I had 2x K2, the older radio not KX2. The one sold the other day was CW only and was acquired in a “horse trading” deal for a stupidly low price. I want to use a K2 to drive a high performance 2m transverter for contesting etc. and even with help from friends in the US, buying an SSB board, cobbling together a transverter interface as Elecraft don’t sell it any more, and some other options was going to cost a fortune especially shipping and duties/taxes.
So I kept my eyes peeled for a set with the options I needed. I found one, fully specced, local and bought that and sold the CW only one. I was prepared to buy/sell enough K2s and to strip out options to build up exactly the IF radio I wanted. End result after all the dealings and 6months of time is a fully specified K2 (SSB, 160m, 60m, xvrt, Aux IO, AF filter, DSP filter, ATU, Heil mic, carry case, cables and a load of antenna wire) for about $235 AUD. Which is a bit of a steal It’s a shame it’s so big and heavy when populated with the options or I’d take it SOTAing now and then as it’s a better HF radio than an 817. But it is what it is.
Why K2 for 2m IF radio. We now use a K3 +Kuhne 2m transverter for contesting and it’s like night and day comparing that setup for contesting over something like an FT736 or IC910. My contest group have several hot-rodded FT736s but they’re hard work listening to them for hours. Using the K3+Kuhne was so relaxing and effortless. I can’t justify a Kuhne 2m transverter (about $2900 AUD) so I have a G4DDK Anglian III being built and was given a damaged XV144 from Elecraft that has been, to use a Led Zeppelin expression, been driven “In through the out door”, i.e. TX into RX port and probably needs a new mixer. Should I ever get any time to play radio.
A.J. Buy an 817 “pre-owned and loved” as it will be the cheapest way forward. Use it and enjoy it. Then 9-12months from now buy a used KX2 and use and enjoy that. Use them both, alternate them. But have fun. You can always sell one of them later and the 817 isn’t going to loose much in value. You know you want both so you need to engineer the situation so you can have both. You know you want to.
I may have missed it but wanted to point out that the biggest snag with the KX2 is having to remove the battery to charge it up. I haven’t modified mine for charging whilst installed and I’ve not heard of anyone else who has. Elecraft don’t allow this in the design presumably due to lithium battery fire risk. Some operators of the radio rely on plugging in a small external pack consisting of 3 X 18650 cells. My KX2 has gone U/S once - the bandpass filter board for 15m/17m bands had to be replaced - it cost me £50 and was easy to change myself. I suspect it may have been damaged whilst I was removing my home brew battery pack to charge it.
I’ve had 2 FT-817s over the years (now sold on - one in one out principal I don’t hoard transceivers) and now have a KX2 I bought new in 2016 just before the Brexit vote fall in the UK£. Knowing what I know about both radios the ruggedness of the FT-817/818 is a real winner for SOTA. I am 75% CW and 25% Phone and only use resonant dipoles for efficiency. My KX2 does not have an ATU, so it was cheaper in equivalent terms to your $1000. I also built the internal and external battery packs myself as the Elecraft accessories are an extortionate price. I bought the KXPD paddle key - it was rubbish and a lot of trouble. I sold it on and put the money towards one of the last Palm keys that mount on the front of the KX2 before Palm Radio finished production. This key is far superior to the Elecraft key. (I have an external LDG-Z100+ on the shelf which I never use).
If I were starting up doing SOTA from scratch I would buy the 817/818 and see how I went on.
You only use SSB it seems so you won’t make any more SOTA QSOs by spending what you say is $1000 more on the KX2 in my opinion, and you will have to handle it more carefully than you would the FT-817/8. Spend the $1000 on something else and stick with the FT-817/8 would be my advice.
People keep saying removing the battery is a problem, but other than being slightly less convenient, I don’t see how that is. I’ve had plenty of devices over the years that required me to remove batteries for charging.
While a $1000 premium ($1600 total?) is hard to swallow, I have had more success with my KX2 than my previous 817nd in the same locations with the same (or worse!) antennas. Just yesterday I worked a number of POTA stations in Texas (I’m in Virginia, prob equiv to you working stations in Spain from the UK) using my KX2 with an MFJ-1820t whip while walking around a local park. I do that regularly. I was never able to make that work with the 817nd. Actually, I wouldn’t even try the “pedestrian mobile” method in the first place, I always mounted that antenna on a tripod or directly on the radio when I used it with the 817.
I don’t know if I can point to a single feature of the KX2 that is making my SSB QSOs more effortless than those with the 817, I just know that my success rate has gone up considerably.
That’s not to say the current 818 is a bad radio or deficient, just that the KX2 fits my operating parameters better. I wouldn’t spend a $1000 premium, but I’d gladly spend the extra $250 my used KX2 cost over a new 818.
For my first activations, I took the IC 703 (it has a tuner), a stable power supply, a Bencher key ,a wire antenna with Unun up the mountain,… I first wanted to see if I enjoyed SOTA. (Today I am addicted. )
Since all this was a bit much and I was also planning to hike longer distances and higher altitudes, I made a wish list.
For me, the criteria were:
Power consumption, receiver quality, min 5 Watt TX, filter, antenna tuner (because of my experiments and the different working conditions), weight, size, usability.
The winner was: KX2
(Today I occasionally take a cheap transverter for 2m with me. It doesn’t weigh much either).
Ok - the 817 is a tank. But I take care of my things and don’t play football with the TRX and I have a good protective cover.
If you buy the units new in Germany, the 818 including a fixed 500 Hz cw filter together with an antenna tuner (Elecraft T1) costs about 1000 euros. The KX2 costs approx. 1300 euros including antenna tuner.
Some very good points thus far! Thanks for everyone that has responded. I obviously struck a cord with a lot of you judging on the all of your lengthy responses. Which I really appreciate
I think many of you are right. The kx2 is a radio built for us. I could use my 817 and make the same contacts on hf as I can with a kx2
However. The cost is more stuff cobbled in a backpack. Mainly external battery and external tuner. Yes there are things like windcamp battery and t1 tuner but to me those are just temporary solutions that weigh a little extra. Also the windcamp battery scares me a little bit. Yes, I know the kx2 battery is basically the same technology but it’s not something that is being made possibly slightly cheaper that takes a month to get here from a company that may not be here tomorrow.
I thought of a xiegu 5105 for about 10 seconds but then dismissed it
I think there are advantages of having a company like elecraft supporting a product vs who knows how long xiegu will be supporting the 5105, parts availability,realibilty etc.
I started out with a Yaesu 891 , which I still use. But after doing some challenging summits I said this extra weight is no fun. I bought an 817 the next day.
I think one day I will eventually have both. The 817 will be there as a backup or when I want to try things like 2m ssb. Kx2 Will be a primary.
I use the KX2’s internal battery, limiting me to 10w. That’s a 3db increase, but one that is overcome with better or higher antennas. I don’t think it’s just the output though. I think it’s that combined with the built-in adjustable speech compressor, the RX and TX equalizers, and a few other features. Early last Fall, I re-worked a summit that took 3 attempts to finally successfully activate with my 817 earlier in the year. The successful activation took me 2hrs to get my 4 contacts, one of which was on 2m FM. I went back after getting the KX2 and knocked out 5 in 30 minutes, including set up, fixing some hot tea, and generally jaw-jacking with my buddy who was making his attempt with the 818 he recently purchased. It was like night and day both between my own activations there and between mine and my buddy’s on the same day.
When I’m organised ( another one for 12th never… ) and I have the KX2 set up … I could try either Hoove or Burnhope Seat with both. (The hill is going to need to be a short walk!) … but there is still quite a lot of possibilities … 817 barefoot, or with speech processor, or with amp, or with speech processor and amp… might be a long activation…Paul
I’ve been using a Kx2 for over 340 activations now which means I’ve had to remove the cover and battery pack 340 times! I’ve had to repair the speaker wires and battery pack wires two times now. You definitely need to be careful doing this and make sure wires don’t get pinched between the chassis and cover. I’m sure wiggling the wires also stresses them over time! This is my only complaint about the Kx2 design (well other than the huge mic that Elecraft sells – although I’m mainly a cw guy now so no big deal!). I’ve thought about only plugging in an external pack and never having to remove the cover…might do that eventually.
Other than that the Kx2 has been a wonderful rig and has been very reliable in all seasons up in the high mountains of Colorado. We do a lot of extreme temperature testing here in the winter months .
Possibly, but as a “no code General” I’m not going to claim superior operator ability over a 20wpm Extra with twice as many years’ experience.
Also, I also pointed out my own improvement in success on the same summits that took place immediately after getting my KX2. Same antennas, same locations. I don’t think it’s power alone though, there are other features in the KX2 that contribute.
I get a measured 10w on the internal pack on 80-12, and 8 on 10. IIRC, the factory stated output on 10 is a couple watts lower, so that is expected.
It does seem to be antenna dependent. A poor antenna (to short even if the ATU can match it, too close to the ground, etc), seems to result in reduced power output even when SWR is fine per the radio.
I haven’t had mine nearly as long, but so far the wires are fine. At least in my case, once I tuck the speaker lead connector down next to the battery, everything seems to just fall into place.
Regarding the Mic, I use a set of Sony earbuds with integrated mic. I have to press Xmit to speak, but they’re lightweight and seem to sound good based on the audio reports I receive.
I’ve also used the internal mic. It works, but I frequently need headphones for audio, so if I’m going to carry those, I might as well use their mic as well.
LIke you I’ve done 100s of activations with my KX2 since 2016 in several EU countries. I have also had to replace the speaker wires and lengthen them from the original length as my home made battery pack has a slightly wider girth I believe than the Elecraft one, before I lengthened them the KX2 cover was not a flush fit but had a slight bulge owing to the speaker wires. It’s probably only a few mm wider however the wires are better fed around the battery sides than across it.
Let’s not forget this AJ2I threads suggests we should talk him out of spending on a KX2 and despite owning one for approaching 5 years I want to point out the cons of this radio not the pro’s!
One other snag with the KX2 is the lack of audio power from the speaker - the 817 sounds better and strong, however I always prefer to wear head phones anyway so it is not an important factor for me. The KX2 works very well with a fairly cheap (£15) headset / boom mic combo I have found.
I also own both. My usage is 70/30 cw/ssb, HF only. For my needs the kx2 advantages over the 817 are:
the weight, internal ATU, speech compressor, excellent filtering. For cw, I find the pseudo stereo effect on headphones very useful. Unlike Phil, I quite like the Elecraft paddles and they suit me better than the Palm mini paddles, but to each their own. The extra power is not an issue for me - I usually leave the power at 5W.
There are a couple of downsides. One is the lack of weatherproofing and sealing - I regularly see dust mites on the inside of the plexiglass screen. My main issue, though is the feeble audio, even on headphones - it could definitely do with another few extra mW of power. The fact that the speaker is on the underside of the unit doesn’t help.
You get a brownie point for being magnanimous. But just because he can bash brass and has a licence with more privileges doesn’t mean he isn’t an incompetent goon with zero clue how to operate
There are a plethora of reasons why there is a difference and unless all other conditions are the same and you are switching between radios during the QSO, all you can say is with setup A on day X I worked 5 people in 30mins and with setup B on day Y i only worked 4 people in 2hrs. i.e. anecdotal evidence
Bear in mind that many chasers don’t bother working a second operator in the same summit or they may do it but after having chased all other summits on air at about that time on other frequencies, so the first rig/operator putting on air that summit reference that day has a clear advantage with respect to any others following after.
73,
Interesting points - increasing the loudspeaker volume on the KX2 could significantly reduce battery run time, as it does with the 817 or any other radio. Using headphones is generally a good thing if possible…
It’s a shame it’s so big and heavy when populated with the options or I’d take it SOTAing now and then as it’s a better HF radio than an 817. But it is what it is.
,a wire antenna with Unun up the mountain,… I first wanted to see if I enjoyed SOTA. (Today I am addicted. 
)
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