[Elecraft] K2 and the new Ten-Tec Argonaut V

[B***@aol.com]

Has anyone had a chance to check out the Ten-Tec
Model 516 yet?

http://www.tentec.com/TT516.htm

I was wondering how it performs in the real workd
versus the Elecraft K2. I have no intention of
buying one; I was just curious.

73,

Bob WA4FOM

K1 # 690
K2 # 2537


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
text/plain (text body -- kept)
text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment. Attachments are not allowed.
Please post in Plain-Text only.---

[George, W5YR]

I asked Scott Robbins of TT how the 516 would compare with the K2 and he
said that the K2 market was NOT the market intended for the 516. He sees
the SGC 2020 as his target market . . . no reason was given but I read into
his remarks that the 516 would have an good DSP IF but could not compete on
front-end performance. My guess . . .

From the specs, the 516 clearly offers more "features" and the DSP IF
filtering is probably superior to the K2 crystal filter(s), although that
remains to be seen. But specs don't always tell how the entire assembly of
parts and sections play together.

I should be receiving my K2 - #489 - today and expect to be shortly adding
my voice to those praising the radio. Got an offer for a fully loaded,
professionally built K2 that I could not refuse, so guess I'll have to
build a K1 to get the full Elecraft "experience." <:}

Apart from enjoying the radio, my first project will be to extract the IF
signal and feed it into my Icom PRO to evaluate the performance of the K2
front end combined with the DSP IF and audio capabilities of the PRO.

Might be emulating the K3?

73/72, George
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
Amateur Radio W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas
In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!

Post by B***@aol.com
Has anyone had a chance to check out the Ten-Tec
Model 516 yet?
http://www.tentec.com/TT516.htm
I was wondering how it performs in the real workd
versus the Elecraft K2. I have no intention of
buying one; I was just curious.

[Mike McCoy]

Post by George, W5YR
Apart from enjoying the radio, my first project will be to extract the IF
signal and feed it into my Icom PRO to evaluate the performance of the K2
front end combined with the DSP IF and audio capabilities of the PRO.

Just wondering... is 'extracting the IF signal' as simple as a shielded
connection to the IF out at C181 (RF board, appendix B)?

Reason I ask is, I have a Yaesu YO-901 monitor/bandscope that serves as a
rudimentary spectrum scope when fed with the 'wideband IF out' from a
101ZD/901DM. Might be interesting to hook the K2 up to the bandscope.

Mike - AD5IU

[George, W5YR]

Post by Mike McCoy

Post by George, W5YR
Apart from enjoying the radio, my first project will be to extract the IF
signal and feed it into my Icom PRO to evaluate the performance of the K2
front end combined with the DSP IF and audio capabilities of the PRO.

Just wondering... is 'extracting the IF signal' as simple as a shielded
connection to the IF out at C181 (RF board, appendix B)?

It may be, Mike. My main goal is to do nothing that will alter the normal
operation of the K2. Until I can "get in there" with a scope, etc. and
determine a few things, my first thought is to employ whatever isolation is
needed and feasible.

Post by Mike McCoy
Reason I ask is, I have a Yaesu YO-901 monitor/bandscope that serves as a
rudimentary spectrum scope when fed with the 'wideband IF out' from a
101ZD/901DM. Might be interesting to hook the K2 up to the bandscope.

I will be using the SpectrumScope feature of the PRO for exactly that
purpose, Mike. That feature is part and parcel of the PRO architecture and
will display the spectrum of the K2 IF output signal out to the bandwidth
of the pre-selection filters. Should be quite interesting to watch!

I will also make spectral studies of the noise response of the K2 to
measure the IF/audio response using all combinations of IF and audio
filters. I have done this with another K2 and the results are quite
informative. If there is enough interest, perhaps I can park the data on a
website.

73/72, George
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
Amateur Radio W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas
In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!

[Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft]

Hi George,

In order to properly benefit from the K2's receiver performance you will
need to extract the IF signal -after- the crystal filter, which I think may
be a problem if you were looking to have a wider bandwidth RX for your 756
Pro. One of the key reasons for the K2's excellent RX front end performance
is the fact that we have our narrow crystal filtering immediately following
the first mixer IF amplifier, rather than after a wider roofing filter and a
second or third mixer as in the Pro. This contributes significantly to our
#1 rated close in dynamic range numbers. The term 'front end' is somewhat of
a misnomer in this case since the complete RX path through our crystal
filter stage is what sets our RX performance.

If you run the pre crystal filter IF signal to your 756 pro I expect you
will find the Pro easily overloaded and you will not receive any performance
benefit from its IF filtering in strong signal conditions. The DSP in the
Pro and most other rigs does not have as high a dynamic range as the K2.
Tapping the Pro in after the crystal filters will give you some interesting
possibilities though since you will benefit from our narrow crystal
filtering following the mixer cascaded with the additional DSP filtering in
the Pro.

It may be useful though if all you want to use the Pro as a pan adapter
spectrum display unit. For a spectrum display IF tap point it is important
to maintain the proper impedance match for the 2N5109 post mixer IF
amplifier transistor in the K2. If this match is disturbed you will find the
IMD dynamic range of the K2 degraded noticeably. I recommend using an extra
high impedance input buffer stage taking its signal from the output of the
2N5109. This will properly isolate your external IF devices from the K2.

73, Eric WA6HHQ
==========

Post by George, W5YR
Apart from enjoying the radio, my first project will be to extract the IF
signal and feed it into my Icom PRO to evaluate the performance of the K2
front end combined with the DSP IF and audio capabilities of the PRO.

[k***@juno.com]

Bob, WA4FOM asked:

"Has anyone had a chance to check out the Ten-Tec Model 516 yet?"
==========
Ten-Tec says, "The hardware is done, but the software development for the
Argonaut V is taking longer than anticipated. We'll ship the Argonaut V
by October 15th".

73, de Earl, K6SE

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Forget the DSP stuff, that radio has a REAL meter, whooo hooo! <G>

So Ten Tec discovered that there really IS a QRP market out there!

From this brass pounder's viewpoint, they've done some awfully GOOD
stuff (e.g. Omni) and some simply AWFUL stuff (e.g. Scout). But looking
over the price list there is one very important thing missing. No KIT
price... One thing I've learned over the years about my rigs is that if
I didn't have my soldering iron inside of it to make it play, it just
isn't very exciting to operate.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289

---------------------------------------------------

Has anyone had a chance to check out the Ten-Tec
Model 516 yet?

http://www.tentec.com/TT516.htm

I was wondering how it performs in the real workd
versus the Elecraft K2. I have no intention of
buying one; I was just curious.

73,

Bob WA4FOM

K1 # 690
K2 # 2537

[Stuart Rohre]

Bob, it won't ship until end of Sept. per Ten Tec in a mail out, (if not in
Oct.) They ran late on software finish. Thus, none to review yet for side
by side.

Better late than with buggy software!
-Stuart K5KVH