Steve, You've gotten a lot of great replies. I've got 2 K3/100s here but I rarely run either of them over 50W, more often 10W or below SSB and CW (I'm still working on getting proficient with CW but I am trying!). I dabble a bit with PSK and that I run 4-5W. A good (or even moderately good) antenna will make up for a lack of power. More often than not, some of the bigger guns with their big antennas will be able to pull a QRP station out fairly easily. I would suggest that you get the K3/10 with the built-in ATU - I'm sure there are better ATUs out there, but I've been quite successful tuning most anything I can hook up to the radio. The only thing I've found I really can't tune is an ocf dipole cut for 80M on 160M - I resort to a manual MFJ for that!
Welcome back to the hobby, I was out for a very long time and sort of jumped in with both feet but I'm having a great time of it. 73 and hope to cu on the air, Chuck - AA3CS On 16 May 2011, at 12:12, Steve Coates wrote: > With Hamvention this week I am thinking it is time to get an HF rig. I > have been out of radio for a good number of years and looking to get > back in. With the money limits I have the 10w K3 would be the only > option and I would add features as funds were available. > > I understand the technical differences between 100w and 10w but I am > looking for input on the practical side of things. What should I > expect when running 10w? My CW is so rusty I really can't go there > right away, so I would be most interested in digital modes and SSB. > > I will have some kind of multi-band dipole for an antenna. > > Steve > N8JAF > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
