Elecraft KX2: The end of kits for Elecraft? UPDATE: WITH VIDEO!

Elecraft has always offered kit versions of just about everything they make, until now.  The newly announced KX2 (not a successor to the KX3 or the K2 interestingly) is their first offering to come in factory built ONLY.

Expected to be priced at about $750, it seems they will be targeting the more mainstream ham market.

I'm sure they'll get a lot of gruff for leaving out 6m or 160m but I think those are reasonable to leave out.  The idea of a rechargeable lithium option sure sounds nice too.  Maybe this is the secondary radio I would want from Elecraft - something I won't ever use on my desk but is destined to be carried in the field.  At the $750 price tag, that option seems far more likely than it did with the KX3 at nearly 2x the cost.  We will see how it compares from a performance standpoint though if you're comparing it to just about any other radio (save KX3) it doesn't need to be a stunner in the RX department to be a winner.

I'm going to be keeping my eyes out for more details, so be sure to check back!

UPDATE: WG0AT posted this video to YouTube:

And another:

K3 vs. TS-590: Choosing a Victor

A victor has been chosen. 

I arrived at the Radio Farm, N0MA, around 7PM local time, an hour after the big ARRL DX contest started. W7II, Bill, had the K3 position set up on 20m, ready to start runnin' 'em. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to get the TS-590 set up at the other operating position, so I was stuck (if you can call it that!) on the K3. The band was good and once things slowed down a bit, I moved down to 40m on the 4 Square. With 900w at the coax, we were smoking into EU. Wanting some rest, before we hit it hard on the high bands on Saturday, I went home at about 10PM. The 590 would have to wait until tomorrow.

I came out at around 7:30AM on Saturday and W0GXA, Bob, was already running on 10m with the K3 when I arrived. Bill was getting thing set up for the 590 position. He was skeptical it would be as easy to set up as I told him, but sure enough, the 590 was communicating with the logger and spitting out a mighty KW of CW without too much effort. I donned the headphones and went for it on 15m, with our twin stack pointed at EU. The bands were wild, and I whipped up a big pileup in no time flat. I had 5+ stations calling at every "QRZ?" for about 2 hours. Our Multi-2 station had sustained rates over 200 QSOs per hour the whole morning! Never once did I feel like the 590 was inferior to what I expect out of a contest radio. There was no receiver overload and signals outside of the roofing filter passband were silent, as expected. Bill's K3 does have the 300 Hz crystal filter so when running, things were a little quieter, but that is to be expected. Yet, the 590 was no slouch. Combined with my impressions from Thursday, I was happy to be considering the proposition to acquire one of these fine pieces of engineering.

So what is the verdict you ask?  The 590 is a real contest radio.  The roofing filters are no match for the choices you have with the K3, but remember, they come free-of-charge, and when comparing at the same bandwidths, there is little difference in operation.  I have to say, in my opinion (whatever that is worth to you) the TS-590 is a no brainer if you cannot afford a K3, especially if customizable, top of the line performance is not a hard and fast requirement.

Surely though, the real question is, "TJ, ARE YOU BUYING ONE?!"

Well....









Yes.

K3 vs. TS-590 - Initial Impressions

As you recall from the last post, this contest was going to be the testing grounds for a head-to-head comparison of a loaded K3 versus a stock TS-590.  These are the results of that test.

Thursday pre-contest
I picked up the 590 from Dan, WB0LJK, and ran home to really see how she worked.  First impressions on the fit and finish of the radio were positive.  The buttons and knobs feel good, a certain elegance to the look of the radio.  In comparison to Elecraft's offerings, the TS-590 has a less utilitarian feel, and I still think the K3 is a more rugged radio, when you consider the all-metal chassis and lighter overall weight.  Yes, Elecraft's knobs are cheap, but that means when you break one out on some God forsaken island, it won't break the bank to repair either.

I personally find Elecraft's displays to be very good - they're very easy to read and all the stuff you want to see is available without asking a menu item, and the VFO B display is a nice addition that shows the time, power supply voltage etc.  The 590 display is largely uncluttered, but almost too empty.  There's a lot of unused space when operating in simplex mode.  In split, the 2nd VFO shows in the empty space but there's no reason for it to not show in simplex mode.  There may be a menu setting to modify.  On this topic, the nod easily goes to the Elecraft rigs.  

Moving to the operation of the radio.  I went at this without really looking at the manual, and found the operation to be pretty straightforward.  Changing modes is by direct entry, which is definitely preferred to Elecraft's method of cycling through modes.  Dan is primarily a voice operator, so I had to set up all the CW options on my own.  Changing the break-in delay and keyer speed are pretty straightforward, although I wish there were dedicated controls for keyer speed like I have on the KX3.  When working weak stations, changing keyer speed is nice to have at hand.  Not a deal breaker though.  Finally, I was ready to put some RF out and low and behold, those T/R relays are loud!  I knew I'd have a different QSK experience than I was used to, but this was loud.  A few quick tweets and it became clear there was a setting out of order.  It turns out when you have the amp keying relay enabled, the T/R switch goes from a nice quiet one to a big loud one!  Once we got that straightened out, the QSK was actually fairly pleasant, for relay switched T/R anyway.  Certainly not objectionable, just something I'd have to get used to.

The menu system on the 590 is just as extensive as the K3 and equally challenging to navigate.  The menu options are grouped by "topic" which helps navigation somewhat.  For instance, you'll find all the CW keyer options together, and all the USB options together, and so on.  The menu items are numbered as well, which makes referencing the menu items quick too.  On Elecraft radios, the menu items are in alphabetical order.  I think I prefer the 590's method better but realistically, you don't have to access the menus for much.  Like the K3, the 590 has 2 programmable function keys which I think can do just about anything.  I know Dan has one set up to transmit a 30w carrier to tune his remote auto tuner.  Unfortunately the 590 places the settings for sidetone volume and pitch in the menus, rather than the front panel.  Varying sidetone volume is not something I do a lot, but it is still far more convenient to have it on the front panel.  It should be shared with the TX monitor option which is on the front panel of the 590.  Again, not a deal breaker.

Speaking of the auto tuner - it is very quick to tune, and seems to do a fine job so far.  On 40m, my dipole has a fairly high SWR (its a little long I guess) and the tuner snapped to a 1:1 SWR in less than a second.  Much faster than the KX3's tuner.  I don't have any high impedance loads so I don't know how well it does with high SWR.  The dual antenna ports are nice though, and the radio remembers what port each band is on so you don't have to worry about going from 12m to 40m and transmitting into your beam on 40m.  The K3 with the ATU option does this too of course, but remember this is standard on the 590!

Front panel controls are well thought out and the layout is good.  One of the nicest features is the 3 memories for each band.  Just hit the band button multiple times to quickly jump around the band.  For example, you can have the first one set at 14.060 for QRP work, hit the "14" again, and the radio will jump to 14.200, and another tap can put you at 14.300.  Makes it really nice for moving around the band quickly.  I believe these are user set values, but I'd have to look at the manual to find out how.  The 590 makes a lot of use of its "MULTI" knob for many of the front panel adjustments, including power, keyer speed, and break-in delay.  Unfortunately it cannot be used to control VFO B when operating split.  This makes split operation essentially a 2 hand operation since you have to hold a button and spin the VFO to tune VFO B.  It doesn't take much work to figure out a one-handed position to do it, but I would still prefer having a separate control.  This is just another nuisance.

Passband tuning and filter width are concentric knobs as they are on most radios.  Being used to a single knob like on my KX3, I often found myself changing the passband tuning, rather than adjusting the filter width like I wanted.  I found a S9+60dB signal on 40m and with the filter set at 500 Hz, tuned away until I could not hear him.  At 500 Hz away, he was silent, with no phase noise present at all.  Even at reduced bandwidths, when moving closer, phase noise was audible, at about an S4-5 level.  Still the DSP was working quite well.  Hundreds of S9+ signals during the contest will really test this aspect of the receiver performance.

Initial impressions of receiver performance are certainly favorable.  The weekly 80m QRP Foxhunt was going on which always offers plenty of weak signals which I could use to test the weak signal performance.  I quickly found the first fox in Wisconsin, who was 10 over 9, and quickly worked him.  I then found the second fox, who was in NH.  This is a long haul for my antenna which is only at 30 feet.  He was very weak but certainly readable with QSB.  The noise reduction settings were very effective and I found NR2 to be the best for weak CW signals.  There was little degradation of the desired signal while maintaining a noticeable reduction in band noise.  Running with the AGC off helped pull the signal from the noise.  Unfortunately I was unable to work him but I would say the 590 at least matched the weak signal performance of the KX3 in this brief test.

Next I set up the USB audio card to run some JT-65.  As I mentioned earlier, all of the USB settings are in the same part of the menu, but I still had to consult the manual to figure out exactly what each setting did.  Using the latest version of WSJT-X, you simply select the USB audio card in the preferences and adjust the computer and rig's audio levels for optimum operation.  It takes some time to get things working correctly but once you have it set up, you won't have to touch it again, which is nice.  For some reason I couldn't get the audio from my Mac to output to the radio but using the Win version of the app (running in Parallels) worked fine.  I'm sure I have something set incorrectly.  The 590 keys on VOX on digital which means you can keep the rig control set up on your logger without having to switch between the apps controlling your radio.  This isn't a big problem if you use HRD on Windows since it has its own control output, but on OS X, there's no way to duplicate COM ports.  I still have not figured out how to do the dual receive of JT-65 and JT-9, but that is a low priority thing for me anyway.  I understand it can be done with the 590 though.

I spent the rest of the evening playing around and chasing DX.  I even worked an all time new one, bringing my DXCC count to 191 worked.

Stay tuned for a post-contest update!

tl;dr Some ergonomic drawbacks, but performance admirable so far

Run For The Bacon (RFTB) and some night time operating

Band conditions kept me from going to the park on Saturday and a get together for my wife's work kept me busy most of the day Sunday but I managed to carve out some time on Sunday night to get into the Flying Pigs QRP club's Run For the Bacon.

RFTB is a monthly 2 hour QRP sprint style contest.  I had not really participated in one before but I've been a FP member for a while, number 2258.  I was hoping to run the MTR for the event but I realized that with the new battery I'm pushing 6w to the wire so I decided not to cheat!  So KX3 it was.  The weather was really nice last night, about 73 even after the sun set and there were no bugs to speak of so a deck operation was called for.  I've been meaning to try a magnetic loop antenna again so I took the box I already had made up for the capacitor, found a piece of RG58 jumper that would serve as the loop element, put an FT117-43 core over the coax with a couple turns of hook up wire for the coupling feed and ta-da, a magnetic loop was (re)born!

I set the antenna up on at light stand at about 4 feet next to the table on the deck and set to it.  I could get 1:1 SWR on the loop on 20 and 40 though I suspect the efficiency on 40 was single digits, and probably not much more than 30% on 20.  No less, I could hear several QRP signals from all over the country and I managed to work NY, GA, AL, and TX in the hour of casual operating.  Yeah, not stellar numbers but as the ambient light was dwindling, I also took the opportunity to play with my new camera a bit and captured some  pretty cool shots.

I need to really tune this magnetic loop thing.  I would really use one if I could get it to be more efficient and easier to tune.  I might need to build a Tayloe bridge...

2-fer SOTA Activation in the new W9 Association

Whew... I just got done transcribing the logs onto my computer and uploading to the database. Ended up with 87 total QSOs between both peaks.

First stop was Platte Mounds, W9/WI-017, which is about 2 hours and 15 min from my house in Cedar Rapids, IA. Not a bad drive at all. I couldn't convince my wife to come with... As I drove, I monitored 146.52 simplex and actually worked a guy who was aeronautical mobile right as I pulled up to the parking lot at the base of the summit. That was pretty cool!

View from Platte Mound, WI, W9/WI-017

There's something like 250 steps to the peak so it made the hike pretty easy. There were a couple of picnic tables at the top so I set up shop on one and hauled up my homebrew 10/20/40 EFHW to one of the little trees near the table. The end was up about 15 feet, not as high as I would have liked, but it worked all right. I unloaded the KX3 and got to it. I ran with the internal AA cels, 2000mAh rated Eneloops, and 5w the whole time at Platte Mounds, which was great, I was a little unsure how long I could go. There were a few others at the top coming and going but only one visitor who was interested in my activity. A quick chat (his kids went to school in IA) and I was back at the pileup. I finished up with 45 QSOs and headed off for Blue Mounds.

SOTA Flag flying on Platte Mound

As luck would have it, W7II, Bill, was also in the area going to a Shakespeare festival that his sister was participating in. Bill is one of the N0MA contest guys and lives at the farm. It was perfect timing; just as I pulled out of the parking area at Platte Mounds, he called me on 2m simplex. He was just a few miles away and he road along with me for a while on the way to Blue Mounds.

I pulled into the Blue Mounds community and it turned out that there was a big bike race going on in the park. I figured I would be have a bit of trouble finding a spot to set up. I was a bit disappointed to find that the park requires a parking fee to enter, $10/day for out of state plates. Oh well, all in the name of radio!
Anyway, a quick zip around and I manged find a nice tucked away spot to operate that was somewhat private. I got on the air as fast as I could, hoping to work ND0C on W0/ND-003 for a Summit 2 Summit first: first activation of an ND summit and first activation of a WI summit. Signals were not the best, but we got it! I set off to my own frequency and ran stations on CW for quite a while. I switched to SSB and worked a few more new ones and several guys I had already worked on CW. Somewhere along the line, I got the BATT LOW message on the KX3 meaning the NiMH battery voltage had dropped below 8.5VDC so I grabbed the big SLA (7.5AH) and cranked the power to 10w on the KX3. I figured it might help a few who were not hearing me yet. I ran 10w the rest of the activation.

I was hoping to stay long enough to work another S2S with Frank, K0JQZ, but they were running behind quite a bit so I couldn't wait, I had promised the wife I'd be home by a certain time. Sure enough, about 10 minutes after I left, I saw the spot that they were QRV.

In all, I had 87 contacts, including 5 S2S contacts, a huge success in my book. I do wish they were more "traditional" summits with some hiking and awesome mountain views, but we take what we can get in the flatlands! Both logs have been uploaded to the SOTA database, LoTW, ClubLog and eQSL so if you're waiting for a QSL, check there. I transcribed the logs by hand so there's a chance I made a mistake somewhere. If you have not got a QSL and are expecting one, let me know!

This was my 2nd SOTA activation, first being Emerald Mountain in Estes Park, CO 2 years ago. I learned a lot in that first activation that helped me on this one. There was no SOTA Goat iPhone app so getting word out was not as easy and I don't think I announced it anywhere when I got to the peak. There was also a big contest going on and I had not prepared for any bands but 20 and 40m. That made it pretty tough. I was also rushed a bit since I was with other (non-ham) people. This time was a lot different, and it helped a lot that I have been following the pros like wG0AT so I knew a lot better what to expect. There's nothing like sending that first CQ after spotting yourself and hearing 20 station come back. This ham loves a pileup!

A special thanks to WA2USA, Dennis, who spearheaded the W9 association setup. I'm sure it was a lot of work! Thanks to all the others who worked me, I hope I was able to work everybody who called, if not, there's always next time!