My Elecraft K2 Radio Project

So I suppose I should address why I chose to build an Elecraft K2 ? I first found out about the K2 when I was in graduate school, sometime around 2000 or shortly after. I ran across a post about it online somewhere, and was intrigued. There was also online chatter about amateur radio going to stop requiring Morse Code for its Amateur Radio License exams. I looked into it a bit but decided it was just too big of a bite while I was still in school. So then when I finally decided to get into amateur radio, I knew I wanted to build. I suppose I might like building as much if not more than the actual operation of the radio? I looked around and Heathkit had long ago gone bankrupt. There aren't a lot of kits out there. I found QRP Labs , and built a few of their kits. While these kits were fun, and the rigs pretty nice for the cost and trouble to build, I decided it was time to move to the next level. The Elecraft K2 has a great reputation. There are a number of blogs by fol...

So why did I decide to take up amateur radio as a hobby? I was a working student for a number of years, and more or less gave up hobbies when I started graduate school, and have always seemed to be so busy with work that I didn't really pick them back up. So once I turned 60, I decided it was going to be now or never. At first I thought I'd buy an old Dodge flatfender powerwagon, and fix that up. I started putting $25 per week away into my powerwagon fund, and spent some time visiting various websites to get a lay for the current market and start making plans. After a couple years of this, I came to the conclusion that a powerwagon would be a bottomless money pit for me, and I didn't really have a place to work on one. So then I thought about amateur radio. When I was in Boy Scouts, I earned the electronics and radio merit badges. My Dad was an Electronics Technician in the Coast Guard, and my Grandpa was a Radioman in the Navy during WWII, so I suppose I was bred ...