I ran a 1B field day station in my north meadow this weekend using my 9 month old K3. I had thought that I would use my K2 instead for its lower current consumption, since I was using batteries and a solar panel. I couldn't give up the K3 performance and features however, so I went with that. Power was from a pair of 75 Ah deep cycle lead acid batteries and the surplus solar panel (probably in the 15W range). I generally ran the TX at about 60 to 70 watts to save some current. I used the first battery until I went to bed around 0830Z. I swapped the batteries when I got up in the morning at about 1400Z. The power setup and rig worked great. At the lowest point for the first battery, the rig showed about 11.9 to 12V key up and 11.5V transmitting - the rig worked fine at that point. I operated SSB exclusively so that my wife could help with the duping (I paper logged since I don't have a suitable laptop).
I really took advantage of the rigs interference fighting ability to pull weaker stations out from under the often serious splatter from the stronger stations (there were quite a few really bad sounding signals on the air - we need a campaign to teach hams how to adjust their rigs!). 20M was a wall of noise at times but the K3 worked right through it. I used my tall Douglas-fir trees to support two wire antennas. One was an extended double Zepp for 40M that worked great on 80 and 40. The other was the 3 5/8 wave collinear beam described in the July 2009 QST (cut for 20M). It worked well on the eastern path that gave me good coverage from the northern states to the southeastern states. I would recommend this antenna for those wanting good bi-directional gain in a fixed direction. I am very glad that I used the K3. It is a great FD rig! 73, Phil, NS7P Elmira, OR ______________________________________________________________ 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
