In reply to K6ILM:
"…That’ll be a proverbial piece of cake on any
band, eh?
Hmm. Not sure about a piece of cake but will try 
Might be worthwhile letting the SOTA locals know of your plans in Norway eg. LA5XTA & LA1ENA ?
Right now April and some sunshine seems far way.
73
Mike G6TUH
In reply to 2E0CHV:
“…I am pretty much packed for my activation tomorrow and have plenty to keep me warm, including my new Zippo handwarmer.”
Hello Simon, glad to speak with you today and it sounds like you had a lot of fun with the KX3 - so you did read the manual 
Plus NA on 20, well done. On my first attempt you were buried by French contest QRM but that changed later.
I think Bill (G4WSB) seemed very interested in the rig, given all his questions? Perhaps you could become the Club carer for the KX3…
73
Mike G6TUH
I have given up on handwarmers. Some are better than others, but all are inefficient to varying degrees, and fail to work satisfactorily far too frequently.
I am lucky in that I don’t get cold very quickly, and even when my hands do get cold, 9 or 10 QSOs using the paddle is sufficient to warm BOTH hands up to a comfortable level again.
Failing that, I just hold the hands of my 15 year old son Liam. He is never cold. In fact he is always exuding an unfathomable amount of body heat, a real human hot water bottle. It is strange but true - just ask G3CWI who has witnessed this phenomenon for himself!
Tom M1EYP
In reply to G6TUH:
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the message and good to talk to you today. I was really impressed with the KX3, fabulous receive and with the internal ATU it could find a match on the proverbial damp string (well my speaker wire doublet anyway!). I think improvement could me made to my portable hf antennas, a link dipole or simply an array of lightweight dipoles for each band of interest.
The KX3 needs a few more outings for me to really fully understand it though, so will have to try again 
Regarding looking after the KX3, I am assistant curator for the Telford Club, so it is partly my responsibility anyway. Do you think they would notice if I never took it back? 
I agree 40 metres was dreadful today. I understand there are contest free bands, but do wish all bands had a contest free segment!
73
Simon
2E0CHV
In reply to M1EYP:
Hi Tom,
The handwarmer worked very well, but suspect if a draft got on it, then it may go out. Will spend some time evaluating its erformance.
Managed to keep my hands warm, but still ended up with a numb face from the chilly breeze today!
Simon
In reply to 2E0CHV:
Hi Simon,
The QRM was so bad on 40m I didn`t bother to activate it. Agree with you about your antenna. A little more experimenting needed. Good to hear you working some DX on 20m, though.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0CHV:
Simon,
You obviously had a good day in spite of the QRM on 40m. I couldn’t hear you at all although I heard people talking to you. I decided it was too cold and stayed at home chasing (fairly unsuccessfully) instead.
Having an internal atu is a great idea; at present I am working on a couple of cut-to-length wires so I can avoid carrying one.
Good luck on the next outing. See you soon,
73,
Rod
In reply to 2E0CHV:
The KX3 needs a few more outings for me to really fully understand it
though, so will have to try again
Hi Simon, I think this is like any new bit of kit ~ getting to know it.
Regarding looking after the KX3, I am assistant curator for the
Telford Club, so it is partly my responsibility anyway. Do you think
they would notice if I never took it back?
Hmm maybe I would if I was in Telford Club as I would want to have a go!
I agree 40 metres was dreadful today. I understand there are contest
free bands, but do wish all bands had a contest free segment!
Current contest free at all times is 60M band. But today was a good test of things. It could not have got much worse for you and chasers on 40 today. You did very well and next time it will be much better I think.
Take care and it was a very good idea to put a post up to check things out.
Time now 23.11 so I think I will hit the wooden hill.
Mike G6TUH
In reply to 2E0CHV:
I think improvement could me made to my portable hf antennas, a link dipole >or simply an array of lightweight dipoles for each band of interest.
It’s swings and roundabouts. But as you’re already carrying the extra weight of the tuner (even if it’s not very much) you may as well get the benefit of using it. Depending on the tuner and the actual lengths of wire used then the tuner-doublet combo may be more lossy than a link dipole. Or there again maybe not. It depends on the actual situation.
Still there’s lot to learn from playing with different configurations. One of the lessons people learn quickly is to remake their antennas so they can set them up as quickly as possible and when wearing gloves. It’s only when you’ve done the setup a few times in the cold that you start to think of ways to make it all much less hassle.
do wish all bands had a contest free segment!
One man’s contest QRM is another man’s DX delight! It’s a pain if you don’t want to play and someone’s contest is getting in the way. That’s why it’s important we keep 30/17/12m free of contests and anything that looks like a contest. We have a contest free refuge that way. Also even the biggest of big contests are either SSB or CW but never both the same time, so you can always find some escape. It can still be a pain though.
Andy
MM0FMF
