[Elecraft] New Elecraft product: 80/30 meter module for the KX1 transciever

[wayne burdick]

We're pleased to announce that the KX1 is now a 4-band radio!

Many KX1 owners have asked for 80 meter coverage, notably Bruce Prior, 
N7RR, who pointed out that 80 meters is a great band for traffic 
handling at night (in both the CW and SSB segments). Up till now, Bruce 
has been taking his KX1 and a second rig that covers 80 meters on his 
extensive backpacking trips. Our new KXB3080 option will lighten his 
load a bit. 80 meters is also a popular field day and QRP band, and is 
especially active in the Eastern U.S. and in Europe. Band noise is 
lower in Winter, so this is the perfect time to give 80 meters a try.

The dual-band KXB3080 module installs in the same location as our 
30-meter-only module, the KXB30. The KXB3080 is very easy to add to 
your KX1, since all but two components are surface-mount, pre-installed 
at the factory. (This was necessary in order to provide both bands in 
such a small amount of space.) Also supplied is a small PC board that 
mounts in place of the original low-pass filter inductors (L1 and L2). 
This board includes a relay that configures the low-pass filter for 
efficient operation on either 80 or 40/30/20 meters.

The KX1's firmware has been updated in conjunction with the KXB3080. 
The new firmware adds:

   * Full 80-meter band coverage on transmit and receive
   * Additional receive-only coverage: 1000 kHz to 5000 kHz (reduced 
sensitivity outside the 80-m band)
   * Programmable scanning (great for monitoring quiet bands, waiting 
for signals to show up)
   * Variable-rate fast tuning: 1 kHz in ham bands in all RX modes, 5 
kHz outside ham bands in USB/LSB modes

We have several beta testers lined up for the KXB3080, and will be 
supplying them kits in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I've been having 
great fun on 80 meters with the first 4-band KX1, even with a wimpy 
40-foot random wire. In addition to 80 meter transceive operation, I 
can copy many AM stations from 1.0-1.6 MHz. This broadcast band 
coverage should prove useful feature for field operation.

If you have any technical questions about the KXB3080 option, feel free 
to send them to n6kr at elecraft.com. One question I'm sure to get is 
whether the KXAT1 ATU is usable on 80 meters. The answer? Yes, but the 
KXAT1 wasn't designed to cover this band, so it will only help with 
specific end-fed wire antenna lengths to be determined. It will of 
course help with tweaking of nearly-resonant antennas, such as portable 
whips and ad-hoc dipoles.


* * *  N O T E  * * *

Please don't call about the KXB3080 or new firmware just yet. We will
announce the price of both in late January, and take orders then.

(Eric made me say that  :)

* * * * * * * * * * *


73,
Wayne, N6KR


---

http://www.elecraft.com