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| Reviews Summary for Elecraft K2/100 |
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Reviews: 76
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Average rating: 4.7/5
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MSRP: $589 (K2), $349 (KPA100)
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Description: 100W SSB/CW 160-10M HF Transceiver Kit
(K2 Transceiver built with KPA100 Internal Option)
High performance RX plus silent diode switched T/R at 100W
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More info: http://www.elecraft.com
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You can
write your own review of the Elecraft K2/100.
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KR4OW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 17, 2008 07:52
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Just keeps getting better
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Its been awile since my last review and I did so with the old config. of only 15 watts.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/92?page=2
I built mine back in June 2004 with SSB,160M,NB,KIO2 option. Now with the KPA100 Option This rig has done nothing but continue to the job I need it to. As far as the alignment issue went I had no problem I followed the instructions to the letter. It did 990 q's in this years field day (K4FC)in 20hrs of operation It got me 4th US 1st 4 call area in 2005 CQWW single band low power 160m its strong signal handling and tight filters do a really good job. I spent extra time when it came to doing the agc timing to fine tune it so there is no issues for
me like I had on my Yaesu MK5 Field
Pet peeves Vox
This will be in the shack for a few years to come
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N2DTS
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 4, 2008 16:55
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great cw radio.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Its REAL fun to build.
It works REAL well on receive.
Nothing wrong with the transmitter on CW.
I think they pushed it to far by adding ssb and the dsp stuff, it was never designed for that, and it shows.
No built in ant tuner with the 100 watt amp.
Its got to be the best rig you can build yourself though, and everyone who is fond of building should get one.
I built #6065 in a few days, no problems, but the alignment is a real pain, as others have pointed out, but once its done its done, unless you change something (say sidetone pitch).
Elecraft does simple RF design, that works really well, then they use complex computer tricks to get it to work like a normal rig, but they are very fond of compressing the controls, no band buttons, its up/down, every button has at least 2 functions, many things are in menus.
The rig is very small, which is incredible for something you build, and that works so well.
Its amazing how they designed it to be built, yet it comes out so nice.
The K2 is at its best as a cw qrp rig with the antenna tuner built in, the tuner remembers band settings for 2 different antenna's, is fast, and seems to tune anything, and you get much better power control with it.
The 100 watt amp seemed to work great for me, but you loose the auto tuner built in.
I give it a 4 in the general ham shack department, but it would be a 10 if you had to take a 100 watt rig to the top of mount Everest.
Its very small, very light, and uses very little power.
Its also a 10 in the 'you build it' department.
Brett
N2DTS
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W2RBA
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 8, 2008 10:26
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Great Rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had my K2 for 7 years now and it occurred to me I never reviewed it when I got the 100 watt PA, so here are a few comments about just the PA. Mind you, my review of the K2 as a low power rig was that it was a wonderful rig, both in the building and the operating phase.
The KPA100, too, is just about perfect. When I take off one the side panels on the rig, you can see quite clearly how everything just fits beautifully, real concern for making that way was exercised by Elecraft. By the time I built the amp, I had purchased a desolding iron and that made the stripping of the the toroid wires as easy as, well, pie. It worked the first time and puts out a conservative 100 watts (I can crank it up to 120 in some cases, but concerned about linearity, I limit it 100). In short, it transforms the K2 into a typical 100 watt class transceiver -- except that the resultant rig is hardly "typical". Thank you Elecraft! Now, when will my K3 arrive? :)
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K6SDW
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 24, 2007 12:37
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Eclectic Rig.....
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Lot's been said so fer me the bottom line:
Phenomenal rig on CW, best I've ever used/own.
Mediocre rig on SSB, disappointing at best. Lot's of mods just to get the Tx audio acceptable!
Cheers All.....
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N1AS
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 4, 2007 08:15
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My main rig!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought / built it as a QRP rig about 18 mos ago. The build process in rather long, but it is not difficult, provided you read and follow the directions. If you cut corners you may find things don't go very smoothly. I followed the manual to a "T" and the rig worked first time.
When I began using it, I quickly found the K2's RX outperformed my other rig's receivers and became my main rig. The TT Omni V and TS-830s just didn't sound as good and didn't handle contest congested bands as well. I sold the other rigs and bought the 100 watt PA and SSB board for the K2 making it my only rig. It's been a year and I'm still very happy with that decision.
I run CW 99% of the time and the K2 is great for that mode. Break-in is very smooth although it isn't really fast enough to be QSK. AGC action is wonderful as it allows quiet stuff (like background noise) to remain quiet. Yes, the knobs and buttons are a bit small and there is some menu surfing from time to time, but it is a small price to pay for the fabulous sound & performance of the rig. The fan on the back is annoying when it comes on so I just put a quiet computer muffin fan on top of the heatsink, blowing up, to keep things cool and prevent the wizzer fan from coming on.
Bottom line - The rig is not perfect, but what it lacks it more than makes up for with top-notch RX performance at a comparatively low price. The rig is better suited to CW than SSB. The K2 has kept me happier and served me better than any rig I've ever had (TS-830s, IC-735, TenTec Omni V, Omni C, Corsiar II, Century 21, Century 22, Drake C-Line, B-Line, Heath HW-9, HW-101)
- Keith N1AS -
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N9GRG
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Rating: 3/5
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Sep 15, 2007 19:22
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A great kit - ok as a radio to use - won't be your main rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It's a great kit - I built this one as well as the QRP model. It's a lot of fun to see it work the first time. The alignment and tuning is interesting but seems a bit tedious having to wait 5 minutes for the CPU to perform its alignments every time you change certain things. The 100 watt option is a neat idea, but not executed as well as I would've liked. The heatsink gets pretty hot and the fan, though super tiny, is quite loud. I do have to admit that I like the look of the K2/100 over the standard K2.
As a radio to use all the time though it didn't please me. It's small, and the ergonomics are poor. The tuning knob is small, and the knobs are close together.
So if you plan on using this as a main rig, make sure you've tried it before you sell off your rig - you may regret it.
I ended up selling it and the QRP version and I found that it doesn't hold it's value as well as other radios I've sold and so I took a real loss on this. So keep this in mind if you think you may end up selling it.
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GEIIM
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Rating: 3/5
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Aug 28, 2007 08:43
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Great for CW, OK for SSB - poor for Digital modes
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This is my third K2 that I've built and I found the same results on all three.
First off, this radio is excellent on CW - bar none. The 100 watt option is able to run at full power no problem with long CW contacts. It will get pretty warm, but not overheat. CW is silky smooth and a true joy with silent RX/TX switching (no relays involved).
On SSB it's a good radio but you really need to fiddle with it to get the audio right and you need to read the post on Elecraft's web site on the SSB settings for transmit vs. receive. it can be set right but takes careful setting and can be a pain if you don't like fiddling with it.
On Digital this radio is mediocre. Not because it's not a capable radio with an excellent receiver but because of the following:
1. There is a lot of drift as the radio heats up and cools down with use and this is especially true with the 100 watt option. You can move 50hz during a PSK ragchew so you could end up QRMing a nearby QSO unintentionally. There is no TXCO option available.
2. There is quite a bit of shift between filters. The transmit filter is always filter 1, so if you set filters 2 through 4 as narrow filters and turn them on the radio will always transmit via filter 1. Problem is there can be a shift of up to 20hz between the filters due to the way the processor calculates the BFO. The way to get around this is to activate the Fine-RIT option and adjust it to compensate for the difference. This needs to be done everytime you change frequency. It works but it's a pain to deal with and the time required to adjust the fine-RIT can cause you to miss that necessary contact.
3. No line-level AF ouput. By design you must use the speaker out or the headphone out jacks. You can mod the radio yourself to get line-level output but there's nothing provided in the design.
4. You must turn the TX power down pretty low. Digital modes make this radio get super-hot if you go anything above 30 watts. Normally you shouldn't need to but with band conditions what they are, you'd like to be able to go full power for that rare DX contact. Don't forget that as the radio gets hotter it drifts more. The fan will be running the entire time your doing digital and it's loud and annoying. you could put in your own cooling to address this, of course, but by itself it's something to consider.
Finally, a 160-10m SSB equipped K2 with 100 watt option and tuner is about $1,700.00 not including building and alignment time. The Icom IC-746Pro is about $1550 after rebate (plus you get a free power supply currently). The specs on the IC-746Pro's receiver is very close to the K2 (check the Elecraft site to compare) so you can get a lot more features for less money than the K2. While it's fun to build (that's why I've built three), it not cheap and you can get alot more radio for the money - but then you don't have the distinction of having built it yourself. Still I prefer to build K2s than to use them. Also, K2 don't sell used for nearly anything compared to what it costs to buy new so they're certainly not a good investment if you don't plan on keeping it.
Overall it's a great radio, but I haven't seen many reviews on using it in digital modes so I wanted to make sure that if that's what you'd like to do then you know what to expect.
So really as CW unit this radio is a 5, as a SSB unit it's a 4 but as digital it's a 1. So I've blended those ratings to come to the final rating.
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K4DGW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 3, 2007 18:18
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Love the extra wattage
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Recently completed the K2. I have a review of it in the K2 area. Added the 100w amp and auto-tuner. They work great, were simple to build and align. They look good together, work well, and it is nice to have the extra power when you need it. Great stuff Elecraft. Thanks again.
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OE5CSP
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 23, 2007 11:01
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Gosh
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I always wanted to have a K2/100 for my portable operations and as a cw-rig.After owning this rig for almost 2 years I thought itīs time to write a little review.I compared it to a TenTec Argonaut V and an IC761.
I installed the KAF2 filter and I also own the DSP-filter but prefer the analog filter for cw.
What I really like:
- fb cw audio( with the KAF2 audio filter installed), super and very quiet receiver, especially on the low bands.
- very nice modulation with the Heil MH2 microphone
- nice design
- good qsk (no annoying relay clacking)
- no ringing ears even after hours of listening with the headphones!!
-very good filters
There are many other things I like, but I want to keep it short.
This is what I donīt like:
-birdies on the ham bands, especially 10m
SSB rx audio sounds nasal (havenīt installed the modification yet )
My K2 is not a perfect rig; maybe Iīll add some modifications to make it better. My technical knowledge is a lot better now after spending hours together with some ham friends doing repair work or installing options .
This kit is good, almost excellent and Iīm happy with it!
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K5AVJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 14, 2007 19:38
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What a blast!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've been building kits since I got my ham ticket in 1960....mostly Heathkits. I built the QRP version of the K2 w/battery, SSB & ant tuner back about 2001 & since then I have added the 100 watt amp with the 100 w antenna tuner.
Construction - this is not a kit for a beginner, but if you've had some kit building experience with PCBs & small components & you have good soldering skills, you should be able to tackle this kit. The QRP version will require 40-60 hrs of construction so you need a location that you can lay out the parts & do inventory & separate components out in an organized fashion. A small wattage soldering iron, a flourescent lamp with a magnifying lens, & a small vise along with a small pair of dikes & needle nose pliers are invaluable. After 10-15 hours of construction, you will be able to energize what you have done so far & check functions.
The Elecraft website has the manual available for you to download & review ahead of time.
After I finished the QRP rig, I had fun operating it mobile, portable, & fixed. The receiver is better than anything I've ever owned.
Within a year or so, the 100-watt amp & ant tuner became available & I heated up the soldering station, again.
The construction manuals are very well written & the steps are easy to follow. Of course, it is imperative that you double-check each step & also make sure that you do not skip any steps. Since I am color-blind (red-green), I checked each resistor with an ohmmeter to verify the value before installing.
I have found the Electraft Reflector (e-mail group to be a great help & encouragement) and I have also talked to the Elecraft Technical support group & they have helped me pinpoint a couple of minor problems.
Currently, I have my K2/100 connected to my hamshack PC & I can remotely control my K2 with HRD & use IP-Sound for audio link, so while I type this review from the comfort of my bedroom, I can operate my K2 which is out in my shack where the temperature is about 40 F. I can even remotely activate the antenna tuner.
The completion of the K2 & accessories is something you can step back from & be proud of! Eric & Wayne, the founders of Elecraft, are some of my modern day heroes for the opportunity they have provided for us to build our own 1st class ham equipment. (We're waiting now for future projects!)
Making great ham memories with my K2/100:
+ For my wife's 52nd birthday, we stayed in a bed & breakfast in Fredericksburg, TX, and while she was splashing around in the jacuzzi hot tub, I was working Japan with an indoor wire antenna, & 10 watts on 10 meters.
+ Portable contacts at 10,000' from Mt. Baldy east of Santa Fe, NM
+ Mobile operations....QRP & at 100 watts
+ Remote operations using HRD with my K2/100
73 de K5AVJ
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