Here is my first experiment for Sunday. My friend Ford, N0FP did some modeling
for me assuming 25' of elevation + flat top + 4:1 feed point. The picture below shows
SSB freqs which will be close enough... I am planning on an CW only event.
69.5' looks like the next starting point. Remember when copper wire was cheap? I miss
the good old days.
73 de NG0R
I have an old Kenwood TR-1930 sitting around. I think that my TR-751 (used to drive
my high band transverters) has a problem with SSB receive audio been low. I am thinking
that maybe the TR-9130 might used to compare the audio levels and if needed pressed
into service.
http://www.kb2ljj.com/data/kenwood/tr-9130.htm
The link above has some interesting notes. I have take a couple of screen captures
for future reference in case that site goes away over time.
I had an issue with the 40m and IF alignment. After talking with Elecraft support
to get an idea of where to look I discovered that R12 on the control board was missing.
It turns out this is tied to the same issue I had with R11. Someone had sent me an
email early in my project stating that R11 and R12 were no longer required. Both are
critical pieces of the control board. Once I installed R12 things were back on track.
I heard my first CW and SSW signals on my K2.
I am now in the Part 3 Assembly Steps. I just completed the first batch of resistors.
It is time to clean up for dinner. Maybe with some luck and I can try to squeeze in
some more bench time through-out the weekend.
Right now it is not looking too likely that I will have the K2 completed for Field
Day. As a backup plan I ordered a 350hz filter for my Icom 706MKIIG. The 706 will
be my Field Day 2008 rig if the K2 is not complete.
Kind of a small showing on my part.
The grid map shows the 6m locations that I worked.
After about 2 days of going in circles trying to track down my alignment problem.
I talked with Scott and emailed Gary at Elecraft a couple of times. After a bunch
of troubleshooting I decided that T5 seemed like the only thing left.
After a visual inspection it looked ok but I decided to remove it and rewind
it anyway. That seemed to be the magic needed to make the VFO circuit work properly.
The rest of the alignment pieces checked out so I am headed onto the next build phase.
There is a VHF contest this weekend plus some family stuff going on so I don't think
that I will get back to the K2 project until Sunday night or Monday night.
We had about 1 7/8 inches of rain in the rain gauge for yesterday. Living on top of
the hill the rain is not really that big of a deal. The grass and rock landscaping
seems to be doing it's job pretty well.
While the family was in the metro I spent the afternoon working on the K2. A lot of
the inductors are now in place, some of the filters, and some of RF chokes.
I am ready to begin the next section of alignment and testing. When I apply power
I initially hear the the relays move but then nothing else. The main display does
not power up.
I am not sure what the problem is. I don't see any shorts. I don't see any missed
soldier connections. As I initial trace the 14vdc it appears that there is power on
the RF board. All of resistance tests check out.
Hmmmm.... I need to scratch my head and think about this a bit.
