[Elecraft] K2/K3 Operating Tip: Using SCAN to keep an eye on your favorite (too-quiet) band

[Wayne Burdick]

When I was a teenage novice in the early 1970's, armed only with a  
Heathkit HW-16, 15 meters became my favorite band. It was a reliable  
source of DX contacts even when my entire antenna system was a  
multiband inverted-V a few feet off the roof.

15 m, as well as the other "high" HF bands (12 m, 10 m), can be  
sparsely populated at times, even when they're open. In the old days  
that meant tuning the VFO up and down, searching endlessly. But the K2  
and K3 have a SCAN feature that lets the radio do the work, while you  
answer email, work on homebrew projects, clean up the shack, etc.

I was reminded of this about half an hour ago. A quick check of 15 m  
revealed no signals, so I set up a background (muted) scan from  
21.000-21.060 on the K3. A few minutes later the scan stopped at  
21.026, where PJ2/KE1B was calling CQ. Since he had just started  
calling, there was no pileup, and I made the QSO on one call.

For scanning instructions, see page 40 of the K3 owner's manual or  
page 103 of the K2 manual.

Let me know what pops up.

73,
Wayne
N6KR