[Elecraft] KX1 Field Day fun

[Dave Van Wallaghen]

Hey Wayne,

I live on almost 3 acres about 1/4 mile from Lake Erie here south of Detroit. My property is surrounded by large maple and cottonwood trees. For the last couple of years, we've set up a temporary gazebo in the yard and ran an extension cord out to it from the house. I threw a homebrew ladderline fed doublet in the trees and ran the feedline into the gazebo. I put up some string lights to see fairly well at night.

Last summer I worked Italy with my K3 and 5 watts and I've worked stations all over the country /QRP. It has become the standard operating position during the summer months. I rarely work from my basement shack.

I don't have any kids, but the XYL and my 13 year old yellow lab enjoy sitting out there with me. We use the general coverage module to find some Big Band music on AM to have dinner with. My only concern is that my dog is getting better at CW than I am ;-) 

I do love the size of the K3 for just this situation and I know it was one of your design considerations. You'll never see my complain about the size of this rig ;-)

So I say keep the tradition going - it is a great way to operate and enjoy the outdoors! And sounds like a good avenue to get your daughter interested.

73,
Dave W8FGU

------Original Message------
From: Wayne Burdick
Sender: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] KX1 Field Day fun
Sent: Jun 28, 2009 3:04 AM

I snuck in about an hour of FD operation late tonight, setting up camp  
in the back yard. The KX1 is perfect for this type of ad-hoc  
installation -- just toss a wire in a tree and plug in the attached  
keyer paddle. Signals were quite good, and I worked about 20 stations  
using 2 W (internal lithium AA battery pack). EU was pounding in on  
top of the FD activity. And on 30 m, FO and ZL were coming in. 30 m is  
a great band during FD for those who want to escape from it, at least  
briefly.

My daughter (age 10) came out in her PJ's to investigate. She was  
quite exited by all the signals and the red and white glow from the  
KX1's LED display and logbook lamp. My wife suggested that next year I  
the kids camping for FD and keep the tradition going....

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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