I'll second the vote by Geoff and the others that 40 meters is an excellent band to start with. It almost always has some activity. It's high enough in frequency to allow decent distance on daytime contacts so you can usually find someone to have a QSO with, and high enough in frequency that you'll experience DX at night when conditions are right with most common antennas. It's neither the most stable local ragchew band or the easiest DX band. But it does offer a mix for the beginner with a modest amount of experience and antenna! After half a century (plus) on the HF bands, were I limited to one band, 40 would be my first choice.
You'll enjoy the K3. I haven't been able to operate one from my home QTH (yet) but I sure demo'd one many, many times at the SeaPac Hamfest. It's a rig that will let you explore very simple CW or SSB operation with a minimum of experience, yet it's features and operational capabilities will exceed your expectations for many years to come. Picture learning to drive in a special Ferrari - one that lets you operate it like a golf cart while you learn the basics but which will then behave like a world-class race car when you have the experience to "put the pedal to the metal"! The K3 is that for the Amateur Radio community, except you don't need to be a millionaire to own one! Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
