I’ve been thinking for a while about building an Elecraft K1 or K2 transceiver. The K2 is really a full-blown rig, especially now that you can add on a 100W amp, but I’m not sure I want to spend that much or take on the more complicated building project.
Well, about a week ago, I worked Bill K4KSR. He was using a K1, and we struck up an e-mail conversation about the K1 vs. the K2. He sent me a nice comparison of the two rigs, which he agreed to let me share with you:
K2
- Evidently a world class, awesome receiver. This matters if you are a serious contester.
- Can upgrade to 100 watts, thus using RX for really serious DX. Evidently trickier to do than meets the eye, however.
- Fully digitally controlled. Can add DSP and other cool RX things.
- Can add SSB board and thus PSK-31 or other computer controlled modes.
- All HF bands, entailing antenna expense thereof.
K1
- About half the build time compared to K2
- 4 band filter board a must choice unless 80 meters critical to you. Can only do 80 with the 2 band board. Changing between 2 band and 4 band boards doable, but not easy. Non standard band combinations can be conjured, but 80 requires the 2 band board.
- Microprocessor controlled single conversion analog radio. Very careful attention to IF freqs and premix. All mixing done on main board. All premix osc, bandpass filters, low pass filters on plug in filter board.
- Latching relays control all the choices.
- Extremely clever 3 stage xtal filter with 3 selectable bandwidths (800-200 Hz), each of which is tunable from panel in setup.
- Filter tuning is touchy, but DOES work.
- Having to choose between 15 and 17 meter bands is tossup, but choose you must. You must also choose between nominal 80 KHz and 150 KHz tuning range.
- Only advantage to 150 KHz is that you can hear WWV on 30 meters, but that calibrates only one band.
- Each band calibrated separately, but super easy.
- RX will hear a lot more than you can work.
- RIT/XIT range enough for ordinary splits, not enough for those demanding huge splits.
- ATU board (extra) said to be awesome. Am building. Don’t really need with current dipoles, but it opens up all sorts of possibilities. The ATU plugs on top of the filter board, worsening the task of changing filter boards.
Bill’s obviously a big K1 fan. He also notes that Elecraft’s customer service is world-class.
I think I’ll tackle the K1 first, and depending on how that goes, sell it at some point and then tackle the K2.
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