[Elecraft] K1 comments?

[Mike Markowski]

Bud,

bud73 at comcast.net wrote:
> I recently received my first Elecraft kit .... a K1.
> [...]  how was it to build,
> is it fun to use, does it have a decent receiver, etc, etc.
> Please tell me something about your experience with your K1.

Congrats on the new kit & you'll love building and operating it!  Building it 
was not at all difficult, and that goes for winding the toroids.  The common 
advice is to work only for as long as you're feeling sharp.  I also recommend 
the backlight addition if you haven't already bought it.  It's helpful when 
you're outdoors at dusk - I used the highest resistance choice to get the 
dimmest backlighting.

I originally used an end-fed wire that I had cut to avoid half wavelength 
multiples (as recommended in the KAT1 manual).  QSOs are no problem with it. 
However, I'm making dipole now to get more signal out - n7un has a neat idea to 
hook segments together to make resonant length for each band.  Most places I go 
seem to have trees, poles, or something to get a dipole up.  With a dipole I 
made a 100 mW qso from Pennsylvania to Maine.

Overall, I love the rig.  Maybe that's why we hear so few k1 comments on the 
list.  K1 users are no longer learning the rig but busy using it.  :-)

Have fun with the build,
Mike ab3ap