On 2/13/2012 9:01 AM, Joe wrote:
> I am just wondering if several people might like to suggest a good rig to
> take along.
An Elecraft K2 with the 100W amp and tuner would be an excellent choice.
With the introduction of the K3 several years ago, a lot of K2s have
been coming on the market used. The K2 was (and still is) sold as a
modular kit that the buyer builds. The bare bones K2 is CW only, 15
watts, 80-10 M. There's a 160M board, an SSB board, an audio filter
board, a 100 W power amp, and tuners for both the 15w and 100W rig. It
runs on 12VDC. There are now lots of low cost, compact DC power supplies
around (about $100). I run my 12V rigs from a big deep discharge battery
that I bought at Costco for about $75, and trickle charge it with a
small regulated 12V supply that regulates to 14.1VDC.
A second great choice would be the newly announced Elecraft KX3, which
is due to ship in a few months. 10-15 watts barefoot, about the size of
a VHF talkie, 160M to 6M, cost about $875. They've also announced a
100w amp and tuners for both power levels. I've held a pre-production
unit in my hand, and it's a REAL cute little rig.
The specs and performance of these two Elecraft rigs are in a class with
late model Omnis, but not at the level of the Orion. A HUGE notch down
are the little Yaesu QRP rigs, and the other low cost 100W rice boxes.
You can, of course, use any of these rigs with an outboard tuner and/or
amp.
73, Jim K9YC
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