[Elecraft] Which one for me?

[Larry Loen]

Dave wrote:

> Larry
>
> I assume by the inclusion of the K1 and KX1 in your list that you are 
> looking for CW, and also by including those you are biased towards a 
> portable transceiver giving greater priority than a second rig for the 
> shack... I have a K2 and K1/4 with boards for 80/40 (two band board) 
> and 40/30/20/15 (four band board), but not a KX1. Note the K1 with the 
> four band module only covers four bands not six, regrettably the K1 
> doesn't cover 80/40/30/20/15 in one package... You can achieve this by 
> swapping the band boards around but it needs a screwdriver to remove 
> the upper half of the case and the KAT1,  not something you would want 
> to do too often.


Somehow, this had escaped my notice.  An added compromise to consider in 
this rig. . .it has the odd side effect of making the KX1 more attractive.

>
> As a shack rig the K1 is poor, it drifts a little and has a marginal 
> dynamic range receiver which overloads on 40 metres on a quarter wave 
> vertical during the late afternoon/evening, the attenuator "fixes" the 
> problem. The KX1 appears to have a similar limited dynamic range. 
> Where these rigs shine is with portable operation, the K1 draws around 
> 58 mA on receive which is hard to beat. With an external 10 AA cell 
> NiMh pack it produces 5 Watts on key down without difficulty and can 
> be used for several hours on 2500 mAh cells. The internal battery pack 
> for the K1 only takes 8 cells, which limits you to 9.6 Volts when 
> using NiMh cells and more importantly limits the K1 (at that Voltage) 
> to around 3 Watts output. Primary cells could be used for higher power 
> in the internal pack if you wish. With the KAT1 you can tune many of 
> the common multi-band antennas, such as some doublets fed with 300 Ohm 
> ribbon and end fed wires. The tuning range of the KAT1 is more limited 
> than the one in a K2 but works fine provided you pre-select a suitable 
> antenna at home and make sure it tunes easily before venturing into 
> the field with it.


I assume the KX1 has similar battery properties to the K1?  It's in the 
spec and I've probably read it, but there's theory and then there's 
practice. . .

>
> My main shack rig is a K2, it's the 10 Watt version. Being a 99% CW 
> operator I usually find 10 Watts more than adequate. The K2 has the 
> following modules:
>
> K160, KBT2, KDSP2, KSB2, KAT2 and KIO2
>
> With those fitted, the current consumption runs around 360 mA. With 
> less modules, especially the KDSP2, the current can be as low as 160 
> mA. Some of these modules can be removed for operating in the field by 
> fitting a strip of pins with various resistors/capacitors in their 
> place... This is very easy to do and can be worth considering as the 
> receive current is roughly halved. The internal battery is a sealed 
> lead-acid type which makes the K2 very heavy, weighing in at more than 
> 6 lbs.


Very useful, thanks.  

>
> The K2 is primarily a CW rig with SSB added, most HF transceivers are 
> SSB with CW added... Having the keyer speed and power output knobs on 
> the front panel may not seem to be a big deal, but compared to having 
> to use the menu system of a FT857D (which I also own) it really is! 
> The internal keyer is as good as any keyer I've ever used. Having 
> seamless QSK on the K2 is a real pleasure, often the side tone sounds 
> like another signal on the band (the antenna change over is diode 
> switched, so no relay noise). The internal KAT2 ATU will tune more or 
> less any antenna, or at least something which looks like it should 
> work as an antenna. The settings are stored on a per band basis which 
> makes it very nice to use.


I'd probably let the KAT2 go, at least the first time around (have to 
draw the money line somewhere, but that's probably the last cut). but I 
agree about front panel controls for things like CW speed.  The SDR's 
software console didn't used to have these things and now it does. 
 There's a reason.  But, true QSK is a pleasure to consider as I don't 
think I've ever had it.

>
> What isn't apparent when looking from the "outside", is the enormous 
> pleasure obtained from building your own transceiver, especially the 
> K2. There is something called "Mojo" about using your home built K2, 
> even to the point of needing to use it at least every weekend - nearly 
> five years since building mine!
>
> 73, Dave G4AON
> _______________________________________________



Larry WO0Z