[Elecraft] Could this operate on a motorcycle?

Sun May 4 18:51:19 EDT 2014

as they say "oops"  -- forgot to do the reply all.  Sorry about that.

KK4QDZ - Now with Extra Class Priv's, and a tiny KX3 to enjoy them!

________________________________
From: Bill Blomgren (kk4qdz) <billblomgren at yahoo.com>
To: rgconner <rgconner at gmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2014 6:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Could this operate on a motorcycle?

Sticking to 6 meters, you might have a chance.  Antennas will be over a meter tall, and a ground plane will be a problem.

That said, my experiences with 11 meters was 'iffy' --- even with a huge antenna on a large spring.  (Having to ride through a florida thunderstorm, you really don't want a pointy metalic object trying to attract millions of volts and hundreds of thousands of amps, so in rain in Fla, the antenna was bent over under my arm and hooked under a hook on the motor guards to keep it out of the way of lightning...)

Then again, that was back in the dark ages of the first year of the 'wing, when it was a 1000 cc 4 cyl, and had no reverse or wet bar....

KK4QDZ - Now with Extra Class Priv's, and a tiny KX3 to enjoy them!

________________________________
From: rgconner <rgconner at gmail.com>
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2014 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Could this operate on a motorcycle?

Well, there is no reply all, just reply, and I am replying to the mailing
list, so I don't know what else I can do.

And yes, it is going to require an investment for everyone to go to 6m.
But... the serious HAMs that have helped provide this solution already run
6m, and the cost is rather incremental if you are riding a $30K Goldwing,
K1600 or HD bike.
Even on my F700GS, we are talking my cost in tires every year to buy this
radio and a 6Db antenna.

So, please, don't add limitations I have not stated.

Now, someone stated somewhere that 6m is hard to keep attenuated, and that
might be a deal killer. Maybe 10w vas 5w is not worth the gain. Maybe 25w is
the floor.

Again, with all the praise for this unit, it seems odd it is such a wall
flower. *shrug*

When I talked to the techs at the office, they seemed to think it would be
ok, but then they are selling it, they are not going to say it can't do the
job unless it is going to damage their rep if it breaks.

Considering the almost 100% against, I think most people's reaction to a
"bad review" if it failed on a MC would be "dumbass"

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