[Elecraft] Dayton purchase - KX1 or K2?

[The Smiths]

I find that the KX1 fits very nicely in a small bag for travel.  Also, the way the antenna tuner matches pretty much anything thrown up into a tree (one side) and the other just laying on the ground is very impressive.  

If you want SSB I guess your decision has already been made.  As for me, I'm all CW, so when I travel I borrow my friends KX1, until I get a chance to buy and build my own.  Last time I went to the Philippines I was able to work over 12 countries including Russia all on 2 watts and a 28 foot long piece of wire connected to a fishing weight that I just tossed up into a coconut tree!  That's plenty good enough for me!

 


 
> Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 19:19:07 -0700
> From: kc8qvo at yahoo.com
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Elecraft] Dayton purchase - KX1 or K2?
> 
> Well this is the question: get a KX1 or a K2 at Dayton? 
>  
> I had set my mind on a KX1. I have used one before and was very surprised with the performance over all my other HF radios. However, the more I think about it the more I think a K2 might be better. 
>  
> One of my other large hobbies is backpacking. I usually take an FT-857D, 12Ah SLA, and jumper dipole with me. This has provided a lot of fun sitting around the camp fire on HF. 
>  
> My ultimate goal, after experiencing the performance of the KX1, is to get a receiver in the main shack that is that good. I would be happy with "that good" but "even better" would be, well, even better! 
>  
> The way I see the K2 is this: I can build it as a 15w rig with SSB for a fantastic voice/cw portable radio that is good on batteries (better than my FT-857D in the field). Batteries can even go inside the case - decreasing my pack bulk over my current setup with the FT-857D and battery. I can add a 100w amp for the shack and traveling where power isn't an issue. Then I wouldn't be "lacking" any performance over my other HF radios (on the TX side, any way you slice it the RX side will be 100 times better).
>  
> The KX1 is a fantastic and very fun radio to operate, but it is limited to 4 bands and CW only (TX). It is extremely compact and light though, which there just aren't any other radios out there that touch this class of performance in such a size of package.
>  
> Decisions decisions... The K2 also costs more - I will have over 3x the price of a KX1 in it, although I can spread it out a bit after the initial burn HIHI. It will be roughly $900 for the K2, K160RX, and KSB2 then $400 for the KX1. That is, of course, unless there is a big Dayton discount (unlikely I think). 
>  
> Any thoughts from the crowd here? 
>  
> Steve, KC8QVO
> 
> 
> 
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