[Elecraft] KX-2 wish list

[stan levandowski]

..so there I am, in the garage, late afternoon two days ago, with the 
newly homebrewed 20M mag loop sitting in an umbrella stand about 18 
inches off the concrete floor.  It was threatening to rain and I didn't 
want to put it outside.  Pretuned the loop with my antenna analyzer for 
the low end of 20M.  Now I need something to transmit with. 
Quick....run upstairs, grab the KX1 and a headset and run back down to 
the garage!

There were 8 fresh "AA" batteries in the KX1 with 1.4 watts going out 
according to the KX1 display. 20M sounds open and pretty hot! Let's try. 
Standing in the garage, a few feet from the loop, with the KX1 in my 
left hand, I worked Illinois, Indiana, Guayama, P.R., and St. 
Petersburg, Russia (UA1CE)  from here in NY.

..and if the band wasn't "open" then I doubt that even a hundred watts 
would have been enough power.  With QRP, timing is everything, in my 
opinion and experience.

Just my opinion, of course, but there are two radios that Elecraft 
should never mess with - the K2 that launched them and the KX1 which is 
the premier QRP ultra-portable.

For those who may not be familiar with it, there is a SDR in Atlanta, GA 
- WB4MAK ( http://www.websdr.org/ ).  Log on and  "tune" the SDR to your 
transmitting frequency, plug a recorder into your computer's earphone 
jack, and record yourself calling "CQ" at 15 or 20 watts.  Then do it at 
10 watts; then at 5 watts, etc.  You'll certainly notice a difference in 
signal strength but you might be surprised at how little that difference 
is.

The KX1 - in my opinion - has just the right amount of compromise 
between form and feature.  If the KX1 were enhanced to higher power, a 
more powerful and longer lasting power source, and a few extra options 
such as noise blanker and upgraded filtering.......then it would 
approximate the K2 which already has 15 watts, options galore, and a 
hefty battery alternative.

It seems like it would be a pretty weak business case to insert a 
product between the "barebones" KX1 and a "barefoot" K2.

At least that's my opinion.

Stan Levandowski WB2LQF
HF QRP CW -- Doing more with less for over 50 years!
QCWA #35038   OOTC #4558   NAQCC #4740   SKCC #6488   FISTS #14992