Re: New K3 User and New Ham

Posted by KC2VNI on Jan 05, 2010; 6:27pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/New-K3-User-and-New-Ham-tp4253024p4256584.html


Thanks for the many fine comments. I only have the 1 tall tree. It is approximately 25-30 feet high. It is dead so there is no way I am going to harm it (accordingly, this is not a concern).

Here's the "take-away" I got from reading your many fine suggestions thus far:
- Make sure you do some research on the type of antenna you want to get. (I am an electrical engineer by background but RF engineering and antennas is NOT my strong suit.)

- Make sure you get some height to your antenna. I purchased the Buddi Pole system BUT I understand that any form of antenna like this is NOT going to give you good performance.

- It is probably a good idea to use some of the local hams here to get some help with the antenna system as they can help out with picking this.

- Battery power may or may not be appropriate for continuous operations of the equipment.

- I am not so concerned about getting a "Ferrari" for a radio as my 1st one (in lieu of something closer to a Chevy) as I believe that the manual is fairly well laid out. The big concern here is context. Example: it's nice to know HOW to perform an alignment of the radio BUT the question for the beginner is "What does alignment actually do?".