KX1 MOJO!

[Michael Madden-3]

I fired up the KX1 at a park near San Jose, California
last night for the Spartan Sprint.  Lots of fun -
Worked 15 states with a total of about 40 QSOs on 20M
and 40M.  All corners of the country on 2W.  Antenna
was a 27' wire hanging vertically from a tree, and I
had a 16' and 23' counterpoise.

Then, as I was about to pack up, I heard a station
around 14.058 calling CQ FISTS.  Callsign was ZL2SWR
with a solid signal!  I called back and worked Stan in
Greytown, New Zealand on the first try.  We had
several exchanges for about 10 minutes with Q5 copy.
Incredible!

6725 miles on 2W and a 27' wire in a tree!  I tuned
over to 14.100 and listened for the beacons.  Sure
enough, I could copy all four tones from Hawaii and
New Zealand.  100 mW from ZL!  After tuning around, I
heard many calls from Russia and then later from
Eastern Europe.

If you're looking for a new country or distance record
on your KX1, try tonight around 0300 to 0500 UTC.  

73,
Mike N9OHW

 


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[Mike F.]

What a great post!  Reports like this are why I can't wait to get my KX1 built.

--
73,
Mike, KC0KBC
Yaesu FT-857D, FT-8800R, VX-7RB
Elecraft KX1 #1819 (awaiting birth), XG2

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Michael Madden <[hidden email]>
> I fired up the KX1 at a park near San Jose... and worked Stan in
> Greytown, New Zealand on the first try.  We had
> several exchanges for about 10 minutes with Q5 copy.
> Incredible!
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[Koaps]

Hi all,

I'm at the point with my KX1 build to wind my first
torroid and I have a question.

In the man it says to cut 13" of red wire, after
winding 14 turns on a yellow core, I still have a lot
of extra wire.

Almost 2" on one side and about 4.5" on the other.

Is this the norm?

Just want to make sure things are right before I trim
and tin.

Thanks
-chris


       
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[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

Chris,
Here are some things about toroids.

1. Everybody tells you to count the turns as you go through the toroid,
but nobody ever tells you how to check it afterwards.  Once you've
wound, count the number of turns on the inside of the ring and you can
verify the number to make sure it's right.

2. There's two ways to wind them and they "wind up" being mirror
images.  Sometimes it doesn't matter, but usually you have to do it the
right way or else it won't line up with the holes.  Start out either
left on top or right on top, and keep it that way.  Once you've wound it
and it doesn't fit the board, flipping the toroid itself over won't help.

3. Pay careful attention to getting the enamel insulation off the ends
of the wire, up to and just past the point where the wire goes into the
board.  Any insulation that touches the PC board is a recipe for
trouble.  Don't wear shorts when you're tinning the leads.  (Not that I
have any experience with that...)

4. If there are pictures, make the toroid windings look like the
pictures.  If not, make it take up 80% of the core.  See also #2 if
there are pictures.

5. Always double and triple check to make sure none of the windings
cross over each other or get "knotted" up.  (Remember in Ghostbusters
when they said, "Never cross the streams!"  They didn't say why, but my
guess is that it has to do with flux linkages.)

6. And finally, if you want to eliminate that asymmetric wire, you can
run center the wire in the toroid before winding by holding both ends of
the wire, making it into a U and, and dangling the toroid from the
center of the wire like a necklace or a charm bracelet. Then wind back
both ways, (N-1)/2 turns. The wire will always come out centered.
Unfortunately, you have to think harder to deal with #2 if you do this,
because everything winds up backwards from how you start. Obviously this
works out best for odd-numbered turns counts.  For even counts of turns,
give one side an extra turn and start it out longer by 1/2" for T30 and
1" for T50.

73 es GL,
Leigh/WA5ZNU

> Hi all,
>
> I'm at the point with my KX1 build to wind my first
> torroid and I have a question.
>
> In the man it says to cut 13" of red wire, after
> winding 14 turns on a yellow core, I still have a lot
> of extra wire.
>
> Almost 2" on one side and about 4.5" on the other.
>
> Is this the norm?
>
> Just want to make sure things are right before I trim
> and tin.
>
> Thanks
> -chris
>
>  

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