well, the naysayers have convinced me, the Elecraft is not the radio for me for this application, and this is the application I need to solve first. A home station is a year or two away, if ever.
I will just have to find a vendor that has a product that does what I need, pity it is not this one. On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Don Wilhelm <[email protected]> wrote: > The KX3 (or any other Elecraft transceiver) is not as fragile as some in > this thread would imply. It is actually has a rather sturdy enclosure, and > the SMD boards are much more sturdy than thru-hole electronics. Put it in > a good mount and it will survive on the handlebars of those motorcycles > that you quoted. It might have a rough time on a dirt bike, but that is > another situation entirely - you are talking of comfortable riding bikes, > some even rivaling the smooth ride of a 4 wheeled luxury vehicle. > > I do think your power level may be the limiting factor, especially if you > are riding in terrain with deep valleys and canyons where communications > may be challenging. You can depend on only 5 watts from the KX3 because if > it is in strong direct sunlight and gets hot, the power will throttle back > to 5 watts. If you can keep it in the shade, then you can depend on 10 > watts. > > Since the safety and well-being of everyone in your group is of utmost > concern here, I would suggest 25 watts as your power goal unless you have > tested 5 or 10 watts on 6 meters (or 10 meters) under the most difficult > situations you are likely to encounter. > > Having HF capability can solve many problems for communications from > canyons and other places where 6 meter/VHF communications will not be > reliable. 80 meters and a low dipole will provide you communications in > most cases, but that means getting off the bike and putting up that 80 > meter dipole, so I don't think that is your main focus (except possibly in > extreme emergency situations). I would recommend that you look into a 6 > meter (or 10 meter) transceiver with 25 to 50 watts output for reliable > communications under the conditions that you have stated. > > I would think that an HF transceiver like the KX3 would be a great choice > for HF operation in camp at night, but for the terrain that you describe it > may not be the best choice for your in-route communications. > > OTOH, if you have tried the CB band with 5 watt transceivers and it works > OK except for the 'yahoos', the KX3 at 5 watts on either 10 meters or 6 > meters may do the job fine for you. > > 73, > Don W3FPR > > PS: your "reply", Reply All" problems come from Nabble. Move over to the > main Elecraft reflector with a computer email client (or even webmail), and > those problems will go away. > > > > On 5/4/2014 6:28 PM, rgconner wrote: > >> Well, there is no reply all, just reply, and I am replying to the mailing >> list, so I don't know what else I can do. >> >> And yes, it is going to require an investment for everyone to go to 6m. >> But... the serious HAMs that have helped provide this solution already run >> 6m, and the cost is rather incremental if you are riding a $30K Goldwing, >> K1600 or HD bike. >> Even on my F700GS, we are talking my cost in tires every year to buy this >> radio and a 6Db antenna. >> >> So, please, don't add limitations I have not stated. >> >> Now, someone stated somewhere that 6m is hard to keep attenuated, and that >> might be a deal killer. Maybe 10w vas 5w is not worth the gain. Maybe 25w >> is >> the floor. >> >> Again, with all the praise for this unit, it seems odd it is such a wall >> flower. *shrug* >> >> When I talked to the techs at the office, they seemed to think it would be >> ok, but then they are selling it, they are not going to say it can't do >> the >> job unless it is going to damage their rep if it breaks. >> >> Considering the almost 100% against, I think most people's reaction to a >> "bad review" if it failed on a MC would be "dumbass" >> >> >> >> >> -- >> View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2. >> nabble.com/Could-this-operate-on-a-motorcycle-tp7588505p7588545.html >> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. >> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 >> Message delivered to [email protected] >> >> > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > Message delivered to [email protected] > ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [email protected]
