Hi Bill, I second in full what Ron told you. I would like to add my "two cents" of personal experience...
Building an Elecraft K2 was a good choice. I have one too, together with countless other radios; the difference is that the K2 stays, the other radios have been sold. It is a very nice rig, with outstanding performances. Working QRP CW is a good idea as well. If you manage to put up a decent antenna, you will be able to work *any* station that you will hear, with only one exception: those stations located in a very noisy, urban environment where the s-meter reads noise at S8 all across the whole band, and you need S9 to be heard. But believe me, 97% of Earth's surface is not so noisy, and DX locations are usually the quietest. Last, I strongly advice you to include the internal ATU option in your K2. Believe me, it is worth every cent of his cost and it is optimized for mobile installations. A screwdriver antenna can be a good choice, but I have another idea. Most probably you will not be able to operate while driving, especially on CW, so the most important factor will be to have a good and efficient antenna while parked. Take a look here: http://www.iv3sbe.webfundis.net/html/Rybakov806.htm I have personally used this antenna, and still I use it. It is made of a 9 meters long fishing rod (about 24') with a toroidal transformer at the base. It can be purchased online, but I'll suggest you to make one yourself; the toroid can be found online (Google Amidon Associates or Palomar Engineers) and the length of the fishing rod is not critical. The internal ATU of your K2 will match this antenna in a breeze. Upon arriving at your selected location, you just whip the fishrod/antenna to her full length, tape a thin wire along it, and fix the base to any suitable post (you can fix one permanently on a corner of your vehicle). Then spread a few radials around; any length will do; just one will work, but a few radials at least one quarter wave long will work WAY better. Just have a look at your SWR and prune those radials for best matching (place an external, inexpensive SWR meter between the K" and the antenna for that). It must be done only once. For those lucky days when there is a nice tree around, you will just connect a longer wire to the toroid and launch it up in the tree. If you have two trees, you can make an inverted L; and sometimes you will be able to make a homebuilt G5RV: anybody capable to build a K2 will build a G5RV in an afternoon, and the cost can be virtually nil. Look here: http://www.eham.net/forums/Elmers/2156 for advices. Now, the "fish rod" vertical antenna will be very good for DX (low radiation angle, good efficiency) while the G5RV will be good for low bands and NVIS connections (I mean, within 350 miles or so in low bands). And believe me, you will enjoy your rig and your antennas MUCH MORE than some monsters... Look here for the biggest I've seen: http://www.kkn.net/dayton2006/K9LTN.pdf By the way, I also own an Elecraft KX-1 with the internal ATU. The size of a cigar box including batteries, 24' of wire as an antenna. I carry it in my backpack. I worked all of Europe from an Italian hill in a single afternoon with it. With CW, power is NOT a factor. Finally, you will enjoy the results of your own good work. Not being a technician is not an excuse; ask Guglielmo Marconi for that! Cheers (and 73) IK4YNG Paolo _______________________________________________ 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
