K1 vs K2 hw?

Hi,
can someone share experiences from a comparison between K1 and K2 for portable use? Sometimes I feel a bit “overdressed” with my station rig K2/100 on a hill and think about buying a K1 for portable use. Con: Only 5 W; KX3 too much bells&whistles and still too young. Or as best compromise a 15W-K2?
Thanks for tips (here or to dl8mbs@darc.de )
73!
Chris

In reply to DL8MBS:

Chris,

For me a K2 would be too voluminous and too heavy to carry up a mountain. I can understand why you feel overdressed!

I would nevertheless go for a KX3, currently the best value for money, although some waiting time on orders. I own one myself and did need a few hours of studying the manual, but now I can cope with all the “bells and whistles”.

Cannot comment on the K1, never had one. If you are looking for a real small CW-only rig a PFR-3 or any of the KD1JV designed “AT-Sprint” series might be a good choice (see: Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)

73 Heinz, OE5EEP

In reply to OE5EEP:

I’ll second the KD1JV suggestion, there are more of his designs at Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com

Colin G8TMV

In reply to DL8MBS:
I dont see the K1 power of 5 watts being a con.
Take the 100 watt amp out of the K2 and its still big.
Kx3 is a lot of bells and whistles for a lot of money.
Best bang for the buck? KX-1.

In reply to KB1NFC:

Just a quick note. KX1 is fine but a 13 V powered K1 can get 6 or 7 watts out. A KX1, in the same conditions, will go 4 watts.

The two are fine radios. The gentlemen will certainly adress the question to his fashion.

In reply to VA2SG:
Personally I love the K1, with a 13.5v or so charged up AA pack you have the 6-7 watts out, a good external speaker and it is quite robust. The KX1 controls are a little small and it needs earbuds, though I do now use a speaker bug. The K2 15W with the internal SLAB weighs in at 6lbs so that is not great. Overall my favourite is the K1, it only takes 55ma on RX and the filtering is great…put some extra felt behind the tuning knob to make it a stiffer action (no frequency lock available). I did a small vid on it:

Cheers

Keith GW4OKT

In reply to G8TMV:

In reply to OE5EEP:

I’ll second the KD1JV suggestion, there are more of his designs at
Hendricks QRP Kits http://www.qrpkits.com

Colin G8TMV

I’ll third it!
I have both the ATS4b and MTR which are my bread and butter SOTA rigs. The ATS4 obviously is the most versatile covering 5 bands and a nice digital display, but the MTR fits in a shirt pocket and weighs nothing!
Of course the big boy in the stable is my KX3, but I can’t see that going out and being exposed to the elements when the little rigs do just as good a job!
Imgur

I also have a couple of videos of the ATS4 and MTR in action.
http://youtu.be/Ffje8VVcUKk - MTR
http://youtu.be/FFqKSDc_iaU - ATS4

It doesn’t really help that neither of the KD1JV rigs above are available off the shelf, or indeed whether they will ever be available again.

That really then limits you to either the Hendricks, Elecraft or Youkits offerings…

72

In reply to G4ISJ:

It doesn’t really help that neither of the KD1JV rigs above are
available off the shelf, or indeed whether they will ever be available
again.

Indeed, I suspect that with SOTA becoming more popular Worldwide Steve could sell a lot more kits.

Colin G8TMV

In reply to G8TMV:

I am not convinced. Remember: you need to operate in CW…

In reply to G8TMV:

I AM convinced, especially if SMD soldering by the purchaser wasn’t required.

In reply to VA2SG:

For the 1st 12 days of Spetember from the QSOs logged so far you get the data below. It shows the 3 most popular band/mode combinations. Draw your own conclusions as to whether voice or CW is more popular.

Mode: CW on 7MHz: activity for September

2O0OOO/P, AA4GA, DK1DU/P, DK1HW/P
DK2JK/P, DK5OH/P, DK6YM/P, DK7ZH/P
DL/G4OOE/P, DL/OK2QA/P, DL/OM2TW/P, DL/PA0SKP/P
DL2XL/P, DL2ZBO/P, DL3VTL/P, DL4ABO/P
DL4NV/P, DL8AWK/P, EA4MY/1, F/HB9AFI/P
F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G3NYY/P, G3RDQ/P
G4ASA/P, GW3RDQ/P, HA6QR/P, HB9AFI/P
HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BGG/P, HB9CKV/P
HB9CMI/P, HB9DDE/P, HB9DST/P, I/OE8SPW/P
I1YDT/P, K4ADV, K7ATN, KU6J
LA1ENA/P, LA8BCA/P, M0CGH/P, M0TUB/P
MM/OE3CHC/P, MM0ROV/P, N1EU, N1FJ
NE1SJ, NS7P, OE/DF3MC/P, OE/DK1AX/P
OE/LX1NO/P, OE/OM1ADX/P, OE/OM4DW/P, OE2SNL/P
OE3KAB/P, OE5EEP/P, OE6KYG/P, OE6RDD/P
OE7OPJ/P, OE7PHI/P, OE8SPW/P, OE9AMJ/P
OK/OM2ZZ/P, OK1AU/P, OK1AXB/P, OK1DDQ/P
OK1DIG/P, OK1DO/P, OK1DSX/P, OK1FLC/P
OK1FRT/P, OK1JAX/P, OK1MLP/P, OK1TGI/P
OK1XMS/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2HBY/P, OK2TRN/P
OK2VWB/P, OK3EQ/P, OK4IT/P, OK4MM/P
OK8DDR/P, OK8WW/P, OM2ZZ/P, OM3CUG/P
OM4XA/P, PA0HRM/P, S53XX/P, SQ7OVV/P
W7/DL6AP/P, W7TAO, WA2USA/P, WO6M

96 activators

Mode: FM on 144MHz: activity for September

2E0CHV/P, 2E0MIX/P, 2E0PYG, 2E0YYY/P
2E1HTG/P, 2M0GIL/P, 2M0HCF, 2O0YYY/P
2W0WDS, 2W0YYY/P, 6K5XZE/P, AD6QF
DB7MM/P, DJ2FR, DL/G4OOE/P, DL/HB9MKV/P
DL1DXA, DL3VTL/P, DL4NV/P, DL9NCI/P
DO1DJJ/P, DO7DH/P, EA2BSB/P, EA2DNO/P
EA2DYM/1, EA2EAH/P, EA2EBX/1, EA2EBX/P
EB2FDT/P, EB2GKK/P, EC2AG/P, EC4TR
G0VPS/P, G1JTD/P, G1KEA/P, G4ASA/P
G4OBK/P, G4RQJ/P, G4UXH/P, G6HFF/P
G7LAS/P, G8JSM/P, GD8PPU/P, GI4KSO/P
GM7PKT/P, GM8OTI/P, GO0VOF/P, GO0WGL/P
GW0PZO/P, GW1CJJ/P, GW3OHC/P, GW4CQZ/P
GW6OVD, HA/OM0AM, HA2EBA/P, HB9CKV/P
HB9HAT/P, HB9TNF/P, HG7WAV/P, HL2IYQ/P
IV3/S57MS/P, K0FEI, K0NR, K5RHD
K6ILM, K6TW, K6WRU, KB1VLK
KC0YQF, KD5ZZK, KF7VSL, KI6YMZ
LA1TPA/P, M0CGH/P, M0FMF/P, M0JLA/P
M0RCP/P, M0RSF/P, M0TUB/P, M0VCM/P
M6NAE, MM0YCJ/P, MO1AWV/P, MO6EPW/P
MO6GWR/P, MW0IML/P, MW0PJJ/P, MW0VCM/P
MW6BLV, NA7EM, ND9Q, NE1C
NE1SJ, NG1P, NM5SW, NZ6J
OE/HA2EBA/P, OE/HB9MKV/P, OE/OM1ADX/P, OE/S57NAD/P
OE1EBC/5, OE1GTU/P, OE2ATN/P, OE2SNL/P
OE3BMW/6, OE3IPU/P, OE5DEI/5, OE5EEP/P
OE5FSM/P, OE5HCE/P, OE5JKL/P, OE5LHM/P
OE5PEN/P, OE5PGM/P, OE5REO/P, OE5WFN/P
OE6BID/P, OE6FZE/P, OE6KAE/P, OE6MGG/P
OE6PID/P, OE7AAI/P, OE7OPJ/P, OE7PHI/P
OE8SPW/P, OK2BUT/P, OK2KYK/P, OK2MAP/P
OK2SRO/P, OK2SS/P, OK4IT/P, OM/OK8PKM/P
S5/OE6KAE/P, S51DSW/P, S51RU/P, S53XX/P
S56IAA/P, S56IHX/P, S56LXN/P, S56SNR/P
S57MS/P, S57NAD/P, S57X/P, SP9DPM/P
SP9PKM/P, SQ9KDP/P, SQ9KQN/P, SQ9ORC/P
SQ9OZM/P, SV2NCH/P, SV3GLI/P, SV3IEG/P
VA2KEY, VA2VL/P, VE2DDZ, VE2WTX
VK3HRA/P, VK3XJM/P, W0ECE, W7IMC
WB5USB,

161 activators

Mode: SSB on 14MHz: activity for September

2O0YYY/P, 2W0YYY/P, DK5OH/P, DL1DLF/P
DL3SBA/P, DL6HH/P, DL8DBW/P, DM1LE/P
EA2BSB/P, EA2DCA/P, EA2EX/P, EA4EP/P
EA4WT/P, EC2AG/P, F/DD6DO/P, GW0PZO/P
GW6DTN/P, GW6WRW/P, HA3LV/P, HB9CKV/P
IV3/S57MS/P, K0MOS, K5RHD, K6WRU
K7TAY, KB1VLK, KB3UYT, KD5ZZK
KE7WOE, KF7VMQ, KJ6NHF, KK7DS
KY7K, LA5WNA/P, LA5XTA/P, LA8BCA/P
LX/ON4TA/P, MO6GWR/P, MW0IML/P, N1UNH
N7CNH, NA7EM, ND9Q, NE1C
NE1SJ, NH6Z, NM5SW, NS7P
OE/DM1LE/P, OE/HA3HK/P, OE/OM1ADX/P, OE1GTU/P
OE2ATN/P, OE3SEU/P, OE5EEP/P, OE5JKL/P
OE5LHM/P, OE6GND/P, OE9EGI/P, OK/SQ9SHR/P
OK1MCS/P, OK4IT/P, S5/OE6GND/P, S52ON/P
S56LXN/P, S57MS/P, SQ9SHR/P, SV1KYQ/P
SV2KGA/P, SV3GLI/P, SV3IEG/P, VA2CG
VA2IEI, VA2VL/P, VE2DDZ, VE2WTX
W7IMC

81 Activators

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

Andy, I am not saying CW is not used. My point was its very hard to bring new hams to learn it for all the good reasons of the world. They don’t have time etc… I won’t buy a kit from Steve as I, as many other activators, already got my rigs. So, who will rush at Steve’s shop? (PS he is making AWESOME stuff, don’t get me wrong)

Plenty of hams here operate on HF now on phone only. Yes, they miss the best of HF radio, at least in my opinion.

And Barry, certainly surface mount parts are a problem. At least it is for me.

In reply to VA2SG:

“already got rigs…So, who will rush to Steves’s shop?”

   Well, ever know a ham to stop buying rigs cause they already have one?  : )

In reply to KB1NFC:

Ahh, youre right :wink:

I guess we’re all geeks! hi!