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Elecraft K2 and K3 Transceivers

I've placed links to documents related to Clifton Laboratories kits and papers on this page. All are in PDF format.

Current Kits

Z10000B Buffer Amplifier

• Z10000B-U covers the broadband or "universal" version of the Z10000B buffer amplifier

• Z10000B-K2 covers the buffer amplifier version with frequency shaping parts specific for Elecraft's K2 transceiver

• Z10000B-K2 Installation covers installing the Z10000B inside an Elecraft K2 transceiver.

Note: The following two manuals relate to the Z10000 buffer amplifier original PCB version. Since the circuit and performance of the current Z10000B is identical with the Z10000, I've  retained the Z10000 documentation as it is of continuing interest.

• Z10000-K2 and Z10000-U buffer amplifier manual is now posted. Version 3.2, updated 04 January 2009 and should be the final version, absent some small corrections. This is a 2 Mb PDF file. The second run (2008) Addendum is available by clicking here. The Addendum material has been incorporated into the main manual in version 3.2.

• Z10000-U Mini-Manual is now available. This is a shortened (15 pages) edition of the full Z10000 manual, pared down to minimalist form.

Band Pass, Band Reject, High Pass Filters

• Z10010 4.915 MHz Filter Operating Instructions for the K2 IF bandpass filter. Updated 07 October 2006.

• Z10022A Medium Wave (AM Broadcast Band) High Pass Filter. Operating manual.

• There is no operating manual for the Z10020A Band Reject Filter. The web page has details on filter performance Z10020 AM Medium Wave Band Reject Filter

Norton Amplifiers

• Z10040A Norton Amplifier Assembly and Operating Manual. [The Z10040A has been replaced by the Z10040B Norton Amplifier. The Z10040A manual is provided for historical reference purposes.] This is a 4 MB download.

• Z10040B Norton Amplifier Assembly and Operating Manual. Updated periodically, valid for printed circuit board revisions 1 and 2. This is a 4.5 MB download.

• Z10040B Norton  Amplifier Assembly and Operating Manual. This version is for printed circuit board revision 3. This is a 4.9 MB download.

• Z10042A Surface Mount Norton Amplifier. This is a 3.8 MB download

• Z10042AV Surface Mount Norton Amplifier with Improved Low Frequency Response. This is a 3.4 MB download

• Notes on Installing Z10042A and Z10046A in Universal Box A Enclosure. This is a 1.1 MB download.

• Z10043A "Mini-Norton Amplifier." Documents\Z10043 Manual.pdf and Updates and Corrections to the Z10043A Manual.pdf

Other Amplifiers

• Z10046A High Gain Amplifier Assembly and Operating Manual. This is a 2 MB download

• Z10130A FET Follower Amplifier Assembly. This is a 2 MB download

• Z10130A Enclosure Assembly. This is a 1.5 MB download

Active Antenna and DC Coupler

• Z1501D Active Antenna Assembly and Operating Manual. This is a 2.8 MB download.

• Z1203B Power Coupler Assembly and Operating Manual. This is a 3.9 MB download.

• Z1203B PCB Rev 04 Manual Updates with Schematic.pdf. Corrects and updates the Z1203B assembly manual.

Other Kits

• Z10050A Notes on Building a 3dB Hybrid Coupler. This is a 330 KB PDF file with an illustrated description of how to build a Z10050A 3dB Hybrid Coupler from the parts kit available from Clifton Laboratories. Z10050A 3 dB Hybrid for more details on parts kit pricing. This is not a complete kit; the builder must supply an enclosure and three connectors.

• Z10080A Bypass/Transfer Relay. Assembly, installation and operation of the Z10080A bypass/transfer relay.

• Z1500A Common Mode Choke. The Z1500A is not a kit, but rather consists of detailed assembly instructions for the user to procure  the necessary parts and build the chokes.

Not Related to Any Specific Kit

• Wellbrook ALA-1530L Loop Compared with Pixel Pro-1B Loop. A detailed statistical analysis of signal to noise ratio over a wide frequency range comparing Wellbrook's ALA-1530L with Pixel's Pro-1B. Clifton Laboratories developed the low noise, high performance amplifier used in the Pro-1B.

• Crystal Motional Parameters. This is not a polished, ready-for-publishing article, but is more of a summary of my workshop notes, with photos and plots. It describes the results of a variety of approaches to measuring quartz crystal motional parameters, with results compared against a Saunders & Associates Reference Crystal.

• Elecraft K3 AGC Parameters and S-Meter. A reformatted version of my page Elecraft K3 AGC and S-Meter is now available in a format optimized for print and with higher resolution graphics.

• Elecraft K2 Transceiver Response in SSB Mode to Tone Burst. To see how my K2 reacts to a tone burst, I ran a test at varying audio levels on 7 MHz in LSB mode. This is far from an exhaustive test, and it shows a relatively small degree of overshoot and level oscillation.

• Calibration Report on W7ZOI Power Meter built by W2GNN. An analysis of the accuracy of the AD8307-based low level  RF power meter described in June 2001 QST by Wes Hayward, W7ZOI and Bob Larkin, W7PUA. This is a 1.1 MB PDF download.

• Review of AADE L/C IIB Inductance and Capacitance Meter. A detailed review of the L/C IIB Inductance and Capacitance meter available from AADE. http://www.aade.com/ for more details on the L/C IIB.

Retired Kits No Longer Available

The following kits are no longer available but the manuals may be of continuing interest.

Z90 & Z91 Digital Panadapter

• Z90 Digital Panadapter Operating Instructions

• Assembly Instructions for the Z90 & Z91. This is a 2.2 MB file, with reduced graphics resolution. The current edition is 2.0, revised 19 Oct 2006.

• Corrections and Updates to the Assembly Instructions. The most recent errata to the printed Assembly Instructions.

• Component Placement shows where each component is placed via an XY grid system with an index to schematic part identifiers.

• Z90 & Z91 Schematic 

• Z90 & Z91 Annotated Schematic for troubleshooting.

• Updating the Z90 Firmware describes the MicroLoader and procedure for flashing new firmware in the Z90's PIC18F4620 microcontroller.

• Filter Grounding Comparison provides measurements of the Z90 in both 200 and 1000 Hz RBW modes for three alternative crystal grounding configurations. In the case of the Z90, no significant difference is seen between top bus grounding and individual bottom crystal grounding.

Crystal Test Fixture

• Assembly and Usage Notes for Crystal Test Fixture, Contains the assembly and checkout information for my crystal test fixture kit.

Z100 CW/RTTY Tuning Aid

• Z100 Operating Manual. A PDF copy of the Z100 CW tuning aid manual.

• Z100 Schematic. PDF copy of the schematic. (The Z100's firmware source code is available on the Software page).

• Z100 Programming Cable (RS232 to logic level). A simple home brew adapter cable for those not wishing to purchase the recommended TTL232R cable.

Z1501/Z1203

• Z1203A DC Power Coupler Assembly and Operating Manual. This is a 3.7 MB download.