[Elecraft] KX1 Morse Memories - Suggestion

Hi, I've been finding that the keyer memories in the KX1 are a bit too small for my basic CQ call when I'm pedestrian mobile. I'd like to be able to call CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE VA3SIE/PM VA3SIE/PM K. Sometimes when conditions are poor maybe another 3 or 4 CQs too! I have to resort to loading

Re: R: [Elecraft] Pedestrian Mobile Antenna

Hi, Sergio/Paolo. Sergio asked: what kind of antenna do you use for pedestrian mobile? You can find full details of my pedestrian mobile antenna here: http://web.ncf.ca/fj620/contests/fybo2007/ Paolo Said: What I have for antenna is a 24 feet length of small wire, plus another 15 feet

[Elecraft] VA3SIE/PM FYBO/PBMME Event

Hi, All. Detailed write-up with photos movies here: http://web.ncf.ca/fj620/contests/fybo2007/ This year, I decided to take part in Freeze Your B** Off February Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event as a pedestrian mobile QRP polar bear, so I walked from my home to a couple of local parks

[Elecraft] KX1 - rotary encoder quirk birdies on 20m after KXB3080

Hi. I tried out 20m for the first time this weekend after having completed the KXB3080 module. It works FB, I'm having great fun on 80m... and the 20m worked great, exchanged 2 X 599 reports with a station running 5W in Georgia... but... I realized that one thing which I thought was my

Re: [Elecraft] KXB3080 - Same output power on 40m as 20m - How to fix?

Hi, All. Thanks to all who responded about the power output being the same between 20m and 40m. I was able to run some tests with a recently calibrated HP8591A spectrum analyzer, and I thought I'd share my results. (I also had a chance to calibrate the KXAT1 it was reading about 0.25W high).

[Elecraft] KXB3080 - Same output power on 40m as 20m - How to fix?

Hi, Elecrafters. I'm hoping someone can help! I completed my KXB3080 modification tonight but during testing I discovered that I am getting pretty much the same transmit power out (1.8W with 10V) on 40m as 20m (according to the KXAT1 this is the only watt-meter I have) into a 50 ohm load. I

[Elecraft] Wire Antennas and feedline for the KX1

Hi, Chuck. I usually don't add the transmission line in the EZNEC model, just the source. I then take the source data for the frequency of interest and plug it into this tool where I can play around with different kinds of feedline, add a balun, calculate optimal feedline lenghts, etc:

Re: [Elecraft] KX1 VFO noise

Hi, Mike. I only ever hear VFO clicking when there is a very strong adjacent signal. For example one time I was using a 44ft doublet at 30ft at a campsite, and I was operating on 30m, around 10.120MHz. Suddenly a very very strong commercial RTTY station started up around 10.130MHz. Now when I

[Elecraft] Re: [QRP-L] Japan Ham Fair 2006 photos,

Hi, Folks. Some confirmation from Nobuki: -- Forwarded message -- From: THP info [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Aug 23, 2006 7:55 PM Subject: Re: HT-200 Question? To: Martin Gillen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello, Extracted specs are ; Freq. : 1.8 ~54MHz RX :0.5~54MHz Mode : SSB

Re: [Elecraft] KX1 Ext. Speaker

Hi, Dale. I bought a set of Nexxtech speakers for my KX1: http://tinyurl.com/l7ql3 They develop a huge amount of audio and they fold together to a package about the same size as the KX1. Very light and Li-ion batteries last a LONG time (I'm still on my first set after 6 months...). I'm very

[Elecraft] After re-winding L3 on KX1 (as per errata) - need to re-align?

Hi, I finished the first step of the 80m installation - rewinding L3 on the KX1 board to have more windings. Rather than press on and install the 80m board I'm taking the rig out to play for field day. Should I perform the alignment steps again? Will the KXAT1 need re-aligned? I'm not really

Re: [Elecraft] telescoping poles

Hi, Jerry et al, It is a tube with a spike on one end Or homebrew your own sand spike like I did. 1 or 2 feet of 3/4 PVC pipe, an pipe end, 3 stainless steel rods and a couple of jubilee clips (hose clamps). Attach the pipe end piece to the pipe. It is probably slightly thicker than the

Re: [Elecraft] telescoping poles

/maple/images/naqccsprint_pole.jpg - Martin. Martin Gillen wrote: Or homebrew your own sand spike like I did. 1 or 2 feet of 3/4 PVC pipe, an pipe end, 3 stainless steel rods and a couple of jubilee clips (hose clamps). I made one simply

Re: [Elecraft] Poles

Hi, Benny. My last and best is Spiderbeam product of still stronger material, 40 ft high. Very handy telescope. Spider must sell beams also in US, I think. Look for www.spiderbeam.net Yes - The Wire Man sells them for $99USD+Shipping. http://thewireman.com/index.shtml 73 Martin.

[Elecraft] Curiosity

Hi, Folks. I had an interesting experience yesterday. I was practicing using a desoldering tool as I have never used one before and wanted to get my choreography figured out before I start desoldering components to install the 80m module, so picture this: The KX1 board is sitting in a plastic

Re: [Elecraft] 10 meter replies

Hi, Ron. See you on 10 when it opens! It's open most days at the moment afternoon. For the past week I've scanned the beacon segment around 12pm and I am consistently hearing beacons across the continental US from a receiver in London Ontario Canada. Some slow QSB but these beacons are

Re: [Elecraft] KXB3080 Manual - minor mistake but important for newbies?

Alex, The local electronics store had WESD51D stations on sale when I went looking last year for the initial KX1 build... The Elecraft mojo was working for me even BEFORE I started building! I'm holding out for the 'Low Static' Soldapullt now - they had to back order it for me! -

[Elecraft] KXB3080 Manual - minor mistake but important for newbies?

I was just going out to buy equipment to build this when I noticed: Fine-tip temperature-controlled ESD-safe soldering station with 700 to 800°F tip (370-430°C). Recommend a spade tip approx. 0.05 (0.13 mm) wide. Do not use a high-wattage iron or soldering gun since this can damage pads,

[Elecraft] Strange: KXAT1: SWR goes up, but so does forward power?? +Baluns

Hi, I recently built a W1CG low power balun (Guanella 4:1 two-core design). I'm pretty new to amateur radio and my on-air results were pretty confusing to me so I was hoping someone could help me understand what is or may be going on here: For these tests I was using an inverted vee dipole,

Re: [Elecraft] KX1 signals peak at low audio beat frequency

Hi, Mike. I noticed exactly the same thing here. In fact the passband ripple of my KX1 is pretty bad, 600Hz is actually in a trough not a peak! And when I narrow the filter to the narrowest setting it centers on around 480Hz. Neither of these is a fairly significant issue in practice though.

Re: [Elecraft] KX1 s/n 1287 now a four-bander

Hi, Chuck. I'm just curious - did you have the 30m option already installed, and was it easy to unsolder it? If so, did you use solder braid or a plunge vacuum desoldering tool? How did that go? Thanks, Martin. ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to:

[Elecraft] FYBO 2006 VA3SIE VE3WMB Outing

Hi, Michael VE3WMB and Martin VA3SIE set up a vertical and an inverted vee in Britannia park in the City of Ottawa. It was 38F and we had some wind-chill, but it didn't snow and we even had little snatches of sunlight. We operated casually for just 3 hours of the contest. Here is our story:

Re: [Elecraft] 14.9V to KX1?

Hi, Chris. Ah, good catch Tom - it drops to under 13V under Tx load. I'll look for something else. 13V is still well within the specified range. As long as that 13V is developing enough RF does it matter that its 2V below the RX voltage? If it were dropping to 7V on transmit I'd be more

Re: RE: [Elecraft] T1 Antenna Considerations

Hi, Peter. Please excuse my ignorance I'm fairly new to amateur radio ;) But I have a question: The only reason that the use the nearby bushes construct now can be tuned by the T1 is that the impedance goes low because a part of the antenna is lying on the floor now, giving high capacitance

Re: [Elecraft] T1 Antenna Considerations

Hi, Mick. please can someone explain why this is important As previously stated a halfwave end fed wire represents a very high impedance which is outside of the matching range of the T1. But thats with no counterpoise or fed against a ground stake. I have found that a halfwave long wire works

Re: [Elecraft] balun

Hi, Mike. I routinely feed a 66ft dipole with 300 ohm TV twinlead by hooking it directly to the KX1 using a BNC to binding post converter. The KX1 ATU seems to match this quite nicely. The antenna performance seems to be very good. I have a BLT tuner on order; when I get it built I will

[Elecraft] Maple Island 2005 - Story, Photos Log.

Hi. VA3QV and VA3SIE activated Maple Island (C.I.S.A #ON277) on Sunday 25th September. We contacted 68 amateurs in 3 countries using QRP to the field equipment. Our website contains photographs, story and our log. http://www.sunim.plus.com/maple/index.html Thanks to anyone who contacted us,

[Elecraft] Reminder: Maple Island 2005 QRP Operation this Sunday 25th.

Hello. This is a reminder that VA3QV VA3SIE will be activating Maple Island for the Canadian Island Award Program this Sunday 25th September. Full information about this upcoming event can be found at the following website: http://www.sunim.plus.com/maple/index.html If you hear or work us

[Elecraft] 33.25ft vertical with KXAT1 - Why did it work?

Hi. I was trying to build a field portable quick to install antenna and I really liked what I read about an end fed halfwave having a very low angle of radiation and only requiring a very short counterpoise however I remembered that the KXAT1 manual stated not to use lengths near a halfwave as

[Elecraft] QRP Island Event Notice - 25th Sept - Maple Island, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Hello. Full information about this upcoming event can be found at the following website: http://www.sunim.plus.com/maple/index.html WHEN: Sunday 25th September 2005 - 10am EST to 5pm EST. WHERE: Maple Island, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. FREQUENCIES: HF SSB - 3.815MHz, 7.260MHz, 14.260MHz HF CW -

Re: Re: [Elecraft] KX1 Antenna Idea

Hi, Chuck. I have a question about your feedline: I have made up some feedline using #28 teflon insulated solid wire wrap wire held together with heat shrink tubing. The characteristic impedance is not important and it is low loss. I measured some #26 twisted pair once and it's

[Elecraft] KX1 Weak Audio on 20M

Hi, Mike. You're right. This is normal behaviour for the KX1. The S meter is lower on 20m because it driven by an audio derived AGC, and audio levels are lower on 20m due to the design of the radio. It does work though... with a 20-40 foot wire vertically in a tree, in good solar

Re: [Elecraft] Small Straight Keys for /P or Travel

Hi, Jay. I have one of the keys that Michael mentioned but I got it a lot less than Morse Express are selling them for! I bought mine on ebay from: http://feedback.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedbackuserid=alex550_2frm=1728 I'm very pleased with it! Martin.

Re: [Elecraft] KX1 Question

Hi, Paul. I find the opposite to be true! When I connect my 26ft wire to the BNC centre connector the receiver comes alive with signals! When I connect the 16ft counterpoise to the outer of the BNC, the receive level doesn't change at all. But it does match better :) I also get much better

[Elecraft] KX1 #970 alive kicking!

Hi, All. My KX1 is complete and I passed my morse exam on Thursday so I am now on the air... mostly using around 2W to a wire vertical in a tree in various parks in and around Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. So far I have worked WA4NVD in Virginia, VA3FAC in Willowdale and W9ZN in Chicago! Next I'll

[Elecraft] KX1 30m module - Hand capacitance effect?

Hi. I noticed last night that if I am listening to 30m and I place my hand on the case of the KX1 (anywhere on the case but especially over the 30m module), that the signals get a bit quieter. I'm wondering if it's a capacitive effect since the 30m module components are separated from the case

[Elecraft] Protecting the KX1 from short - fuse on the internal batteries?

Hi, I'm a bit paranoid about frying the KX1 due to a short to ground one of these days, with the radio rattling about in my bike paniers! I was wondering therefore if anyone has found an inline fuse small enough to install on the positive battery lead from the internal battery holders to the

Re: [Elecraft] KXAT1 with short whip antennas?

Bruneau [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 25, 2005, at 11:18 AM, Martin Gillen wrote: Hi. I read the manual for the KXAT1 and the advice for antennas states that short whip antennas should only be used in emergencies. Text of the manual included below. the way I read it, the manual

RE: [Elecraft] KXAT1 with short whip antennas?

In-reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi, Ron. A very informative answer, thanks! I was thinking purely in terms of the electrical characteristics of the antenna when I read the manual, not the physical, because to me it was obvious that a whip should not be directly connected to the KX1. Makes much

Re: [Elecraft] KXAT1 with short whip antennas?

bands. Budd W3FF operates his Buddipole on a bike with great success and he uses an inductor in series with the ground to the bike frame on 60M. I have heard Budd work the south pole on it SSB! 73, Leigh. On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 8:20 am, Martin Gillen wrote: Hi. I read the manual

[Elecraft] KX1 - Normal position of the AF gain control?

Hi. I was aligning my receiver yesterday (Phase II). I noticed that the AF gain seems to be exponential, which is to say that rotating it from 200 degrees (fully left rotated) up through 0 degrees (halfway) produces only a little bit of volume increase. Rotating from 0 degrees to 90 degrees

[Elecraft] Peaking the KX1 ?

Hi. I was peaking my KX1 according to the phase II alignment instructions when I discovered that the trimmer capacitor can be turned right through 360 degrees. My question therefore is... how much should you turn it? Does it make any difference if you go through 360 degrees more than once? Can

[Elecraft] KX1 alignment - don't peak a birdie!!

Hmm, Just in case others can benefit from my own stupidity: The manual says hook up headphones, power and an antenna and go find a weak 20m signal, and then peak it up with the 20A and 20B trimmers. So I start tuning around at 11pm and the band is closed, so I decide to look for some QRM and

[Elecraft] KX1 Uncalibrated S meter - only showing one LED bar - normal?

Hi. I have not yet calibrated my S meter but I noticed that when I tune in a really strong 40m CW morse signal that the S meter is only showing 1 intermittant bar, same as for weak signals. I even have this one intermittent bar when there are no signals present. I'm wondering if there's a

[Elecraft] Re: KX1 part 1 resistance checks - fail. Any suggestions?

Hi, Reflectees. I did resolve my resistance problem. Gary pointed out that I should really be using a DIGITAL multimeter, so I went out and got myself one, and all the measurements make a ton more sense. I noted that the AC voltages were out too in the first test alignment point; The analogue

[Elecraft] KX1 part 1 resistance checks - fail. Any suggestions?

Hi. I'm using a modern ANALOGUE multimeter to do the resistance checks on my KX1. I have performed the visual inspection and everything looks good; There were no problems during construction YET some of the resistance checks fail, and I'm wondering what it could be... U3 pin 3 is 5 ohms ...

[Elecraft] KX1 Alignment and Test - Part I - Power Supply - Batteries OK?

Hi. Really dumb question. I don't have a power supply unit but the alignment test instructions state: Connect an 8 to 14 VDC power supply to J1 with the positive (+) lead to the center pin. Do you think I can just put 6 AA cells into the supplied battery holders in series to generate 9V, and