[Elecraft] Backpacking a K1?

[Mike Morrow]

John wrote:

> Being new to the QRP universe, I was wondering how backpackable a K1
> is and if anyone does it.

The K1 is one of the best backpacking rigs that has ever existed.  I've
owned one for almost 11 years.  Backpacking or day hike use was the
reason I purchased one.  The KX1 has somewhat displaced the K1 for that
purpose, but as I outlined in a post I made on 11 April 2011 at

 http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/elecraft/2011-April/147873.html

there are good reasons to prefer the K1 as THE best choice when ham
CW band RF performance, even when out in the boonies, is an important
factor.  Most notable, the K1 is capable of 15-meter operation, but
the KX1 is not.

When buying a new K1, there are two important options that should be
exercised:
(1)  Get the LCD backlight option.  This is trivial to install when the
     K1 is being built, but a *real* aggravation to backfit afterwards.
     It's very much worth the money.
(2)  Get the four-band filter board.  Its band-pass filtering is better
     than that of the two-band filter board, plus it more than doubles
     the utility of the K1.

I made another posting later that month that addressed batteries for
backpacking and the current consumption of the K1 at various power
levels:

 http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/elecraft/2011-April/148720.html

If you are interested, I can send a pdf-file describing the multi-band
dipole that I use with my K1 (or other rigs) at camp sites.

Only the recently-announced but unavailable KX3 will have any chance of
displacing my old K1 as my favorite outdoors QRP rig, at least sometimes.

73,
Mike / KK5F
K1 SN 175 (November 2000)