Well, the kit sure doesn't cost too much extra to add and you get to
solder some more, so those are a couple of benefits right off. The
separate Rx port was also intriguing to me and while I haven't used it
yet on my fairly new K2 I would be interested in trying it with a
magnetically shielded loop or someday when I have more space again some
Beverages.
I wouldn't say that I am currently antenna limited, though, as I do have
a Carolina Windom 160 up about 40 to 45 feet. It has worked quite
well. I've always found that even with 100W on 160m I felt like I was
QRP as so many folk are running KW+ on the top band. I've been told not
to bother with 160m when I was trying to answer somebody's CQ (he was
running a KW and I had my standard 100W) and he couldn't hear me very
well. I mean, some folk there are just plain rude, maybe not as rude as
some on 75m or so on but sure enough, rudeness isn't limited anywhere
that I've found. With all of that "bad experience" I still decided to
install the 160m module.
I figured maybe at least I can listen. Well, my first night out with it
I tried it out on Tx as well, just 5W CW. Have worked several states so
far, almost every time I've spend a few minutes calling CQ on 1810 kHz
somebody comes back to me (usually running nearly 100W). Had a nice
2x599 QSO with a guy in Alexandria, Virginia last night (I live in
Allentown, PA, so no great shakes, but was nice anyway). My favorite
QSO of all so far was with a station in Greece! I could only give him a
559 even though he was running about 800W I think, but he gave me a
569! How did he do that? His Rx was with a 1000' long Beverage (one of
four) pointed at USA. Also, he claimed band conditions were quite good
that night. I'll tell you, if you made just one contact like that it
would be worth the price and effort to install! Every time I make a QSO
on 160m while QRP I'm always amazed.
Also, with a compromised antenna situation when I was a kid living in
Michigan in the mid-80s one night I heard a big pileup on the Marshall
Islands. Well, I didn't bother trying to bust the pileup running 100W
and a poor antenna, but I tuned around a bit figuring maybe other
stations from that area would be active as well and maybe easier to get
since there were so many stations in the pileup. I was right! First
worked KH6VT in Hawaii, got him on about the 2nd or 3rd call. Then I
heard a station that I had no idea where they were but I remembered the
advice from my Elmer "Work 'em first, worry about 'em later." The
callsign was UV1OO. Turns out they were on Franz Josef Land in the
Arctic Sea. Imagine, the band being open to the Pacific and completely
opposite direction to the Arctic areas as well, simultaneously! Rather
than tuning around to see what else I might find I just shut the rig
down and went to bed happy that night!
160 is truly amazing, give it a shot.
Mark, NK8Q
K2 4786
William E. Twaddell wrote:
I would like to hear some comentary about addimg 160 to my K2.
I have never worked 160 because of the severe antenna requirements.
What does the reflector think?
tnx
73
Bill
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