Stan,
Thanks for the inspiring tale!
I did an outing with the KX2 yesterday and had excellent results. I was using a
4-foot 20-meter whip with 13-foot ground wire, sitting on a bluff in the
Antelope Valley, gazing at the San Gabriel mountains. Worked stations all over
the country, including a W1 on RTTY (with the keyer paddle).
I, too, will miss the KX1. It was the first radio I used SMDs in. But the KX2
is about the same size and has so much more capability.
73,
Wayne
N6KR
On Feb 9, 2017, at 2:51 PM, stan levandowski <sjl...@optonline.net> wrote:
> Just a couple of months ago, on December 7, I purchased a KX1. It was a
> replacement to the KX1 I had built several years ago: my entry into the
> Elecraft world. I thought I had "outgrown" it so I sold it.
>
> Fast forward through my K1, K2, K3, KX3, and now KX2/KXPA100 setup (plus
> other stuff like the K2 amp, the KAT100, the PX3, an earlier KXPA100 for the
> KX3....lots of other stuff plus the mini-modules) and we come to today.
> Elecraft has made a small fortune on me!
>
>
> We're having a blizzard in New York. My picnic table out back has over 12
> inches of snow on it. As a prisoner of the house, I decided to do a little
> operating; However, 40 meters was dead and so was 30 meters. It wasn't so
> hot on 20 meters either. I went down to the living room and built a fire.
> But gosh, I really wanted to operate...
>
>
> So I brought my KX1 down to the living room. I stretched a 40 foot length of
> {high loss} RG174 from my shack to the fireplace. I have a 67 foot bent up
> doublet in my attic managed by an SGC231 autocoupler and that's where one end
> of the RG174 extension coax went. The other end connected the antenna to my
> KX1 on AA batteries. With less than 13.9 VDC, the KX1 doesn't have the oomph
> required to kick the autocoupler into tune mode. No problem. I just used my
> QRO setup to find the match on 14.030. That would give me a few kHZ either
> side with a good SWR.
>
>
> So there I am, sitting in front of the fireplace with a rig on batteries
> putting out maybe a watt +/-, a high loss connection to the antenna, a
> coupler with some degree of loss, a freakin' blizzard outside, a bent up
> antenna in my attic and a foot of snow on the roof and conditions on 20
> meters reportedly "Fair."
>
>
> Well, guess what. I worked a whole pile of stations - Minnesota, New Mexico,
> Florida, Hungary, Ireland, Germany and the Bahamas. After an hour, I brought
> the rig back to the shack and promptly worked V53DX, a new QRP country for
> me.
>
>
> Thus, it was with more than a little sadness that I logged onto the Elecraft
> website and saw that the KX1 has been discontinued! I don't recall seeing
> any email announcements about this or any chatter on this reflector about it
> either.
>
>
> I certainly understand that business decisions must be made and change is
> inevitable. In fact, I'm surprised that the K1 didn't go before the KX1.
>
>
> I just thought I'd take the time to salute one of the greatest QRP rigs I've
> ever had the pleasure to build and operate - twice - and WOW - I'm happy that
> I gave this new KX1 to myself for Chistmas!
>
>
> During the period of time between my first KX1 and this new one, I explored
> lots of other QRP rigs because I was curious. I spent a lot of money too!
> They were all well engineered. They all worked. They all had their own
> uniqueness. BUT the KX1 distinguished itself because it had everything one
> needs to operate right there onboard. The LNR Mountain Toppers, for example,
> were about the size of a pack of cigarettes. However, the operator had to
> have an outboard key, an outboard power supply and an outboard antenna tuner.
> That's more like a full carton smokes. Same for the LD-5 and LD-11.
>
>
> The thing about the KX1 was its apparent simplicity which masked its elegant
> design and robust menu. I love my KX2 with its dual watch function, autospot
> feature and filtering. But now it's hooked up to the amplifier and it's no
> longer a candidate for "grab and go" operations. The KX1 was (and IS for me)
> just plain FUN and all in one nice package.
>
>
> Sorry to see it go west.
>
>
> 73, Stan WB2LQF
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