An Interesting Article for Amateur Radio Hikers

[Jim Harris-4]

Something that might be of interest to all amateur
radio hikers.  It might be just the thing for
Elecraft's QRP rigs.  The link is from the CNN website
tonight.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/09/09/backpack.reut/index.html

BTW, had about a dozen amateurs over yesterday to do
some tower work and every one just "had" to see my K2.
 Of course, I was happy to oblige them.  At least one
OM went away shaking his head saying no single
conversion radio can be that good.

Have fun and enjoy.

Jim, AB0UK
K2/100 S/N 4787




       
               
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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

Jim, AB0UK wrote:
Something that might be of interest to all amateur
radio hikers.  It might be just the thing for
Elecraft's QRP rigs.  The link is from the CNN website
tonight.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/09/09/backpack.reut/index.html

------------------------------

Yeah, you get 7 watts if you hump along 85 lbs (38 kg) in the backpack.
Hmmm... I don't think I'd have the energy to operate after hauling that load
up a mountain.

Anybody remember a famous cartoonist of yesteryear named "Rube Goldberg"? He
used to come up with these ideas for fun in the comics!

It also makes this interesting claim: "Pound for pound, food contains about
100-fold more energy than batteries."

Clearly we need a bionic K2. But I can just picture finding the darn thing
raiding the 'fridge after a busy evening on the air, or discovering my K2
used the aux i/o computer link to order a family-sized triple pepperoni
pizza in the middle of the sweepstakes.  

Ron AC7AC

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[N2EY]

In a message dated 9/12/05 12:24:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[hidden email] writes:


> my K2
> used the aux i/o computer link to order a family-sized triple pepperoni
> pizza in the middle of the sweepstakes.  
>

Make that "anchovy pizza" and I'm in!

Lessee....KPO2? ("PO" for "Pizza Ordering")

73 de Jim, N2EY

kudos to Rod Newkirk, W9BRD, and "Grommethead Schultz"
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[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

Until recently, I have been using my HFPacker 35-50W amplifier with my
K2, KX1, and other QRP rigs, all going out to an LDG Z100 tuner.

In the shack the Z100 was having trouble matching my doublet on some
bands, but the K2's had KAT2 never had a problem, so I decided to try
a KAT100 to get better response and also avoid having to retune and
switch the KAT2 in and out when going QRP or QRO.

There is one gotcha in using the KAT100 with a non-Elecraft amplifier:
when in place, the KAT100 provides the power measurement to the K2,
and so the power control operates over the whole system.  In other
words, the K2's power pot setting is being checked against the output
power of the amplifier, not the output power of the K2.  This works FB
with the KPA100 (as you might expect) but with a non-Elecraft
amplifier, it doesn't, because without a KPA100 plugged in, the K2's
power knob still stops at 15W.

I explored this issue with Gary AB7MY who very patiently worked
through the scenarios with me, and I wound up taking his suggestion to
unsolder the VRFDET line at the KAT100 end of the IO cable.  That
caused the K2 to use its internal RF metering (in my case the KAT2) to
measure the K2's output, and I can set it to 2.5W like I did before.

Now I have can leave the KAT100 in place and not have to retune when
switching the amplifier in and out, nor worry about whether I've got a
match.  The Z100 will still have a place in my shack and my pack for
higher power for my other rigs, but for the K2, the KAT100 works FB
and matches my doublet on the bands that the Z100 had trouble on.

Thanks to Gary!

Leigh / WA5ZNU
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