George (KJ6VU), John (KJ6K) and I operated a basic K4 for several hours as the 20 meter CW station at the Bay-Net Field Day site east of San Jose. This was the K4's first outdoor shake-down. The stakes were high, since the K4 has to pick up where the K3S/P3 leave off, fulfilling a dual role as both a high-end desktop and field/portable station.
Observations: - the light weight (~10 pounds) made it easy to transport and set up - there was virtually no mutual interference between the K4 and a very active 40 meter SSB station using an antenna about 40' away - thanks to the low noise at this location we were able to hear many weak signals clustered together, and found signal clarity to be excellent - the LCD was clearly visible, without color washout, despite a full assault by bright sunlight bleeding through our translucent white tent cloth (some other radios at the same location had displays that were almost impossible to see) - the ATU did was able to tune a narrow-banded 20 meter yagi on other bands, when necessary, including 15, 10, and 6 meters - the radio ran from a very small Li-Ion battery (KXBT2, ~2.5 AH) for quite awhile, proving it works at 11 V, which is important for stations running from a somewhat depleted car battery or other emergency supply - operators were very complimentary of the internal speaker, though I'm partial to stereo audio and was using a pair of 8", 4 ohm (passive) external speakers most of the time We had a bit of fun late in the afternoon on Saturday when we switched from the Yagi to an AX1, Elecraft's 4 foot 20 meter whip. This may seem frivolous, but it's an important test because it shows that the radio's shielding is working well. It should handle an end-fed wire with a balun right at the antenna jack. Here are some comments we received afterward from KJ6K: "It was a real thrill to play with the K4 while making making CW contacts with it during Field Day. It's an amazing technical and usability design achievement. The user interface for many modern radios is so complex that an operator may need to refer to the manual frequently to figure out how to access a desired function, and never be able to do so quickly. The display on the K4 is gorgeous, and the use of touch, along with physical controls, provides a very intuitive and efficient user interface. "My own interests in ham radio have always been mostly in the science and engineering, so my operating is mostly casual, with HF CW my favorite mode. The architecture of the K4 is really exciting; the performance and endless possibilities for features and connectivity is really cool." Thanks, John! Looking forward to full-contact Field Day battle mode with a couple of K4s next year :) Wayne N6KR ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
