Hi Igor, I think that some have operated at low temperatures in some winter competitions -- the US North East gets pretty darn cold -- similar to what you are talking about. I looked and easily found similar questions to yours, but no answers!
The two things I'd be concerned about are the batteries and any electrolytic components that may be damaged by extreme low temperatures. The LCD screen will also stop working at low temperature, but I've never broken one by freezing -- but perhaps I was just lucky! I think batteries will have issues before most of the electronics. I'd suggest building a small insulated (expanded foam?) enclosure to hold the radio and battery. You could then stick some chemical hand warmers into the container and keep everything at a reasonable temperature. Look at how the "space balloon" people do things, they may have some tips. Alternatively keep the batteries in an inside pocket of your clothing. An email to the Elecraft guys may give some guidelines for temperatures that may damage components... but apart from those, I'd just give it a try! Good luck and let us know what you find out, so that we can answer the question next time it comes up. (I live in California at the moment and our harsh winter temperatures barely touch freezing at night!) - Brendon KK6AYI On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 9:20 PM, Igor Sokolov <[email protected]> wrote: > There were no responce to the initial message so I post it again: > > I have both K3 and KX3 and I sometimes use them outside in a field > operation. Here in Russia we have one funny QRP contest called "Frost-red > nose" where extra points are given for low temperature environment during > field operation. The contest happens in January when in some places > temperatures can be down to minus 30 C. I did not find temperature > requirements for K3/KX3 in the specs. Can somebody give me a hint or may be > share own experience. What would be the lowest temperature where the rig > will still perform adequately? > > 73, Igor UA9CDC > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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]
