[Elecraft] K1: Eleven pre-newbie queries

[Sandy, W5TVW]

Subject: [Elecraft] K1: Eleven pre-newbie queries


| What will I need to power my K1 - can I use a wall
| wart? What's the connector needed for the jack on the
| rig? What's the optimum VDC? Will anything between
| 9-15 V work equally well? Will there be any hum from
| using a wart versus batteries? What is needed to hook
| up external batteries?
    Lot of questions!  I haven't tried a "wall wart" for a power supply.
The voltage regulation of them is notoriously bad, so have avoided using one.

The set will work on anything from a 14 volts suipply down to 9 volts OK,
the power output will fall off on a 9 volt supply!  It IS possible to
operate the rig from a 9 volt alkaline transistor radio battery!
I use an external 8 battery "AA" holder loaded with 1700 Ma/H
NiMH cells.

| Is there an adjustment for weight in the keyer
| circuit?
    Not that I know of.
 
| The rig I'm getting is set for 150kHz bandwidth. I
| would have chosen 80 kHz; is there enough of a
| difference in the tuning to make it worth swapping out
| the capacitor?
    I have mine setup for 80 khz.  150 khz would be too touchy
especially if you have the 200 Hz. filter mode in use!

| I've got a 90' wire that goes up into my attic that
| I've been using with my HW-7. Using a tuner, I can get
| a 1:1 SWR on 40, 20 and 15. Can I expect the same
| performance with the KAT1 in this rig?

It should do better than you could do with the HW-7!
The receiver is miles ahead of the HW-7 receiver
and the transmitter will deliver 5 watts of RF.
(Mine does about 7-7.5 watts with a 13.2 volt supply)

| Finally, does anyone out there have a spare, unbuilt
| KFL1-4 they'd like to sell, or one that's built with
| 40-30-20-15? Thanks! 73/72, N3WSH

    Mine is a 4 band model, by the way, setup for 40/30/20/15 
meters.

73,
Sandy W5TVW