is up with the solar flares!!! As a wise man once told me with the good comes the bad as well. Sunday afternoon I fired up DXlabs and on the cluster was S573DX from Slovenia. He was booming in at around S7 to S9 and I had my K3 at around 5 watts and so began my effort to contact him. There was a pileup and as it goes with QRP you have to let the big guns get their turn and then you can fit your call in the cracks! I was waiting for my
opportunity (mind you I still was throwing in my call along side the "big guns"...you never know) and then S573DX went from S7-S9 so S...NOTHING!! In the blink of an eye he was just above the noise level even the APF was not able to dig him out of the noise floor. So goes the conditions when the sun grumpy! There are other projects around the shack to keep me busy...such as my K2 build. There was not much time for radio this week as Julie has relivitves coming in from England next weekend. They will be staying with us for 3 weeks so it was time to get some rooms ready for them and do some needed house cleaning as well.
Back to the K2 build |
Kit build came to an abrupt stop
Last weekend I was working on my Elecraft K2 project all was going well until I tried to clean my Weller soldering tip in the wire sponge. For some reason it the wire sponge was not letting the soldering tip go. It was as if the tip was soldered to the sponge that was supposed to clean it! I did free the tip from the sponge and I tried to clean the tip once again and the same thing happened but it was even harder to remove from the wire sponge. I then took a closer look at the Weller soldering tip and half the tip was missing, it seemed to have come off. I never had this happen in the past with these tips and of coarse it was this tip that I did not have a spare of. I did pick up some new tips (4 of them) and will now be able to continue with my Elecraft
K2 project once again. At one point I was using just a sponge that was damp to clean the tip's but I found this cooled the tips down and the soldering was affected. Has anyone out there ever had the problem of the soldering tips dissolving or breaking off in the wire sponge? The temperature on the Weller WES51 is set to around 800.
Wire sponge |