On Thu 26 Sep Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
Y'know, most of the DX I work is on dead bands, usually 20 meters
Yeah, QRP often has the best chance when the bands are dead. Once the
big guns get the idea that a band is open QRP can get quite difficult. I
was out on a SOTA summit yesterday with my KX3
I have a very early K2 that I use for field operations. It functions as an
emergency communication source for serious
backcountry trips (multi-day wilderness whitewater rafting, etc.). I am
finding that a power output of, say, 20W would be
desirable as a compromise between more reliable
Sorry no joy there Rick, but at least you had a nice day in the great outdoors.
My latest adventure was a QSO with a station in Japan on 20m yesterday (I'm
in VT with a KX3). I have to count countries, but after about a year and a half
of operating, I'm up to 150 or so. Still trying to reach
About 3 weeks ago, I learned about a new miracle antenna - I usually
dismiss such nonsense because there *is* no miracle antenna. However,
the person who informed me is a trusted, capable, educated ham and
DXpeditioner who is not easily impressed.
I still don't believe in miracles but this
On Thu 26 Sep Stephen Roberts wrote:
at least you had a nice day in the great outdoors.
which is at least half the point of activities like SOTA. It'd be
nice if the summits nearest to me were more interesting, but I'd have to
move house to make that the case.
My latest adventure was a
I have to add that my greatest pride as a ham is having DXCC and WAS with QRP
power. I am up to 175 countries (mostly with Elecraft gear) but i still enjoy
QRP despite having the ability now to transmit at the legal limit. One thing
that QRP operation teaches you is knowing when and what
QRP puts the onus on the receiving station.
No problem transmitting 5W.
73,
Rick W3BI
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 14:58:04 +
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
From: m0...@chocky.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] The Joy of QRP
On Thu 26 Sep Stephen Roberts wrote:
at least you had a nice
Go to: http://www.parelectronics.com/index.php
http://www.parelectronics.com/index.php and click on HF Omnis
Dale Parfitt (PAR) sold EndFedZ to LNR. Dale remains in business at PAR
Electronics mostly doing business with commercial, government and
military. I think that's where the
This moving to OT but interesting to a long-term JT65 user like me.
JT65 was designed for weak-signal communication, so the situations on
HF where strong signals are received might be a problem. I would
like to hear what Joe Taylor (K1JT) would say regarding this. I have
not used JT9 or
Before the KPA100 came out I experimented with the K2 to see if I could get more output to
drive an external amplifier.
There IS a way, but I am sure there are lots of dangers involved. I will say that I did
this for a month or so until I got my KPA100. I am not recommending it!
The K2 has a
How high was the 44' doublet?
How was it oriented compared to the Omni Angle antenna?
Is the doublet in inverted V or horizontal configuration?
I am finding this interesting because I am soon moving to an antenna-restricted
location.
On 9/26/2013 6:57 AM, stan levandowski wrote:
About 3
On 9/26/2013 12:37 AM, Rick M0LEP wrote:
Yeah, QRP often has the best chance when the bands are dead.
QRP can also be rewarding when the bands are full in a major contest.
DX contests scoring rules put west coast stations at a 10:1 disadvantage
to those around the Atlantic basin, so most of
Both the PAR omniangle and the doublet are excellent antennas.
The 44 ft doublet on 17 meters has a pattern with several sharp lobes, and its
gain will vary considerably depending upon which direction the signal is coming
from. In some directions it will be significantly better than the
I have a 44' doublet hanging from a tree in a near vertical orientation (steep
sloper) and it does very well. The bottom is about 8' off the ground and it's
maybe 20 deg. off vertical. Fed with ladder line with a BL2 at the K3 and the
KAT3; 40m-10m.
73,
Randy, KS4L
On Sep 26, 2013, at
Far more importantfor emergency communication is a reliable radio with
over a decade of testing behind it...you already have that. If you are
depending on SSB, you would be better off bringing along a key than
installing someones favoritepower tweak. Or look into SPOT gps and leave
the K2 at
In a world of bragging, this is all nothing
Last Sunday morning, I took my KX3 out. The antenna was thin wire attached
to a 23 ft fiberglass pole (2 ft collapsed, weight 1 lb) and one 15 ft
counterpoise. VK5HC was CQing at 579 on 30m. Many stations could not hear
him. I attached an external
Hi Vic. My 44' doublet is in my attic, arranged as a flat top for 24'
and then drooping straight down at both ends. The antenna is almost
exactly 30' above the earth. It is fed with 14' of 450 ohm ladder
line straight down through a slit in my ceiling and into a linen closet
where it meets
Stan,
Interesting. I did a quick EZNEC plot of the pattern of a 44' doublet (close to a full
wavelength) at 30' on 18.07 MHz and didn't see any deep nulls in the horizontal pattern.
But in the direction of Italy from NY it is down about 5 dB from the maximum gain in the
E-W direction. I
Vic, I don't know how to model. It's on my bucket list. However, my
personal opinion is that while modeling may give a general starting
point, all bets are off once the antenna - especially an indoor antenna
- is actually put in place. You've got a point about Italy not exactly
being west of
RF OUT:
Don't forget that the output filters are fixed-tuned for the impedance
expected when running 10 watts for decent efficiency and proper suppression
of the harmonics.
As a minimum you should re-design the output bandpass filters for each band
to match the changed impedance load needed by
On 9/26/2013 5:55 AM, Allan Taylor wrote:
Yes, I know this amounts
to only a dB or two. But it can be the edge needed in very marginal
conditions.
Sounds like quite a bit of effort for 1.155dB.
Second issue. The K2 has always been on the low side for RX audio.
Same problem for me and on
The reason is that the KAT500 has more coarse component values... the values
of capacitance for example are not as fine as on the K3. So the values on
the K3 sometimes cannot be duplicated on the KAT500.
-
Chuck, KE9UW
--
View this message in context:
Ron's comments about re-design of the output circuit are
spot on. The minuscule gain in output power simply isn't
worth the likely stress and/or harm to the K2. You say it's
used for emergency communications in the field. IMHO
this is -not- the place to abuse the radio.
The same thing seems to
Chuck wrote:
The reason is that the KAT500 has more coarse component values... the values
of capacitance for example are not as fine as on the K3. So the values on
the K3 sometimes cannot be duplicated on the KAT500.
Hi Chuck,
I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I can assure you that
About a hundred years ago, I pointed to a mark on the airspeed indicator
dial and asked my flight instructor, What's that for? He said, Don't
fly faster than that. When I asked him, What happens if I do?, he
replied, The wings come off. Design limits do matter.
Before I bought my KPA500, I
Allan,
You have received several replies, and most (if not all) said don't do
that.
I recommend that you keep the power on the K2 to 10 watts or less - that
is the design point. Above that, the IMD increases and the components
are stressed more than at the 10 watt level. Furthermore, the PA
I've been toying with the idea of outfitting my KAT-500 with a new K3! The
KAT-500 being the only Elecraft product I own right now is getting lonely
and needs a playmate.
All humor aside, my search of this group hasn't found what I'm looking to
find out. I occasionally use PSK31 but I use JT65
Hi Greg,
The K3 is the most digital friendly rig you can get! You are right - you just
hook up the AUDIO OUT and AUDIO IN on the back of the K3 to the opposite LINE IN/MIC
and LINE OUT/HEADPHONES of your computer sound card. The PTT can be controlled via
the RS232 cable from your computer
And you have another QRO option available soon: The KXPA100 100 watt amp.
Although designed to integrate very closely with the KX3, it is a great
general purpose 100 watt amplifier for use with almost any 160-6 meter rig.
It needs about 5 watts of drive to produce 100 watts output.
Of course,
Mike you may want to look over this link for some ideas... THANKS for your
order!
Scott AK6Q
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KX3/photos/album/2101327557/pic/list
From: Mike Herr [via Elecraft] ml-node+s365791n7579252...@n2.nabble.com
To: KD6QZX
Hi Greg,
I do a ton of digital with my (new) K3 so I figure I could chime in with
what my setup is since yours will probably be really close.
I have a Griffin iMic USB sound-card dongle. They are cheap, supported by
everyone (Generic USB Audio) and its small/lightweight. From that, I have
the
I have been operating my K3 mostly in digital mode for about 3
years. I use the VOX to key the rig. It has worked so well that
I haven't had the urge to make a new cable to connect my
SignaLink USB's keying output to the rig. YMMV
Note that all the digital modes I know of only vary the
i hat the same behavior on my KAT500 - could not tune what K3 and KX3 could
tune...
i had a wrong capassitor on wrong place in the L C Network
Dick Divendorf sent me the cap infos and bingo... after build in right cap
tuning of KAT500 was same as k3
73
klaus
oe6kyg
On 9/26/2013 6:31 PM, Lance Collister, W7GJ wrote:
The K3 is the most digital friendly rig you can get!
Indeed it is. I've operated a LOT of AFSK RTTY, and a fair amount of
JT65, FSK441, and ISCAT.
About the only thing I would add between the computer and the K3 is a
decent USB sound
Ron and All,
I think Ron's cautionary comments are right on! I remember a number of
years back when the Kenwood TS-50 first came out. It didn't take long for
the tinkerers to realize that the output transistors in that rig were very
conservatively rated. It was often stated that they could
What software are people using for the JT65 mode? I would like to
possibly start tinkering with JT65 and have WSJT9 installed. There do
not seem to be any options for using CAT to key the K3. I see an option
for a PTT port and buttons for selecting DTR or RTS. I already have an
RS-232 cable
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