[Elecraft] TX5K - Managing with inexpensive hardware

[Bayard Coolidge]

At this point (0200Z on 8 March), I'm up to 9 contacts, from 30 to 10m, on all 3 modes -
in fact, I just worked them on 30m RTTY a few minutes ago.

I wouldn't consider a K3 "inexpensive hardware", but in the spirit of the discussion, I'll
state that I don't have an amplifier, nor a tower, nor a beam. My antenna is a 20m quarter-wave
vertical (16ft/5m high), with a 40ft/12m wire strung from its tip to an avocado tree branch at
about 8ft/2.5m above ground. Technically, it's an Inverted-L, fed with about 50ft/30m of
RG-8X straight into the shack to the KAT3. There are two quarter-wave radials for each band
strung in the sand, and the base of the antenna is supported by a four foot (1.25m) steel fence
post buried in the ground (which is very sandy). HASL is 8ft/2.5m. 24kV power lines are
60 feet away in one direction and 95 feet in another.

I also snagged XT2TT the other day on 12 CW.

So, yes, it's an awesome rig - it hears well, and it works well, once the operator figures it all out!

Bayard R. "Brandy" Coolidge, N1HO
Lighthouse Point, FL (DX to TX5K = 2250mi, according to RUMlog)


________________________________
 From: "Rick McClelland, AA5S" <aa5s.rick at gmail.com>
To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2013 8:11 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] TX5K - Managing with inexpensive hardware
 
Something that should be heartening for the less well-heeled amongst us (it
certainly was to me), I was able to work TX5K on five bands with a Flex
1500, a very inexpensive second-hand RM Italy HLA-150v amplifier and a
single wire antenna.  The beams and K3/KPA500 combos are nice to have for
these types of events but aren't absolutely necessary.  Of course, one
might suggest that all this success would have been quite impossible had I
not employed an Elecraft KAT500 tuner to make things right with my signal
:-)

Still chasing Jim, K9YC, for those little green boxes, though.  Apparently,
he doesn't sleep much.

-- 
Rick McClelland, AA5S
Fort Collins, CO