[Elecraft] KX1 ?'s

[FredJensen]

On 10/15/2011 7:01 PM, George Winship, NC5G wrote:
> Finally got all the options done on my new KX1 and am enjoying this amazing
> little radio. But I have a question or two.
>
> 1. On 20 meters only I am hearing a lot of birdies as I tune through the
> band. Is this normal or what should I look for?
For a KX1 a few hundred miles from civilization, no.  Today, close to 
civilization, practically everything radiates something.  You may be 
hearing Ethernet trash from your or your neighbor's.  Local oscillators 
in wi-fi routers, monitors, you name it, and a lot of it seems to 
concentrate in the 10 - 20 MHz range.  Short the BNC connecter securely 
with as little wire as you can and see if you still hear the signals.  I 
host the neighborhood wireless RAP at the top of my tower in return for 
free internet.  I hear some birdies from it, I know where they are, and 
I've learned to ignore them.
>
> 2. OH NO, not another antenna ? HI! I am wanting to put up a wire ant. of
> some kind to hopefully cover all four bands. This ant is so that I can be
> "Lazy Boy" mobile in the house. It is about 18ft to the nearest window from
> the chair. I am thinking that it will have to be coax fed or at least coax
> to the window and then a balun and balanced line or balun and wire from
> there. I will need to be able to roll the feed line up and out of sight when
> not using the radio to satisfy the HOA(xyl). Any ideas?
If it is conductive and you feed RF energy into it, it will radiate.  
See James C. Maxwell [1831 - 1879] .  Tom, N6BT [of Force12 Fame] 
pointed this out by working WAC on a light bulb.  He says, "Everything 
Works."  That it works is not the question, how efficiently it works, 
is.  Antennas are magic however, lots of what is happening with and 
around them is pretty much invisible, so fool around.  Hopefully you 
have the KX1 autotuner, it will match a wide range of impedances, if no 
one hears you, you can always try a light bulb. :-)  Antennas are 
becoming one of the last places hams with normal electronic means can 
experiment and build.
> 3. Just to be sure, it is not necessary to remove batteries when using a PS.
> Is that correct?

Yes, correct.  The KX1 will take power from the source with the highest 
voltage.

73,

Fred K6DGW
Finally saw the KX3 at Pacificon today, the little paddle on the front 
is really cool!  Didn't get much chance to do much else with it, big crowd.