tuning range 80 khz or 150 khz?

[ki4bbl]

I now get to choose my tuning range.  I am a 15-18 wpm op that has a General license...studying for Extra.  What are your opinions about the different tuning ranges?

Thanks,
Greg
ki4bbl

[Don Wilhelm-4]

Greg,

Try the wide range first.  If it turns out to tune too fast for you, it
is a relatively easy matter to swap the capacitor and the crystal for
the 30 meter band for the narrow range later.

Think of it as a 2 component change (only one if you do not have 30
meter coverage).
You may have to tweak the windings on L1 and change the CAL OPF menu
parameter on 30 meters due to the crystal change, but that is all there
is to switching VFO ranges.

73,
Don W3FPR

ki4bbl wrote:
> I now get to choose my tuning range.  I am a 15-18 wpm op that has a General
> license...studying for Extra.  What are your opinions about the different
> tuning ranges?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg
> ki4bbl
>  
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[WB8ENE]

I set mine up for the narrow tuning range, but sometimes I wish I had the wider range to be able to work some of the slower CW above 7.1MHz.  However, I find that even with the narrow range the tuning knob seems a bit too touchy for me, so I'll probably leave it as it is.

Art
WB8ENE

[Brett Howard]

Mine is setup for the wider range and I greatly appreciate the tuning
speed.  It allows for quickish QSY as well as fine tuning.  Granted I'm
a knob turner at work often too and I've got steady hands so I'm a bit
used to it...  But there are some old guys who love to get a chance to
play with the K1 every year at FD and they too find the rig just fine in
the higher bandwidth setting.  

Funny story about the K1 was that there was a guy who made a contact
with the east coast during field day as we were still getting ready.  He
made this contact while telling me that life was too short for QRP.  But
then he broke a small pile up with QRP.  Next he poked his head out of
the tent and saw that 80% of the antenna was laying on the ground and
they'd only partially gotten one end up in a tree at all.  He now has
the attitude that QRP is fine as long as you approach it with the
attitude that you're a big gun.  Get your timing right and it can result
in a lot of Q's!  So anyway this guy now makes an attempt (jokingly of
course) to try and steal the K1 every year.  Set him off with the K1 and
a battery and he's a happy guy.  

Good luck with your K1.  Its been a fun one for me!

~Brett

On Fri, 2010-04-30 at 06:35 -0700, ki4bbl wrote:
> I now get to choose my tuning range.  I am a 15-18 wpm op that has a General
> license...studying for Extra.  What are your opinions about the different
> tuning ranges?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg
> ki4bbl


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[Byron N6NUL]

I went with 80 khz, and the actual value ended up being 108 khz.  Also being a general class, when I was done with the K1 I changed the VFO range so that the available frequencies were a closer match to what I am allowed to use.  For me it is working out well.

Byron KI6NUL
K1 #2799

[ki4bbl]

Great opinions.  I have also been reading some stuff online about it.  I think the wide tuning into novice is beneficial, and if anything, I can do what Don suggests and just switch out the cap if I can't seem to get along with it.  

Thanks,

Greg
ki4bbl