any reports from HamCom?

[Ken N9VV-2]

Did anyone see the K3 at HamCom? how was the show?
TU de ken n9vv
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[Stuart Rohre]

Ham Com was great!  The second year in the new venue with FREE parking!
(Plano Centre)  (Just north of Dallas on the Central Expressway, 75.  Easy
access from 75, and discount gas at the intesection.

YES, we saw, and turned knobs on the K3, which was hooked up to tune signals
on a band.  A very effective marketing method, compared to the static
displays of Yaecomwood, and the Hilberling German transceiver.
(The North American importer, Array Solutions,  had just gotten one in).

Ten Tec also had their models lite up.  I am not sure you could tune in
signals on them.  The Orion II, and the Omni VII, in addition to the rest of
their models, were shown.

Elecraft of course, had all their models (and the K2 still looks good, next
to its brothers).  I think the K3 stole the show, being on a prominent
corner of a front row in the exhibit hall.  The Hilberling was in a crowded
area near the seminar rooms, which made it harder to see.  Ten Tec had
another corner of the rows in the back of the exhibit hall.   Several
dealers had Yaecomwoods of all stripes.

The Elecraft accessory kits were also on show, and the sales were happening
each time I stopped by the booth.

Eric did a seminar on the design philosophy that went into the K3.

As always happens at these fests, there were so many good seminars like this
at the same time, one had trouble seeing them all.

The Hilberling, still has to do its FCC testing, which is upcoming.  I think
Elecraft is poised in a good position with a great price point, for the K3,
when you find out the 600 watt version of the Hilberling is going to cost
$15,000.  Their QRP version is going to still be a stiff bit of change as
well.  The K3 design competes vigorously against both the off shore vendors,
and Ten Tec.

On top of the showing of so many new radio designs, there was a seminar by
Tim Duffey on his contest station for Multi Multi DX Contesting.  How about
single band linears for every band, and 28  beam elements at a time, in a
stack?  With one tower of several being 170 feet !  And a 300 foot drop off
in elevation to both Europe and Japan!  And four square antennas for
spotting!

Back to the K3.  As an owner of one of the original K2's, (which made me
very happy), I told Eric he had now made my life difficult.  In other words,
they did a great job designing the K3.  It looks like it would be an
addition to any shack, even one with a K2 already.  They really listened to
the multitude, and even have a nice large dimple spinner knob on the K3!
The feel is smooth and like velvet.  The controls have good human factors,
including LED's next to the second function controls, so that you can, at a
glance, see what all you have operational.

The K3 surprised me in that the heat sink is contained inside the cabinet,
but that must mean the finals have some extra shielding.  It is larger than
a K2, but not too large, and smaller than some transceivers.  I think it is
Just Right, to quote Goldilocks.

As I told Eric; normally, I am an analog meter person.  I seldom like
digital meter displays emulating an analog meter, but the K3 multifunction
display won me over.

  Besides a very readable S meter function, there is the neatest thing I
have seen in a radio.  When you change filter bandwidths, a graph of the
filter band pass changes width to follow your selection!  Each of these
separate functions are well spaced from the readouts of digits for
frequency, etc.  The display is not as crowded as some.

There were so many things to see and seminars to enjoy, that there were not
enough hours in 2 days to do them justice, and still make the individual
swappers' tables, as well as the tail gate swap.

There were many old radio books available, including a pristine 1957 red
ARRL Handbook, like my first, but with much better binding and covers, ie
not worn.
My take was the first owner had not stayed in radio!

While most handbooks on that table, both ARRL and The Radio Handbook, were
going for $15, there was another table with a sign, any book in this box $5,
and there were a number of ARRL Hanbooks from the 50's on.

The regular dealers were all there, MFJ was there, as well as some vendors
of products like radio combiners for Homeland Defense applications.  Flex
Radio was there with the 5000.

Somehow, a radio front panel on a computer screen has not seemed like a
"real radio" to me.
At least, the RF sections are in a box separate from the computer, or so it
seemed.   It was hard to get up close to the 5000, as they had many viewers,
and a smaller booth.

It was great to see Elecraft with a long booth, and all the products spread
out to be easily viewed.  I think Elecraft had as big a booth as Ten Tec,
and other long time radio dealers at this show.  As happened at past Ham
Coms, the biggest dealer display was one whole wall devoted to WB0W.

They have everything from books to mobile mounts, mikes and rigs.

Amsat, ARRL, Army Mars, and QRP-ARCI were lined up along one hall wall with
booths.  One the other lobby hall wall was K2BSA, (Boy Scouts), several area
radio clubs, and QCWA.  QCWA had their two new cast brass belt buckles for
sale which were introduced at Dayton.  One has a silver color finish.

The Seminars had two of special interest to every ham.  One was on use of
surge protection, and the other on station grounding.  Both complimented
each other, and examples of home made chemical ground rods were shown, as
well as static dissipating brushes, for towers.  The questions from the
audience showed there is a need for this knowledge not only from new HF
hams, but also old timers who have never been quite sure why, or if, you
need a ground rod, if you run a dipole.

The station grounding seminar was by Glen Zook, who retired from TXU
Electric Utility, and he stressed that you need to bond the electric,
telephone, and ham radio ground rods together to avoid voltage gradients in
case of a near by lightning, or a near direct hit.

The other seminar showed examples of gas tube arrestors, coax arrestors,
spark gaps, and tower bonding to the feeders and to the earth for lightning
to spread out into the earth to dissipate.

Glen and the other presenter also cautioned how to properly use a UFER
ground where you bond to the steel reinforcing rod of your tower base.  You
still want some of the rods to extend below the concrete, into the earth; to
dissipate currents, and avoid overheating of the concrete during a strike.

Next year's Ham Com in Plano Centre is going to be a weekend later than this
year.  The host hotel was again the Southfork, run by the same folks who
operate the TV show "Dallas", Southfork ranch.  The ranch is not close to
the hotel, but if you bring the family, that might make a nice side trip.

One of the highlights of the Plano convention are the multitude of
restaurants convenient to 75 and the hotels.
A local star is the Vietnamese restaurant "Zanders House" where several of
us again gathered to enjoy fired rice, and chicken dishes including an
outstanding chicken curry.  There are also all the chains, like Cheddars,
Papadeaux,
(seafood),  Denney's, Chili's, Salt Grass, (steaks), etc.

For the BBQ crowd there is Red, White, and Blue, (Memphis style), and Bone
Daddy's, (a sports bar atmosphere like Hooters).

The hotels were less expensive than the old Ham Com city, (Arlington), since
we were not next door to a baseball stadium, and the food and admission to
the Ham Com were less costly.  For those deterred by parking costs in hte
past, the free parking should get you to return to the new Ham Com venue.

-Stuart
K5KVH (Austin)


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