[Elecraft] K2 still a viable portable contest station?

[Paul Gacek]

I’m heading down to Costa Rica tomorrow with a couple of friends to participate in the ARRL DX Phone contest.

Last year we took my KX3/PX3/KXPA100 combo and were pretty happy all round with it (the KXPA100 did seem to get upset periodically which always happened when I was off shift, resulting in me being rudely awakened…). 

The station has evolved a bit and in addition to my KX3/PX3/KXPA100 combo we will have a K3. One big attraction of the K3 is its RX antenna port so we can use a K9AY RX antenna.

While the K3 is unlikely to be a permanent fixture of my portable station going forward I’m curious about people’s perspective of the efficacy and viability of a K2/100 with the 160m/RX port option as a station in a contest (I have the DSP option too).

I’ve seen the Sherwood data etc and I know the KX3/K3 are “better” radios but we are a 100 watt low power station with a variety of antennas (Buddipole, OCFs, Hexbeam etc) and maybe the K2/100 to all intents and purposes is good enough such that we essentially nab as many stations as the K3 would with the same antennas.

Any feedback is welcome.

Paul W6PNG/M0SNA
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