I strongly recommend the K2, Steve. Adding the options when you want is very simple. The K2 was designed to be built just that way and it's a trivial exercise to install options after you've built, tested and used the basic K2. The K2 is designed to be taken to bits in a few minutes, should you ever want to do that, but the modules are added with a minimum of fuss-and-bother without doing a lot of heavy disassembly. Usually they involve adding a header to a pc board where the module will plug in and cutting or removing a jumper that you installed during the initial build to bypass the module until you add it.
Some of those options are perfect for your style of portable work - such as the optional built-in antenna tuner and battery that mount in the removable top cover. With them, all you need is a key and some wire to use for an antenna to go portable. If you decide you'd like a 100-watt K2/100 in the future, you can add the KPA100. It, too, is in a removable lid that replaces the "QRP" top that may contain your portable battery and tuner. So a couple of minutes - at the most - to swap top covers and your K2 is either a world-class home station or a self-contained world-class portable station. Congratulations on the license, Steve! You'll have a world of fun with your Elecraft rig on the HF bands. When the bands are open for DX, it's literally a "world" of fun! 73, Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- Hello All, As a newly licensed tech, I am looking around for radio's. I am interested in the Elecraft kits, but am debating whether to get the KX1 and then an older used radio for home or to just get a K2. I do a bit of camping and hunting, over the course of a year probably spend about a month in the woods but none of it is hiking so extreme portability isn't that much of an issue. It might be in the future and I will get a KX1 for that, but right now it would be a matter of dragging a car battery to a table at most 50 feet. The fact is budgets being what they are, I probably can only afford a basic K2 right now. I am trying hard to learn the code and I am slowly progressing so it may seem like a waste to buy a basic K2 now without knowing code, but if I do not get it now, I will not be able to afford it again for a while. My main concern is if I get a basic K2 without any extras, is it easy to add things later on? It seems like it would be, but I just want to make sure. Thank you, Steve _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
