[Elecraft] VFO tuning range of 150Khz

[Mike Morrow]

> I've had a couple of K1's but I am actually constructing my first one from a
> kit. I need to decide whether to set the VFO range to 80 or 150Khz. I am
> leaning toward the 150Khz because occasionally I like to go up to the slow
> speed CW portion of 40 (7.110-7.125 Mhz) and also because it would be nice
> to receive WWV at 10Mhz. Every K1 I've had to date has been set for the
> narrower tuning range.

I have used the "150 kHz" option on my K1 for more than 11 years.  I like it
very much, for the more complete coverage that you mention, and also for the
possibility of cross-mode (Morse vs. LSB) contacts on 40m.  That is possible
because the "normal" K1 (which uses a filter board set for high-side mixer
LO injection) receives in LSB mode.

You will actually get a VFO span of 170 to 180 kHz instead of 150 kHz.  The
10-turn potentiometer tuning is fairly linear since R19 was added to the
design ten years ago.  That 17 kHz per turn is not all that fast or touchy.
What *is* touchy is the potentiometer itself, which has very little resistance
to rotary displacement as one's fingers leave the tuning knob.  I uses a few
layers of thin soft felt hand-cut to form washers between the panel and the
back of the tuning knob to establish some barely perceptible resistance.

Those that have rolled their own 10m and 12m filter boards report that the
wide-span option is a plus for that as well.

I like the K1.  Today and most days now, 15m is great (eat your heart out,
KX1 owners).  The standard built-in speaker sounds great (sorry again, KX1).
The auto tuner has fairly good range (sorry again, KX1).  The receive current
consumption (with back light) is little greater than 60 mA (sorry KX3 owners).

If you did not buy the LCD backlight option and you have not assembled the
front panel board yet...then stop and get one!  It's extremely useful and
trivial to install as part of building the front panel board, but it's an
aggravating and troublesome item to back-fit afterwards.  The K1 really
should be ***standard*** with every K1 sold.

I hate to emphasize the auto antenna tuners, though.  They have become
standard items on all Elecraft rigs, and almost everyone here treats
them as *nothing but positive* in characteristic when used to match
some coat-hanger fed with dental floss.  But ALL antenna tuners (especially
one made up of small toroids and 26 ga. wire!) insert losses.  The better
one's antenna system can minimize the reactances inserted by a tuner the
better the station will perform.  Sorry...that's just an inconvenient
truth for those lulled by the magic of a match-everything auto-tuner.
Some have difficulty even acknowledging that there is very good engineering
justification for using resonant antenna systems served by coax, even
under portable conditions.

73,
Mike / KK5F