Hi All, I sure agree with Rick's comment. I liked my K1 from the outset, but not nearly as much as I have since I finally got the 4 band board installed! As nicely designed as the K1 is, swapping band boards got to be a real pain. Personally, I would never recommend that someone only buy a 2 band board unless they were absolutely, dead certain they weren't going to want to upgrade later. Of course, initially the 4 band board wasn't available. Some folks may be put off by the fact that 17 isn't the CW band that 40, 30, and 20 can be, but when 17 is good, it's really good! So, if you decision about getting the 4 band board is tempered by uncertainty about 17 meters, I'd suggest you add it to your system. Even while propagation was falling off the face of the earth this past year or so, I worked a lot of good DX on 17 meters.
I've also been less than thrilled with the internal battery option in either the K1 or the K2. I think it's better to forgo that option, and just use outboard power sources. That way, you have more flexibility about what size power source you provide, and the rig doesn't get weighed down with batteries. Probably a lot of folks will disagree with that, but it's strictly personal preference. You still have to have "the weight" somewhere, but with external power you can pack it separately, like "checked luggage" vs. "carry-on". The internal ATU option is a tricky decision. I have it in both the K1 and K2, but the T1 is a super alternative. If you have both rigs, or other rigs (like an FT-817 maybe?), the T1 can solve a lot of problems. If I was really pinching pennies (which I seem to be doing more of these days!), I might have just let the T1 be my sole tuner option for QRP stuff. If you have any kind of collection of QRP rigs, you will probably want the T1 anyway. It's a great little tuner. Dave W7AQK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Dettinger" <[email protected]> To: "Gary W. Marklund" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 10:36 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] New K1 on the way - Band Module Questions >I am not sure if you are planning to change the two band >modules often > but if you are, I think it would be better to use an > external tuner > like the T1 rather than the optional internal tuner. It > makes module > swapping much easier. > The K1 wasn't really designed for frequent module changes > and its not > just a matter of plugging a new one in, like with the > Sierra. If you > have the internal tuner installed, it needs to be removed > to change > band modules. I have often thought that if one could get > along > without the internal batteries, the speaker and the tuner, > that there > would be room for more bands on a larger board or multiple > boards. > But this would require switching changes to the firmware. > Not > something for mere mortals to play around with. Enjoy > your new K1. I > sure like mine. > > 73 > > Rick Dettinger K7MW > > > On Jul 24, 2009, at 8:13 PM, Gary W. Marklund wrote: > >> Thanks, Sandy and Don. Looks like the two-band modules >> will give me >> the >> flexibility I want. Can't wait to get started. USPS >> tracking shows it >> has arrived and been processed through the Phoenix >> sorting facility. >> I'll have my kit tomorrow! >> >> Gary >> KJ7RT >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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
