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Saturday was the total opposite of Friday. BM2LDT and I had the plan go out to the seaside to take both our KX3s out for a spin. I picked him up in my old clunker and we drove to a place called Qian Zhou-zi (前洲子 in PL05rf), between Danshui and San Zhi.

We got there a little after two in the afternoon (0600 UTC) and set up the MP1 on a stand and a Diamond RHM8B antenna on the car. Strangely enough it seemed there were no conditions, because there were only a few signals around and nobody came back to my calls. So instead we did some antenna measurements with an RigExpert analyzer. My el-cheapo VHF/UHF whip turned out to be very good on 2 meters, but not so good on 70 cm. The Diamond RHM8B was mounted on the car and could easily be brought into resonance. However, it didn’t didn’t perform as well as the MP1.

BM2LDT next to the car with the MP1 in the foreground.

Right after my QSO with OT4A. It’s getting chilly now.

Finally a chance to take out my Shack-in-a-Box and do some outdoor operations. The weather for Friday and Saturday was predicted to be very good, with Saturday being the sunniest. It turned out to be the other way around, because on Friday morning I took my son to his baseball practice and set up the MP1 in a quiet corner of the field, under a blazing sun. With my deck chair positioned under some trees I took this selfie…

It being a Friday the bands were quiet. I worked JR1CXW from Japan on 15 meters in CW and had a nice long QSO with him. Then nothing till almost an hour later when I heard KZ5OM coming in on 12 meters. Because I had already marked the different bands on the MP1 tuning coil it was a breeze to get the antenna into resonance and work him. He came in 559 and I got over the Pacific with a 539 signal. Yeah, two firsts: one for CW QRP across the Pacific and one for CW with the US on 12 meters. Thank you Jerry, great working you.

After that V85TL and JQ2IQW who was interested in my QRP setup. I got some attention from a parent and gave a short demonstration. The exchange with BH1FXN was just a 599 one, but it was enough to impress him.

The sun was shining, the temperature just right and the coffee well brewed, so a perfect Friday morning. To be continued….

Normally my projects take a long time to finish because I can’t find the right materials (I’ll dedicate a post on that later). But my “Shack-in-a-Box” project was done fairly quickly: only six weeks.

The box is an old German army issue box that my Junker straight key came in. Very sturdy and not too heavy.

I padded it with foam I got from a shop selling notebook batteries; the plexiglass dividers were left-overs from old cosmetic product displays. The little basket was a dollar from the local hardware store and the only thing bought new.

Everything but the antenna is in there: the KX3, LiPo battery (old laptop battery cells from a friend), the touch paddle and various cables. There are ear plugs and an old computer microphone with which I get very good audio reports. With this setup it takes me less than a minute to be operational and packing up is equally fast. This weekend is a long one in Taiwan because of Peace Memorial Day and I’ll be out on the coast doing my first serious stint of portable operation. If you hear me on air don’t hesitate to call me. 73.

As I wrote in a previous post, being used to rigs from over 20 years ago it was quite a culture shock operating both the KX3 and the IC-7200. Knobs all have dual functions and there are menus abound with almost infinite options. RTFM is not an option, it is a must. In the beginning I found that I would often put my KX3 aside and go back to my tried, trusted and familiar TS130V to have my radio fix.

After I got the IC-7200 that changed, because to me the lay-out and functions came a bit more natural. I did have a “duh” moment when I connected a microphone to the set. I didn’t get the stock HM-36 mike but bought a HM-118TN instead, which is supposed to be wired identically. The mike would key the radio but no sound was being transmitted in SSB. Turned out there is a menu option where you can choose what input to use for SSB: the front connector, the USB connector or the rear aux connector. Maybe obvious to most, but it took me the entire evening to find out, resulting in a brand new microphone being completely disassembled and reassembled.

But after that everything was fine and dandy and now after some two months of operating both I can more or less say which of the two sets has my preference. And the winner is…….none at all! Both are fine rigs in their own right, but neither one will become my favourite rig. Here is why (and remember, these are my opinions based on my experience)….

First the KX3, the pros of this rig:

• an excellent receiver for CW and SSB
• very sharp filters
• excellent internal tuner
• easy CW operation and internal decoder
• energy efficient
• config menu system is very clear and arranged alphabetically

and the cons:

• volume is much too low and distorted when turned up
• lousy AGC
• lousy AM reception
• sub par reception below 1800 kHz
• no separate audio out
• no adaptive tuning speed
• clumsy operation for some functions
• inadequate cooling of the finals
• output power only 12 Watts

My biggest gripe with the KX3 is the audio output. I realize that the rig is designed for use with headphones, but I am not keen on using headphones inside the shack. When receiving weak signals I have to turn up the volume high (up to 50) to hear it comfortably (with NR off, because that reduces audio volume even further). If you then encounter a strong signal the AGC doesn’t kick in enough so you get distortion. I tried playing with the AGC settings, but to no avail. I also tried to further isolate the small speaker from the case, but also no improvement. I could use an external speaker, but that defeats the purpose of the KX3 as being a complete package in a small footprint.

Apart from the audio gripe the KX3 is a dream for CW operators. The spot function is so convenient I already miss it when not using the KX3. Even under noisy conditions the 50 Hz filter still produces clear signals. I compared both rigs during the CQ160 contest in January. On the IC-7200 I heard stations, but could not decode them. With the KX3 they came in clear and decodable. If the Elecraft K3 is as good at receiving as the KX3 it might well become my next rig.

Then the IC-7200. The pros here:

• easy to operate
• excellent audio for such a small speaker
• adaptive tuning speed
• one USB connection for audio and rig control
• filters are excellent for digital modes
• excellent reception on medium wave
• 100 Watts output power

and the cons:

• no band up/down buttons
• no PTT button
• narrow filters settings give a lot of ringing under noisy conditions
• lousy internal keyer
• some often used functions are not easy accessible
• sub par reception below 500 kHz

Operating CW with the IC-7200 is not as pleasurable as the KX3. With little noise the narrow filters work fine and give clear audio. But with the noise level going up, so does the ringing and that makes signals unintelligible. The USB cable connection for both rig control and audio is a great feature, but it has its disadvantages: below 10 MHz the noise from my laptop is noticeable and below 3.5 MHz it obliterates most signals, except the strongest ones. Unplugging helps, but that defeats the purpose of the USB connection, of course.

But you have to live with the cons and enjoy the pros, so I will. Need I make a choice I would keep the IC-7200, because it delivers more bang for the buck and the set just “feels” right to me. The KX3 doesn’t give me that comfy feeling when I operate it, but man, it sure can receive well. I don’t need to make a choice, though. I will keep both rigs because the KX3 will be used in my portable shack-in-a-box and the IC-7200 will remain on my desk for daily operations. It’s almost a bit like with cars: a station wagon for daily commutes and grocery shopping, and a sports car for those short drives in the weekend.

Birthday parties for 8 year old daughters are fun, but soooooo tiring. My plan was to get up early on Sunday morning and take full advantage of the daylight path to north America for the ARRL DX Contest. But Saturday was the day of the long awaited party and we outdid ourselves entertaining all the little guests, until we drove them home in the evening. So when I opened my eyes on Sunday it was already 10 local time and when I crept behind the set already after 11. Most of NA in the dark, so I didn’t expect much from 15 and 10 meters.

But boy, was I wrong! The 15 meter band was wide open and I logged two new states: Louisiana and Iowa. Georgia also yielded two new stations, despite it being after dusk there for a while already. Strangely though, the 10 meter band didn’t show any sign from NA, but 20 meters did and in the middle of the day I was able to log two stations from the west coast with excellent signals. And the last thing that really surprised me was the discipline in this contest. I didn’t encounter any rude behaviour and stations didn’t spill over into other portions of the bands. Kudos to all the operators who took part. It sure was fun!

While I write this they are still booming in with S9 signals on 15 meter, but boy, the operator sounds tired. He takes frequent breaks, just to ease the pile-up.

Still, after a few calls he got me and after the usual 59 exchange I thanked him on-air. You could hear he appreciated it and the whole team does deserve a lot of praise. They had to handle a lot of messy pile-ups, but they did well. In the end I worked them on 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters, both in CW and SSB and that is more than enough for me. No need to bother them anymore, they deserve a good rest as from coming Wednesday. Cheers, guys.

It was the weekend of the Dutch PACC Contest. Me being Dutch I always look out for QSOs with the home land. And since the propagation gods were in an excellent mood the prospects for many QSOs with PA stations were also good.

Unfortunately the contest only starts at 1200 UTC on Saturday and just 20 meters was open at that time. I worked two stations in CW and called it a day. On Sunday it wasn’t much better: hardly any signals on 15 meters and then only weak SSB. I heard my old club station PA6A, but they couldn’t hear me. Bummer. But EA8AM from the Canary Islands was coming in 57 a bit higher on the band and I had a chat with him instead. Nice, another new DXCC entry in the log. I did work three PA stations around 0900 UTC then decided to cook dinner instead of spending time behind the radio.

But after dinner I couldn’t resist and tuned the bands again. And whadda you know! At 1130 UTC 15 meters was wide open to Europe and I could work six Dutch stations in CW in a row, before the contest closed at 1200. In total only 11 stations worked, so I won’t get first prize, but satisfying non-the-less.

But the icing on the cake came when I was updating my logbook. I gave my tuning knob a twirl and landed on 14006 kHz where RI1ANT was calling CQ. No problem working him and the third Antarctic QSO in the log. Can it get any better?