[Elecraft] Am I crazy?

[David F. Reed]

JT,

you are definitely crazy! :-)  But not as crazy as I am; I have a K1, a 
KX1, and a K2.... and, possibly judged crazy for different reasons than 
your YL holds...

When I want a full function HF rig, with all the trimmings, I use my K2; 
it is really awesome (mine has everything but the 100 Watt amplifier);
it is portable, can be built with battery built in, and so on, and it 
has an extremely fine receiver.  One of the advantages is you can build 
it CW only, and if you miss the SSB, add it later, for a nominal 
charge.  You can keep adding accessories too, such as the DSP, the 60M 
(after SSB, sine we are only allowed USB there), 160M, and so on.

On the other hand, when I want to go "hammock portable", there is no 
substitute or preferred rig over my KX1; it is more fun than I should be 
allowed, extremely portable, with the options, covers 80, 40, 30, and 20 
Meters, has built in antenna tuner and batteries, and is amazingly tiny; 
the optional paddle works great for me, and with an adapter, the paddle 
clamps to the bail on the K2, and does double duty.

Not to leave the K1 out; it is great fun too, more easily shared by 
virtue of its built in speaker, and fits somewhere between the K2 and 
the KX1 in my use.  It offers some advantages over the KX1, from my 
view, primarily in the choice of bands, and mods to cover 160M and 
others available. 

In short order, I personally suspect that if you get any of them, you 
will lover them, and end up with all three (but only if you are as crazy 
as me, and some of the other listers are as well.
I have other brand rigs, but none of the others offer the price / 
performance ratio or the price / fun ratio of my Elecraft rigs, and you 
will not fins better factory support, or list support with anything in 
my opinion.

Good luck picking out your first Elecraft kit; I bet you will be back 
for more...

73 de Dave, W5SV

JT Croteau wrote:

> Am I crazy?  Well, if you ask my YL she'd emphatically say YES.
>
> But here's what I am debating:
>
> My only rig at the moment is a Ten-Tec Paragon which is a mighty fine
> HF Transceiver.  I spend the majority of my time on 80, 40, and 20
> phone.  However, I am thinking about selling it to finance the
> purchase of a KX1 or a K1.  My reasons for doing so, in order of
> importance to me, would be: