[Elecraft] W9OY on P3

[Matt Zilmer]

Hear, hear!

Julian, I just joined up with MARS - our Military Auxiliary Radio
System in the US.  One of the objectives I have (now, reinforced by
MARS) is to be able to pack up the station and go where needed.  Of
course this also applies to contesting, mobile ops, emergencies, etc.

A standalone rig is vital to the objective above.  And not having to
do more than plug in cables is equally important, because it seems
like set up time may be short.  So far, I've been able to tear down
the station and set it up after travel in record time.  Something less
than 30 minutes at each end, neglecting far-end antenna set up time.

Simply put, I've never been so pleased with a 10 pound box in my life.
That Elecraft slogan, "You can take it with you", to me, has become
almost everything of importance.  [True, this is a recent
development...]  All of the station fits into a large gym bag, plus a
Pelican-like carry case.  All of it, even stuff for data modes.

It's also important for this type of operation to not have a PC or any
similarly complicated piece of equipment get in the way of operating
once the station is set up.  I've never had to wait long for the K3 to
boot up, it's never blue-screened on me, and it doesn't scream at me
for security updates.  That is a tactical advantage that no PC-based
solution could ever provide.

I'm not trying to say that Flex (or whatever competition the K3 has)
is not a good solution.  It may be for a different setting, or the
designers had different goals, etc.  But if your interests run to
portable operation, quick set ups and tear downs, and so on, the K3 is
a better choice.

Just my thoughts on the subject.  I have no financial relationship
with Elecraft, except the part where I pay them for new bits on K3
#24.

73,
matt W6NIA



>I found it rather amusing that the bulk of this post, many paragraphs,
>contained a description of setting up a Flex station for portable use. It
>involved installing the .Net framework, installing drivers, configuring
>buffers, recalibrating the radio, installing a virtual audio cable and
>virtual serial port. Someone using a K3 would probably have got 200 contacts
>in the log by that point. I don't think it was intentional, but to me he
>just made the case for why so many of us prefer the Elecraft approach.
>
>-----
>Julian, G4ILO