[Elecraft] re Elecraft KX3 and the CW160

[Dave Sublette]

A friend sent me the post about this and so I thought I would join the group and post my experience.  I have had a KX3 for two or three years.  I replaced one of the high end rigs with it and am very pleased with the results.  I have a full quarter wave elevated ground plane antenna for 160.  I’ve had it up for 27 years.  It is made from Rohn 45 with a Rohn insulator broadcast section inserted so the insulators are 27 feet above ground. There are 14 sections plus a short base and short flat top section.  The antenna is tuned with a 14 foot piece of 4 inch irrigation pipe out the top, which is adjustable.  The over all height of the antenna is 150 feet. At the 27 foot level there are 7 full quarter wave radials.  There were eight, but one broke and is in the woods somewhere and I can’t find it.  The radials droop to 10 feet above ground at the perimeter.  It doesn’t hurt that I live on a ridge which is the highest point in the county and my QTH is 300 feet or so above average terrain for 30 miles in every direction.

The antenna is excellent.  I don’t own an amplifier for any HF band.  I work everything I hear and I hear lots. I have worked JA and VK/ZL with 100 watts on 160.

This year I decided to try QRP, 5 watts.  I operated ten hours, just tuning to stations and calling them.  They usually came back on the first call.  I worked as far East as CN2 in Morocco and west to KH6.  I made 250+ QSOs and 58 multipliers.  From what I saw on the CQ160 scores page before they took it down, I had a top ten in NA and top 25 world score.  Maybe next year I will make a serious effort. All depends on how I feel.  My health is great.  My motivation is lacking after 60 years on the air and more contests and DX QSOs than I can count.

I run the attenuator on receive all the time. I leave the RF gain all the way up.  I turn the Bandwidth down to 100 or 150 hz and seldom have noise or QRM problems. The receiver is the best I have ever owned. I think back to my first receiver, a dual triode super regen that heard the entire 80M novice band without touching the tuning and I think “We’ve come a long way, baby!!”

73 all,

Dave, K4TO