One other option that should be mentioned here, which I realized after @VE3IPS 's well stated minimalist approach, would be to consider an entire KX3 setup to cover both home and portable. For a little bit more than the price of a new KX2 shack in the box package, I have seen KX3 packages being sold second-hand including the PX3 and KXPA 100W amp. that have been very compelling pricewise. Obviously, the KX3 has a little more weight and volume than the KX2 but you gain additional bands and capabilities (and slighly better performance). You can use the entire setup in your home for a full 100W SDR radio experience with a waterfall display, but also easily disconnect the KX3 for whn you are heading to a SOTA peak - everything integrates simply and wonderfully. And if you really want to have some fun portable, you can take the whole setup if you want and shoot fish in a barrel with 100 watts. I currently use this setup as my primary radio at home and although I do not take the KX3 portable much, it would be easy to do if I did not already have the KX2 in a case ready to throw in a pack at a moments notice :).
I also had to learn CW to get my license, and it took close to a year to upgrade to where I could use SSB. But the big 75m SSB rig using valves / tubes / GloFETs wasn’t very portable, and when I got a CW-only HW-8 the world really opened up. Later I upgraded to an Argonaut 505, with both SSB and CW. (Not exactly small compared to modern radios, but quite light compared to the alternatives at the time.)
Having used both modes, I find CW is still my favorite, especially for low power work. It is much more effective at low power levels for one thing: 5 watts CW is about equivalent to 100 watts of SSB in terms of effectiveness. So I don’t have to repeat myself as often to make contacts.
SSB still has its place, especially since it is the mode most casual operators are comfortable with. (A good speech processor helps with intelligibility with marginal signals.)
So my choice of modes depends on my operating objectives and constraints that day. If I’m trying to work DX, especially with QRP and/or in a contest, CW is going to give the best results. For more casual operation, like a local net, then I’ll use SSB, as there are more operators who are comfortable with that mode.
While equipment has changed over the years, I still have a K2 for SSB/CW, and a YouKits EK-1 which is much smaller, for CW only. If I think 10m or 15m is going to be open, I need to take the K2. Where light weight or small size is important, then I take the EK-1 with limited bands, but still quite capable. The KX2 probably runs rings around either of them.
I frankly stick to cw because I cannot stand the sound of SSB that comes out od SDR radios (probably has more to do with the cheap airline headphones I use, but I keep things light). I will sometimes S2S if I am schlepping the KX2, and using the built in mic gets the job done, but I have found if I do cw first I get very few chasers on SSB (if any) when I do switch over.
John,
73
Ron
VK3AFW
I think your conscience should be clear if you keep one for the shack and one for portable. I don’t think frequently swapping the one rig between the shack and portable is good for its health or mating cables.
I have three HF radios (7yo KX2, 17yo FT857 and 21yo FT817). I rarely use the 817 since I got the KX2 and only for 6m (so almost never!) and 2m CW/SSB.
After decades of gentle persuasion by my wife (who thinks I’m a hoarder) I want to make 2025 my year of downsizing, like my 1970’s hi-fi, giant rosewood loudspeakers, Revox reel-to-reel and my large Newtonian telescope which she refers to as my ‘large hadron collider’.
Since I added a speech compressor to my 817 I use it more, even for chasing. The KX’s are fine little rigs (though they seem a little flimsy to me, compared to the 817) but they are not a “shack in a box”, and since I like both HF and VHF I find it inefficient carrying two rigs. With the 817/8 you can even operate with an HF antenna in one socket and VHF in the other, giving an almost instant QSY!
Lol! My telescopes have shrunk over the years, from an 8.5-inch F8 homebrew in the 60s, to a 6" rich field in the 70s, to my current 70mm refractor which apparently makes an acceptable window ornament!
You are a collector not a hoarder
John
If I was in the Palisades fire would I have had time to grab my Icom705 backpack or my McIntosh stereo system and B&W 801 speakers?
Or my hand built cw transceiver and it’s D cell battery pack in made in 1977
Or just happy I got the dog and wife with me on my escape to now find I have nothing but a burned house
John VE3IPS
Collector or hoarder, its “needs must when the devil drives”! By instinct family comes first.
Apropos, though, its often puzzled me why American houses seem to be so flimsy. I’ve read that they tend to be built to last 20 years, my house is coming up to 100 years old and with care should last for another century.
Learn CW if you don’t know it, and get a rugged radio which can do both. A small rig like the Elecraft KX2 can do both very well and is light and compact, although not super-rugged.
73, Martin
Thanks everyone, for your valuable input. I bought the KX2.