Never mind the FT818, bring on the KX3!

Someone has reminded me that Elecraft pre-launched their new "trail-friendly" all mode QRP rig at the Dayton Convention recently. This will be a VERY sophisticated and well equipped small portable transceiver covering 160-6m with some truly astounding features. See http://www.elecraft.com/KX3/kx3.htm . Don't expect to see it much before Christmas 2011 or later.

The Elecraft KX3 Ultra-portable multimode QRP rig

There is much excitement about the latest product from Elecraft, the KX3. This was announced at Dayton and it looks like a marvellous addition to the Elecraft range. See http://www.elecraft.com .

500kHz with the Elecraft K3

On the Elecraft website I see there is an article showing how to use the K3 transceiver on 500kHz. The K3 will receive on 500kHz but needs an external PA (described) to get around 25W output. See http://www.elecraft.com/TechNotes/k3qtx_v2_pa3cw.pdf

Elecraft K1 stand idea

Someone was asking about a stand to angle the Elecraft K1 transceiver at a suitable angle on the operating desk. A commercial version is available, but I found a simpler solution: two large rubber feet at the front and two small ones at the back. This angles the rig up about 10-20 degrees and is perfect for operating on a desk.

40m CW with the Elecraft K1

This evening, for a change, I fired up my little Elecraft K1 4 band QRP CW transceiver that I built a few years ago. Not much doing on 20m or 30m so I went on 40m CW and worked a few stations around Europe. Worst report was 559 and the best 599. It was a change from 500kHz WSPR.

10m/40m WSPR

This afternoon, for a change, I've been putting out a signal on 10m WSPR as my vertical on 500kHz can be resonated on 28MHz using the Elecraft auto-ATU. So far nothing heard here and no reports.

All was quiet so I moved to 40m where instant reports at 5W, then 500mW, from all over Europe. Now testing at 50mW output.

QRP - 4 continents today

After a slow start to the year because of family commitments, today saw some QRP CW contacts around the world. These included RV6HA, HB9ANJ, 7X4AN and KA2MGI with QSOs on 14MHz or 7MHz.

With the Elecraft K1 with internal ATU and the random 15m wire strung down the garden I can usually work most of the stations I hear as long as they are not buried in a huge DX pile-up. CW is a very effective mode especially if you are like me and have a simple, unobtrusive wire antenna rather than a huge beam on a large tower.

Elecraft K1

This morning I fired up my Elecraft K1 CW transceiver not having used it for some time. It is such a good little rig. Mine has the 4 band unit and internal ATU option and covers 40, 30, 20 and 15m. The filtering is excellent and the user interface good as long as you can remember the menu system, which I forget often when I don't use the rig for a time.

Within a few minutes of connecting the end-fed wire about 15m long into the back of the rig I had 5 QSOs in the log on 40 and 15m. It is such a perfect CW rig.

More details see the Elecraft website http://www.elecraft.com