KX-3?

[LA9XSA]

My example of going down from 58 to 57 is not from DX work.

Actually, you can strike that now. Just tonight I got an honest 58 to 59 signal report on an intercontinental 5W SSB contact. The other guy has an excellent antenna, and I have a full size dipole, but we were both quite surprised that I was so loud over there.

[W7ASA]

The military manpack has a mission requirement entirely different from the average ham QRP'er.  I can't remember the last time that I called in naval guns using a battery powered ham radio, but who knows?  I did 'call for extraction' using an SW40+ QRP rig once, but that was to get the bush pilot on-scene a day early so that my pals and I could go enjoy a well deserved steak and MUCH tequila     after two weeks in the bush!

Military manpacks are fun to use (and a pain to carry if you are carrying anything else for any distance at all. ). I enjoyed green/black radios , manpack and other, as a hobby a couple of decades.  I also hated the extra weight and etc. when I HAD TO carry them for a living; and therein lies the difference. The best suited military HF transceiver I ever saw for tossing into a rucksack & carrying long range to keep in touch outside of VHF relay in a manner similar to what an outdoor QRP'er would do, was the old PRC-64a which came to life during the Vietnam war as a radio for SF guys and spooks.  It was small, "light" by Army standards (very heavy by QRP standards) ;^)  5 Watts , built-in ATU and even had a little key right on the top of the rig under the cover. Put your dipole in the tree and you're on the air.

Now, go look up my call sign and look at the picture of my repackaged Elecraft KX-1. It has Elecraft's great electronics and light weight in addition to being very, very self contained inside of a water tight (when closed) kayaker's case. No scattered bits to forget, crunch or shred in the field. The wire antenna - a dipole is in the cloth case. The dipole = an efficient antenna as far as it's abililty to efficiently radiate energy. If I need long range/low angle comms on 30/20m, I generally use the same wire to make a half square and feed it from the ATU - it works.

>>> If the team at Elecraft would package the KX-3 in a similar manner and I'll think that I've died and gone to Heaven!    
(but they would also probably loose some customers who have other needs.  They're smart people  & know their market, as proven by their waiting list!)

As for the 3dB thing - as we stated "it's only 3 dB". If you put up any field expedient antenna where 3dB is going to make a noticable difference, then you're outside of the laws of physics.  Same antenna - right?  3dB.

If you personally want to carry QRO, then do so.  It's your life. Remember though: if you're carrying a radio in a rucksack which is going to be your home on your back, or just your picnic for the day, all that extra battery & heatsink for 20 Watts instead of the designed 10 Watt >>>  is only 3 dB  ;^)


73 de Ray
W7ASA ..._ ._

Ps. Time to go twist the dial and tap some CW.

[LA9XSA]

The best suited military HF transceiver I ever saw for tossing into a rucksack & carrying long range to keep in touch outside of VHF relay in a manner similar to what an outdoor QRP'er would do, was the old PRC-64a which came to life during the Vietnam war as a radio for SF guys and spooks.  It was small, "light" by Army standards (very heavy by QRP standards) ;^)  5 Watts , built-in ATU and even had a little key right on the top of the rig under the cover. Put your dipole in the tree and you're on the air.

Yes, as I said the KX-3 really is more in the class of those venerable spy radios that SOE operatives deep inside enemy territory would use, rather than the manpack that - say - artillery observers a few miles ahead of the front might carry with them.
They were not light by today's standards but they were back then. The transmitter and receiver would not be in the same unit, and the receiver might be a pocket radio such as the Type 31/1 "Sweetheart". When the operatives had to stay for longer than what was planned, they did stuff like steal batteries and fishing poles to improvise spares, and as far as I remember they charged the batteries by taking turns at vigorous hand-cranking. (No solar panels in those days.)

They did not have reliable communications 24/7, but they had skeds at favorable times. They could also get orders through public broadcasts, using '"Allo 'Allo"-like messages read on the BBC after the news.

There's an article available online, in Norwegian, about a trip that Gisle LA5EKA took in the Norwegian mountains. He visited places where SOE operatives were during the war, and stayed in a reconstructed SOE hideout that was given to the Norwegian Trekking Association by one of the heavy water saboteurs.
http://break.org/gisle/fjell/tafjord2005.php
Here's a picture of Gisle's KX-1 operating next to some genuine equipment from WWII.
http://break.org/gisle/fjell/Tafjordfjella%202005/target64.html
The top shelf holds the Sweetheart; one box is the receiver and the other is the battery box - you'd put one in each pocket. The delicate crystal earbuds are on the table next to a Heayberd battery charger and straight key.

Now, go look up my call sign and look at the picture of my repackaged Elecraft KX-1.

That's really cool.

[NO9E]

The biggest plus of KX3 for SSB is having both TX equalizer and rf-type speech processor. This means that KX3 can be cranked to sound like a 50W radio with bassy audio and no processor. With cheap microphone that does nor require a special connector.

I made a few tests of K3 and IC7000 in pileups; IC7000 has the mic modification.  I call with IC7000 for half an hr and nothing, and it is a minute with K3.

Ignacy

 

[QRPNEW]

Very few operators  realize that simply reducing your TX bandwidth  can boost signal to noise ratio by as much as 10 db when you use a narrow TX bandwidth. When I operate QRP SSB I always try and use 2.4khz or less bandwidth.
In readability terms its like adding a small linear if you use narrow TX bandwidth.

The worst kind of audio you can use for QRP SSB is the ridiculous ESSB bassy audio, its useless. A Heil 4, narrow TX bandwidth and speech processing can be very effective.

The SGC radio used a VOGAD type speech processor,  which was very effective. The hf military man pack radios also use this kind VOGAD circuit which is very effective with  narrow TX bandwidth.

The biggest plus of KX3 for SSB is having both TX equalizer and rf-type speech processor. This means that KX3 can be cranked to sound like a 50W radio with bassy audio and no processor. With cheap microphone that does nor require a special connector.

I made a few tests of K3 and IC7000 in pileups; IC7000 has the mic modification.  I call with IC7000 for half an hr and nothing, and it is a minute with K3.

Ignacy

 

[N5RWJ]

The military manpack has a mission requirement entirely different from the average ham QRP'er.  I can't remember the last time that I called in naval guns using a battery powered ham radio, but who knows?  I did 'call for extraction' using an SW40+ QRP rig once, but that was to get the bush pilot on-scene a day early so that my pals and I could go enjoy a well deserved steak and MUCH tequila     after two weeks in the bush!

Military manpacks are fun to use (and a pain to carry if you are carrying anything else for any distance at all. ). I enjoyed green/black radios , manpack and other, as a hobby a couple of decades.  I also hated the extra weight and etc. when I HAD TO carry them for a living; and therein lies the difference. The best suited military HF transceiver I ever saw for tossing into a rucksack & carrying long range to keep in touch outside of VHF relay in a manner similar to what an outdoor QRP'er would do, was the old PRC-64a which came to life during the Vietnam war as a radio for SF guys and spooks.  It was small, "light" by Army standards (very heavy by QRP standards) ;^)  5 Watts , built-in ATU and even had a little key right on the top of the rig under the cover. Put your dipole in the tree and you're on the air.

Now, go look up my call sign and look at the picture of my repackaged Elecraft KX-1. It has Elecraft's great electronics and light weight in addition to being very, very self contained inside of a water tight (when closed) kayaker's case. No scattered bits to forget, crunch or shred in the field. The wire antenna - a dipole is in the cloth case. The dipole = an efficient antenna as far as it's abililty to efficiently radiate energy. If I need long range/low angle comms on 30/20m, I generally use the same wire to make a half square and feed it from the ATU - it works.

>>> If the team at Elecraft would package the KX-3 in a similar manner and I'll think that I've died and gone to Heaven!    
(but they would also probably loose some customers who have other needs.  They're smart people  & know their market, as proven by their waiting list!)

As for the 3dB thing - as we stated "it's only 3 dB". If you put up any field expedient antenna where 3dB is going to make a noticable difference, then you're outside of the laws of physics.  Same antenna - right?  3dB.

If you personally want to carry QRO, then do so.  It's your life. Remember though: if you're carrying a radio in a rucksack which is going to be your home on your back, or just your picnic for the day, all that extra battery & heatsink for 20 Watts instead of the designed 10 Watt >>>  is only 3 dB  ;^)


73 de Ray
W7ASA ..._ ._

Ps. Time to go twist the dial and tap some CW.

I remember a little black all in one unit, that put out 70 watts that was called a 109 or 106 ,and Collins radios ,PRC-25 and A-432, B-43.