AmateurRadio.com

Over on the Elecraft KX3 Yahoo group an argument has been raging as to whether running low power into a tower-mounted beam is QRP. Some folk feel that QRP also means using simple no-gain wire antennas. Others argue strongly that using an antenna with gain is a perfectly valid way to do more with less, that “less” relates to power and nothing else.

On his QRP – Do more with less blog, Larry W2LJ nails his colours (colors?) firmly to the mast. Saying those who use towers and beams aren’t QRP is baloney, claims Larry.

Personally, I think QRP is whatever the ARRL, G-QRP Club, QRPARCI or CQ Contest committee says it is. If you are competing in one of their contests or applying for one of their awards you must follow their rules. And the only limitation they specify for the QRP category is power level. So I don’t think it is possible to win an argument that QRP includes any other restriction besides low power. But I can understand why some people feel that those who have a lot of aluminium in the air have an advantage over those who only use a piece of wire and that lumping them into the same category is unfair.

To really put the cat among the pigeons does the spirit of QRP include the use of store-bought or kit-built equipment too? I certainly feel that the art of QRP is strongly allied to the practise of home-brew, but I still claim to be QRP when operating my FT-817, KX3 or K2. Should the ham who operates an Elecraft KX3 belong in the same class as one who uses a two-transistor Pixie?

Perhaps we need a new term to define this kind of minimalist operation?

Ever since I received the Elecraft KX3 it has suffered from poor loudspeaker audio. It buzzed and distorted at any but the lowest volume level. Various suggestions were made and considered but the culprit seemed to be the loudspeaker itself. Elecraft spotted my description of the problem on the KX3 Yahoo group and offered to send a new speaker. After confirming to my satisfaction that the speaker was indeed the culprit I accepted the offer. The replacement came in the post this morning.

The culprit(s) revealed

It didn’t take long to plug the new speaker into the KX3. To my dismay, that buzzed and distorted too. It didn’t seem to be quite as bad as the original, though, so I decided to install it. That was when I hit a snag: the holes in the speaker chassis had not been tapped to take the mounting screws. I was stymied.

Thinking I would have to put the old speaker back, I had a good look at it. That’s when I noticed a split ring lock washer stuck to the magnet where it joined the speaker cone. Aha! I thought. The culprit! As I was soldering the speaker leads back on I noticed something else that should not have been there. A second lock washer! I fished it out with the end of a jeweller’s screwdriver and put it with the other one.

I hoped that would be the solution and prepared to reinstall the original speaker. While I was thinking about that I was examining the replacement I had been sent and I noticed what looked like the edge of another split ring lock washer. After a bit of fiddling with the jeweller’s screwdriver I managed to fish it out. Yes. it was a split ring lock washer, stuck to the magnet of the replacement speaker!

I’m sure some of you are thinking that my shack must be a tip with bits of hardware strewn all over the place, but I assure you that isn’t. I can easily see how a small part could get dropped inside the KX3 during assembly and migrate to the speaker’s powerful magnet. But how one came to be stuck to the inside of the replacement in a sealed envelope straight from Elecraft will probably forever be a mystery.

I’m happy to report that the audio from the KX3 is now perfect at any reasonable volume, with the original speaker reinstalled in it. If any UK KX3 owner needs a replacement speaker then it’s yours for the asking. But you’ll have to tap threads for the mounting screws into it.

Daunting, isn’t it?  Just goes to show that there were some superb ops up there on CY9M!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

I kept the radio tuned to 20 Meters for the evening and had a variety of QSOs.

The first was with CO6RD, Reynaldo in Cuba.  This wasn’t a long QSO as Reynaldo was working “contest style” racking up the QSOs. But I did get him on the first shot, even though a lot of stations were calling.

Next up was a busted QSO with Mike AA6WQ, who was operating from TN.  We got through the QSO basics, only to have the band pull the rug out from under us.  One minute we were going at it, next minute we couldn’t hear each other anymore. I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.

With two short QSOs under my belt, I was thinking that might be how the evening was going to go. But my fears turned to be for nothing as the next QSO was an almost hour long rag chew with Paul W4KLY in Stone Moutnain, GA.  This was an Elecraft to Elecraft QSO.  Paul was using his K1 and (of course) I was on the KX3.  QSB had a role to play; but in all honesty, when the band was not in fade mode,  our signals were 599 both ways.  We talked about rigs, portable ops and antennas and summer vacation plans.  It was very enjoyable and it is truly amazing to see how fast an hour can go by on you when you’re having fun.

The last QSO for the night was with Rumi LZ2RS in Bulgaria.  He was calling “CQ QRP” and I was lucky enough to be heard on my first call.  Rumi was at 5 Watts; but what really made the QSO was his Yagi at 12 meters up, pointed my way.  I was on the 88′ EDZ pumping out 5 Watts from my end also.  Signals were a legitimate 559.

The bands have been so good lately!  Not the best I’ve ever witnessed; but after the past few pitiful years, this is like Heaven (comparatively).  I sure hope it stays this way for a while and doesn’t take a fast dive off a cliff into oblivion.

On another note, this new 9 cell battery that I got for the Acer is fantastic!  I got it Monday and attached it to the netbook for charging.  I’ve used it Tuesday, Wednesday, and tonight – about two to three hours per night.  The indicator says it still has about another two hours left in it.  Of course, I have Windows set for “Max Battery Life” through the control panel, but even so, this is way outlasting the old battery.  That one gave me about two hours computer time, tops.  This battery should be able to get me through a four hour sprint (outdoors) without breaking a sweat.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

UK ham radio dealer Waters and Stanton plc has announced that they will be exclusive resellers of Elecraft products in the UK. This will be a great benefit to those who like to try before they buy or are just nervous about buying from abroad via the internet.

I have been buying direct from Elecraft for 12 years and have never had a problem apart from the high cost of shipping and the courier’s tax collection fee, both of which make buying some of the smaller Elecraft kits and modules rather expensive. But then, I have been lucky so far never to have had a faulty radio that had to be shipped back to California. Touch wood.

Elecraft has said that UK hams will still be able to buy direct if they want to.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Dayton Hamvention this year.  It was on my list of things to try to accomplish for 2012, but since I’m heading out west to Pacificon in October, I needed to save my pennies for that adventure.  The Dayton Hamvention will be moved to my “things to accomplish list” for 2013.

As you may know from my recent blogging, I do own the brand new Elecraft KX3.  I described this little rig in a recent podcast as “ultra-lite, ultra-portable, ultra-awesome” and the KX3 certainly lives up to all of these fine attributes.  While I’ve owned my Yaesu FT-817 for about 4 years, I really love the larger display of the KX3 and of course all the updated features certainly don’t hurt either.

The Yaesu FT-817 was first released in 2001 and an updated FT-817ND model was made available in 2004.  The 817 is based on the main circuit board design of its bigger and more powerful brothers, the FT-857 and FT-897. 

As I stated, I purchased my 817 back in the 2008 timeframe and used it for portable operations and carried it along with me on hiking and backpacking trips.  I became hooked on SOTA or Summits On The Air in the fall of 2011 and this became my main radio for that purpose.

While I’m perfectly happy with my KX3 and have already used it on one SOTA adventure, I was (like many) thinking, hoping, expecting, anticipating Yaesu to unveil it’s new QRP portable offering at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention.  However, the Dayton Hamvention is over and there was no announcement or news of any kind from Yaesu regarding their future QRP/Portable offering.  I’m wondering if the boat has sailed and left Yaesu high and dry? 

With Elecraft announcing the KX3 at the 2011 Dayton Hamvention and opening the KX3 up for orders in late December 2011 and beginning to ship orders in the Spring of 2012, the 2012 Dayton Hamvention would be the perfect place to announce a new QRP offering from Yaesu.  Well…that is if a new offering was planned.

Of course, Yaesu is big enough and perhaps powerful enough not to necessarily need to leverage an event like the Dayton Hamvention to announce a new QRP rig.  Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the FT-817.  While it may be over 10 years old, the old dinosaur is still kicking and screaming and loved in the QRP community.  As I stated I do own one and I plan to keep it….for now!  

So why do I even bring this up?  Well I do have an interest in QRP operations and an updated offering from Yaesu would be great news for the hobby.  However, I don’t view this as doom and gloom.  I figure Yaesu will update their aging line of 817’s, 857’s and 897’s when they feel the time is right.  However, I just wonder if that time is NOW!

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK   

A couple of weeks ago I received an email to inform me that a 5lb package was on its way to me by UPS from Elecraft. As I had not ordered a KX3 or indeed anything else from Elecraft recently I wondered if I was the winner of a competition I had forgotten about or whether it was just my lucky day. I accepted the explanation from Elecraft Sales that it was just finger trouble at their end – those drop-down auto-complete lists can sometimes be a bit too helpful – and thought no more about it.

This morning the postman knocked on the door and handed over a package that looked as if it weighed about 5 pounds…

KX3 S/N 110

Actually it was not a complete surprise as by then I had been let into the secret. A fellow Elecraft reflector subscriber, blog follower and someone with whom I have often corresponded about Elecraft and other matters (who wishes to remain anonymous) suggested to Elecraft that, in his words, “in appreciation for all of your constructive criticisms and suggestions over the years of how to improve Elecraft (and other) ham radio products that a fully accessorized KX-3 arriving on your doorstep would be a pleasant surprise.” It was, you better believe it!

Wayne and Eric were in on the conspiracy, as was a friend of my benefactor who was passing through the UK on his way home from the US and carried the radio across the Atlantic in his hand luggage before consigning it to the Royal Mail for the final leg of its journey.

I can hardly find the words to describe how delighted I am at this wonderful surprise. As I have written before, I didn’t want to even think about ordering a KX3 until orders were being fulfilled off-the-shelf because my health situation makes it impossible to plan very far ahead. My wish is to “beat the bugger” and survive as long as possible, but having a brain tumour is like having a time-bomb in your head with no idea what the fuse is set to.

A trio of Elecrafts

For the time being, Elecraft KX3 serial number 110 joins its two older siblings: K3 s/n 222 and K2 s/n 392 in my shack. But it will be a constant reminder and incentive to get fit and well enough for some QRPTTF operation. Thanks to everyone involved in sending me this wonderful little radio.