[Elecraft] New ham and the KX3

[Jack]

Ethan is right, 6 and 10-meters are fun!

One thing to remember, Sean, 6-meters can, and does, open almost 
anytime, especially when we have occurrences of solar flares. I operated 
from Ecuador last year and worked many US stations running the K3, at 
100 watts, and a one-wavelength loop antenna. These typical Spring-time 
trans-equatorial openings were good enough that a power level of 10 
watts would have allowed me to work more than 80% of the stations. A 
large number of stations worked were in Florida so you are nicely 
located for such openings.

You can put up decent temporary antennas for 6, like the one wavelength 
loop, pretty easily since the antennas will be relatively small. My loop 
was made of whatever wire was available at the hardware store at El 
Paseo Shopping Center in Santa Elena and 1/2-inch PVC pipe. And, as an 
additional advantage, the antenna tuner on the K3 was able to tune the 
loop for use on 10-meters, too. I'm sure the KX3 tuner will do the same.

Six meters is known as "the magic band" for good reason and, since you 
already have your Tech license, you can partake of the fun right away!

73,

Jack, W6Nf/VE4SNA/HC2UA/P40NF

On 2/26/2014 3:47 AM, Ethan Miller K8GU wrote:
> Sean,
>
> Welcome to ham radio!
>
> <snip>
>
> 1. 6m and 10m are fun bands, but they aren't open a whole lot of the
> time, all things considered.  We're on the declining side of a
> relatively weak solar maximum right now.  So, 10m has been open during
> the day a lot.  Moving toward (northern) summer, we'll start seeing
> some sporadic-E.  I don't expect to have daily F2 (read: "good DX
> propagation") on 10m again after this winter.
> <Snip>
>
> --Ethan, K8GU/3.
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 7:23 PM, Sean Wall <seancwall at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I recently got my Technician license and I'm working on my General and Extra.  I'm looking to get my first rig and I'm interested in the KX3. I was considering pairing it with a Buddipole antenna, as my development doesn't allow permanent antennas.  While I use the KX3 at home, will I get decent range with the 10 watt output?  In other words, would I need the 100 watt amp to make the kx3 a decent base station?  I am also planning on bringing the KX3 with me when my wife and I drive up north from Florida (where we live).  Since I'm new to amateur radio, I don't yet have a feel for how much power 10 watts is w.r.t. RF frequencies.  I plan on operating mostly 6 and 10 m initially until I upgrade my license.  Thanks for any help you can provide!
>>
>> -Sean
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
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