[Elecraft] K-Pods and Contests

[Randy Farmer]

I installed a new K-Pod on my primary station just before undertaking a 
serious effort in Sweepstakes CW. This addition to the station proved to 
be extremely useful.

In a CW contest like SS there are always quite a few people who have 
trouble calling on frequency, especially the casual participants who 
make up the bulk of the QSOs on Sunday. When I'm running I normally put 
the K3 in Split mode, transmitting on VFO B and receiving on VFO A. This 
setup makes it much easier to use the big knob to tune in the 
off-frequency guys rather than the tiny RIT/XIT knob. But... it still 
means I'm constantly having to take one hand off the keyboard and reach 
over to tune the radio. Doing this a few hundred times in the course of 
a 24 hour contest effort can be pretty tiring. This time I put the K-Pod 
right next to the keyboard, so that the only motion necessary was to 
move my hand a couple of inches to do the tuning. The reduction in 
fatigue by the end of the contest was quite noticeable.

I only got the K-Pod a couple of days before SS CW, so I didn't have 
time to set up the radio macros to take full advantage of the macro 
buttons. Immediately after the contest I did two things: 1. I set up 
macros to toggle Split mode, XIT on/off and Diversity on/off in both my 
K3s; and 2. Ordered another K-Pod for the second radio.

When SS SSB rolled around I had both radios ready to go. I'm an 
extremely reluctant phone operator, so I only operated for a limited 
time on Sunday. Having the K-Pods for each radio, one on either side of 
the keyboard, made it a piece of cake to do two-radio Search & Pounce. 
Now I'm looking forward to CQWW CW this weekend to really give them a 
workout.

These things rock! If you're a K3 contester you really need one (or two).

73...
Randy, W8FN