On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 12:33:52 -0500, Charles Greene wrote:
>Agree with the ratings but you need to differentiate between the K2 and
>K2 with DSP. The K2 with DSP is one notch higher than the K2 without
>it. I'd give the K2 with DSP an 8 as a SSB rig.
I disagree. DSP is a big plus in the K2, and I'm assuming it. I very much like
the DSP in
the K2, and it works very well both on CW and SSB. But it is an AUDIO DSP, not
an IF
DSP.
The limitations on SSB in the K2 and K2/100 are 1) low gain in the audio and
modulation signal chain, thus poor "oomph" on transmit; and 2) very limited IF
filtering
for SSB. In essence, the only GOOD receive filter for SSB is the transmit
filter, which is
excellent. To get narrower, the CW filters, which are rather narrow, must be
stagger
tuned for SSB reception. They work GREAT on CW, which is what they are designed
for. They are AWFUL when stagger-tuned for SSB. Their response looks like a
side
view of the Rocky Mountains, and they sound as bad as they look. (And yes, I've
carefully aligned them using spectrum analysis software, and I've measured
several
K2's aligned by very good engineers.)
#1 can be fixed by some mods that were developed by several very sharp
builders, and
are published on the Elecraft website. #2 cannot -- it is a limitation of the
design of the
K2.
I love my K2/100 DSP and KAT100 -- it is a world class CW rig, and my favorite
CW
rig, especially for contesting. But it is NOT a world class SSB rig -- at best,
it is an OK
SSB rig for casual use.
Jim Brown K9YC
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|