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write your own review of the Elecraft K2.
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NB4M
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 17, 2009 12:10
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Beyond Expectations
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The K2 exceeds expectations.
Superior receiver, filtering, and signal processing.
Fabulous CW for the casual, DX, or contest environments. Great service and great product.
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N7KRT
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2009 10:48
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Great Radio-Requires effort to reap benefits
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have been using my K2 since May of 2007, and I like it more each time I fire it up. The receiver is so nice...I can slide right up against S9 plus CW sigs, dial down the filter bandwidth, and work an S2 guy with no AGC pumping or desense. I can't even get close to that kind of performance with my TS480 and narrow CW filter. I have the SSB option, and after tweaking, it sounds just fine. And the internally generated noise is for all intents and purposes just non-existent.
It does take some work to assemble, a bit of patience and attention to detail to successfully build the rig. And you should be ready to and enjoy the process of setting up (alignment) and fine tuning the radio for best performance. It is a labor of love. This is not for those who don't have a bit of experimenter in them...You gotta enjoy the process or you will not really appreciate the rig, nor will you be able to achieve the fine performance the K2 can provide.
I guess the customer service qualities of Elecraft have been mentioned in almost all of the reviews...let me just say "Top Notch!"
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AC7A
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2009 08:10
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K2 - a decade of performance
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It is hard to believe that in June it will be 10 years since I built my K2. During that time it has been a solid, reliable performer. It has always been a level 5 performer from my experiences. This radio has been to Europe, Hawaii and multiple mountain top Field Days with me. It is the basis for most of my QRP operations. My K1 is used when I am packing light.
Indeed as other have mentioned the alignment and filter settings must be set up correctly. That takes practice and patients to get it right. Within the past year I re-educated myself on the procedures and was rewarded with much better sounding audio on SSB. Now the radio sounds more balanced between LSB and USB, and CW and CW-reverse.
My K2 is with me for the long haul.
'73, Thomas - AC7A
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N4DSP
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2009 05:46
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W8YG here you go
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I will take your radio and pay shipping W8YG. The K2 needs to be aligned properly for it to perform and this might be the problem with your radio. I am 100% CW and its one of the finest rigs for cw.
I prefer FedEx over UPS.
john
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EA1BSU
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2009 02:40
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Good audio ! !
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have built all the Elecraft transceivers for me and different some for friends. The audio of the K2 (and generally of the Elecraft radios) is not too much powerful but the quality is very good.
Certainly I do not believe that thousands of satisfied users are all masochists.
Alex, EA1BSU
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N0XE
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Rating: 5/5
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May 14, 2009 14:11
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bad audio??
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have had three K-2's and know exactly what the previous poster is talking about, one of mine sounded aweful, very high pitched, turnd out it had a problem in alignment and I am sure this is what he has experienced. Going to Utube and watching the many videos on the K-2 will quickly show a proper working K-2 is an awesome machine and has super audio. I hope he got it fixed and did not get rid of it, It is one super radio.
73 Jim N0XE
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W8YG
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Rating: 0/5
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May 14, 2009 13:39
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How can you stand to listen to this radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Somebody take this radio please.Awful plan awful audio on recieve. I cant imagine listening to CW for more than 10 minutes and then heading for the bathroom for extra strength tylanol..
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MM0DHY
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 28, 2009 09:50
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Excellent kit brilliant radio
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I built my K2 10 months ago. The kit is first class. The documentation, packaging and the support I found to be excellent. It gave me many, many hours of pleasure building this radio. When I did come across problems, soldering a connector on upside down or muddling up capacitors the support was superb. e-mails were answered promptly and were always very helpful. The new connector was dispatched very quickly!
When I had finished the kit, time to connect the power.. Everything worked just fine! Wow, a great radio! I have the auto atu,dsp,topband, 60m and SSB boards. This is my main station radio. I have an Icom706 but that hardly gets used. The K2 is a pleasure to use and works very well. I have even started using morse now. The filters allow me to easily pick out a morse signal which makes life a lot easier for a new morse operator!
Just a comment on construction. I have biult several simpler kits. That was a useful exercise, my soldering was pretty good when I came to build the K2. I would suggest the kit is definately not a first kit but it would be fine as a second kit.
Thank you to everyone at Elecraft for producing this great kit / radio. One day I guess I will get a K3 but for now the K2 is just fine!
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WA0TPN
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 22, 2009 17:12
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Versatile
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Building and operating the K2 has provided many pleasant hours of entertainment during the past 3-1/2 years. Although the shack has an Icom 756Pro, a Drake B-line, and a few boat anchors, the K2 is used most frequently.
My K2 is built in the QRP configuration with SSB adapter, audio filter, automatic antenna tuner, and internal battery. I am tempted to build the DSP filter, but I am not convinced that the DSP will add an appreciable amount of performance.
The KPA100 100-watt power amplifier and KAT100 100-watt antenna tuner was completed last week and built into a separate EC2 enclosure. I was uncertain about how to properly connect the two units, but I built the linking cables as instructed, plugged then in, turned on the power, and everything worked flawlessly!
Having the separate K2 QRP configuration and the 100 watt units in a separate box provides a considerable amount of communications versatility and fun.
The basic battery-operated K2 makes portable operation easy, practical, and fun. The capability to remotely connect to the 100-watt power amplifier and automatic antenna tuner, when desired, creates an HF station on par with mid-range factory-built rigs from the major manufacturers and with a special 'built-it-myself' dimension.
The K2 and QRP automatic antenna tuner, built in 2005, worked perfectly from the moment they were powered up. Using the internal battery pack, the K2 has been used on camping trips, family visits, mountain picnics, the patio deck, and nightstand yielding many hours of listening and operating pleasure.
The recently completed KPA100 power amplifier and KAT100 automatic antenna tuner in a separate enclosure also worked perfectly when connected to the K2 from the moment that it was powered up for the first time.
Although the 15-watt QRP K2 is fine for CW, higher power is much more practical, functional, and less frustrating for SSB operations.
I was thrilled after asking a gentleman for a signal report, not realizing that I had landed on the 75-meter "freeloaders" net, and had over a dozen stations give me good signal reports from numerous states east of the Mississippi.
I make no attempt to compare the technical performance of the K2 QRP and 100-watt amplifier to competitive makes and models. For me the most important comparative 'metrics' are the qualitative measures of satisfaction and fun which have no equal. Many factory-built rigs are available that require less investment of time and money; however, the time and money invested in building the K2 will pay dividends forever into the future and the experience will be priceless in the years to come.
I also have warm feelings for the K1 that I built a number of years ago. The K1, K2, and accessories are works of art combined with state-of-the-art technology.
Support the designers and providers of radio and accessory kits!
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N2DTS
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 2, 2009 19:18
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great!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I built 6673 in 3 days, then added the ssb and antenna tuner a week later.
There are a LOT of parts, some VERY small, with smaller value markings, you need a lighted magnifier and a fine soldering iron tip.
The 100w amp and tuner are on order, I will mount them in the same box so I have a 15 watt radio, and a 100w radio, without having to take anything apart.
I built a K2 some time ago, but sold it to get something else, a motorcycle, or pro 3, I forget.
That was a mistake, but not really, as building the K2 is an incredible amount of fun.
I never got the ssb option on the old rig, but have been having fun on 80 meter daytime ssb with the new one at 15 watts!
SSB on my K2 seems to work really well.
I use an old hifi bookshelf speaker with the K2, and ssb receive sounds very nice on that, not as good as the little built in speaker, same as all other rigs..
I will be ready when the sun spots pick up, the K2 makes a great mobile rig.
I think the receiver still works better than 99% of other radios out there.
While its a small radio for main shack use, it works well, and its just the ticket for the table in the den where I can listen to CW while the wife watches TV.
Its small and light, and takes very little power.
Its really amazing that 2 guys could design such a slick little rig you build as a kit, yet it works so well and has so many features.
The price of this little rig adds up fast when you add options, but seems well worth it to me, if you are into radio, and not just displays.
Some would say its way over priced since you have to build it, and count the time spent on building it, but I think it was a ton of fun building the radio, and would pay extra to be able to do so.
Its not a pro 3, but in some respects, its better, in some respects, its much better, I cant see sticking a pro 3 in a car and doing mobile, maybe a really big car, but not most.
The K2 receiver is better on CW, just as good on ssb.
The pro 3 wins on controls, knobs, the band scope, band stacking registers.
The K2 is more fun than the pro 3.
Brett
N2DTS
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