>>1. I understand the tuning range can be set to either 75kHz or 150kHz. My inclination is to go with the 75kHz range, for the slower tuning rate. I went for the wider tuning range (I mostly operate 40 and 20 meters) and I'm glad that I did. I find, for me, that the tuning rate is fine at the 150kHz, but that's just personal taste. The tuning range/rate is determined by a specific capacitor -- the kit comes with two capacitors and you decide at time of construction which one to mount. There's no reason why you can't just buy your own capacitor with a value somewhere in between the two provided to get a little more tuning range and a little less tuning rate.
>>2. Somewhat related to 1), will I be better off with a range of 7000-7075kHz or 7025-7100kHz, or possibly some other coverage. Can't help you there, sorry. >>3. What are your thoughts on the following options? In particular, are they effective, and are any of them much easier to install during initial assembly (as opposed to being retrofit)? >>A. KAT1 Antenna Tuner Yes, yes, yes. I've operated a very wide range of antennas and not antennas with that Tuner. When my Windom came down in a thunderstorm (one side of the dipole itself snapped about two feet from the insulator), I was able to mount the end (two feet short) on a wood fence post and keep on operating until I was able to get a new Windom and mount it properly. I've also used that thing to match to various temporary antennas (e.g., including some barbed wire hanging on a fence on Field Day). >>B. KNB1 Noise Blanker I have it, but it's not as effective as I expected. I have to go back and check my work on it. >>C. KBT1 Battery Holder Had it, took it out. It's a very tight squeeze in the K1, and among other things means that you wind up with a smaller speaker (part of the kit) that I didn't like. As someone else noted, I got a lot more drift using the batteries (as things warmed up??). In addition, there's one wire that comes from the battery unit and runs right past the filter board. If that wire shifts around inside the K1 -- which can happen when you're carrying the K1 to portable sites, it will dramatically impact your frequency control. For example, one day I took the K1 out to a portable site, turned it on, and had the frequency jumping around 10-50KHz (one second I'd be on 7.056MHz, the next second I'd be on 7.021MHz). I removed the KBT1 and instead built myself a little external battery unit consisting of the KBT1 battery holder inside a 1 quart plastic food bag -- the kind you use to store food in the refrigerator. I cut the wires that go from my little Radio Shack wall-wart power supply to the K1 and put Anderson Power Pole connectors on the wires. That way, the wires that feed into the K1 have Anderson Power Poles on them. I then took the battery holder from the KBT1 and put Anderson Power Pole connectors on those wires. I can now switch between wall power from my wall-wart or battery power from the KBT1 battery holder simply by disconnecting the Anderson Power Poles from the wall-wart and instead connecting them to the battery pack. Using this approach, I've powered the K1 with the wall-wart, with the KBT1 battery pack, with a solar panel, with a large gel battery that was recharged by a solar panel, and with a car battery. Jon KB1QBZ K1 #2553 (I think -- I'm out of town on business at the moment and don't have the number with me) _______________________________________________ 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
