As for noise floor- take Pete's suggestion or take your K2 to
your friends
house and compare signals there.

It is likely the noise comes from your house- switching power
supplies in
consumer electronics, fan speed controls, dimmers, microwave
ovens etc.

Put the K2 on battery power and turn offf the main breaker into
the house.

Dale W4OP



I did that today - WOW! What a difference! Unplugging my PC and
turning off the SEC 1223 ps (leaving the K2 on SLA cells
automatically)
made a HUGE difference! The PC was causing 90% of the noise.

My noise floor went from S7 to S4 and new stations just jumped
out of the air.

My friend still hears less band noise than me but only by 1-1.5db
at
the most now.

Now, how do I solve the PC noise problem? I guess I could spend
a small fortune in ferrite snap on chokes but I doubt I would be
able
to equal how quiet it is with the PC off. If that's so, I doubt
I'll bother
- it's just too easy to turn off the PC during net time......

Would a laptop on batteries work without noise?


I banished my desktop 3 rooms away and still had to do ferrite
tricks to quiet the monitor. I am using a laptop in the radio room
and find no noise. Laptops that use fluorescent backlighting
for the LCD may cause problems, but I haven't seen any noise
with my old Tosh t2100. I am also using an Astron linear power
supply for the entire station.

Being on a hill is nice for VHF/UHF, but there is no advantage
for HF operation due to the added exposure to line noise and
various other man-made distractions.

ac6tk