I find that the KX1 fits very nicely in a small bag for travel. Also, the way the antenna tuner matches pretty much anything thrown up into a tree (one side) and the other just laying on the ground is very impressive.
If you want SSB I guess your decision has already been made. As for me, I'm all CW, so when I travel I borrow my friends KX1, until I get a chance to buy and build my own. Last time I went to the Philippines I was able to work over 12 countries including Russia all on 2 watts and a 28 foot long piece of wire connected to a fishing weight that I just tossed up into a coconut tree! That's plenty good enough for me! > Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 19:19:07 -0700 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Elecraft] Dayton purchase - KX1 or K2? > > Well this is the question: get a KX1 or a K2 at Dayton? > > I had set my mind on a KX1. I have used one before and was very surprised > with the performance over all my other HF radios. However, the more I think > about it the more I think a K2 might be better. > > One of my other large hobbies is backpacking. I usually take an FT-857D, 12Ah > SLA, and jumper dipole with me. This has provided a lot of fun sitting around > the camp fire on HF. > > My ultimate goal, after experiencing the performance of the KX1, is to get a > receiver in the main shack that is that good. I would be happy with "that > good" but "even better" would be, well, even better! > > The way I see the K2 is this: I can build it as a 15w rig with SSB for a > fantastic voice/cw portable radio that is good on batteries (better than my > FT-857D in the field). Batteries can even go inside the case - decreasing my > pack bulk over my current setup with the FT-857D and battery. I can add a > 100w amp for the shack and traveling where power isn't an issue. Then I > wouldn't be "lacking" any performance over my other HF radios (on the TX > side, any way you slice it the RX side will be 100 times better). > > The KX1 is a fantastic and very fun radio to operate, but it is limited to 4 > bands and CW only (TX). It is extremely compact and light though, which there > just aren't any other radios out there that touch this class of performance > in such a size of package. > > Decisions decisions... The K2 also costs more - I will have over 3x the price > of a KX1 in it, although I can spread it out a bit after the initial burn > HIHI. It will be roughly $900 for the K2, K160RX, and KSB2 then $400 for the > KX1. That is, of course, unless there is a big Dayton discount (unlikely I > think). > > Any thoughts from the crowd here? > > Steve, KC8QVO > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1 ______________________________________________________________ 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
