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Reviews For: Elecraft KX1

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Elecraft KX1
Reviews: 92MSRP: 279
Description:
A unique 3-band HF CW transceiver optimized for backbacking and lightweight travel; only 9 oz., 1.3"H x 5.2"W x 3"D. Includes DDS VFO, internal battery, optional internal automatic antenna tuner, plug-in keyer paddle. Covers entire 20/30/40m ham bands (30 m optional) plus SWL segments.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.elecraft.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15924.8
KK7SS Rating: 2003-10-14
A high-tech Pocket Rocket Time Owned: N.A.
There is not much I can add to the previous reviewer's comments, and I agree with all of them.
Here's my take...
I took about 14 hours to build it, including the ATU and 30M options. Not bad - considering I wear tri-focals...
Not only does it cover *all* of the 40M, 30M and 20M bands on user selectable CW, USB and LSB , it also will tune in all the SWL Bands between 5 MHz and 16.5 Mhz, plenty of opportunity to do some SWL'ing if you're so inclined. What more could you want, or even pack, into a box that is no bigger than a 1.5" thick 3 by 5 card???
A nice touch is that, if you're tuned in to a SSB station, you're automatically on the right frequency to send CW with the correct offset so the other station hears you without having to retune --genuine cross mode operation.

On recieve it's just as sensitive as the K2 and gives plenty of audio out to my Sony earbuds...

AF gain, RF Gain, RIT, a variable IF filter which keeps the signal centered, built-in keyer, a 15 option menu, the list goes on....
So far I've loaded it into a Force12 Sigma 5, A multiband dipole, a 25ft piece of wire tacked to the ceiling of the bedroom, and even an MP1 leaning up against the wall, and it's just "load and go"!
Last night I was lying in bed with the lights off, running off the internal batteries, Sony earbuds plugged in, on the air and NOBODY could tell what I was doing!!!

And here's a really nice touch. You can set it up so that, as you alter a setting or touch a button, it will announce what you've got (or done) in Morse Code.... this means that, here at last is a rig that our sight impaired fellow Ham's can use without having to lug a PC or an audio interpreter around... That's GOT to be a Ham Radio "First".

With the KX1 in one pocket, and my earbuds and antenna wire in the other, I'm ready for a contact at any time, anywhere (well- almost anywhere ).
I haven't had this much fun in ages :-)

If you want to have a "station in your pocket" then this is the one to have !!

KK7SS
W3DX Rating: 2003-10-13
The Ultimate, 3-Band, Pocket-Size Backpacking Rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Ultimate, 3-Band, Pocket-Size Backpacking Rig!

Elecraft has done it again. First it was the K2: the ultimate Field Day rig, all bands, SSB/CW, 15 watts. Wildly popular. And a kit! Then came the K1: a 4-band, 7-watt baby brother to the K2 that fits in a small briefcase.

But now there's the KX1: a 9-ounce, 3x5x1 inch, 3-band, 4-watt, miniature station that fits in the palm of your hand. Incredibly, it has an internal battery and internal ATU, and of course a digital display and built-in keyer. And it's still an easy-to-build kit! There are only 3 surface-mount parts, and they're all pre-installed. It took me less than 10 hours to build. (I admit it: I'm an advanced builder, and I have a huge collection of kits. But the manual is extremely well written and illustrated, and anyone with some soldering experience could handle it and Elecraft is legendary for their tech support.)

There are many unique aspects to the KX1 that make it a backpacker's dream rig.  With the controls facing up and a plug-in keyer paddle (that weighs 1 ounce), you can easily use it sitting on the ground, or in a beach chair, at a picnic table, in a sleeping bag, or even standing up. (No more key strapped to the leg or dangling keyer paddle.) It covers the entire 40/30/20 m ham bands with its DDS VFO, but it's actually smaller than many of the current crop of monoband QRP rigs. The built-in battery pack powers the rig to about 2 watts out, and since it draws just 30 mA or so on receive, you could literally do an entire Field Day on one set of 6 AA batteries! The autotuner option is very effective with random-wire-in-a-tree antennas, and it, too, weighs almost nothing.  I tested the ATU on all three bands against five antennas (vertical, beam, outbacker, sloper and home-made wire antenna), and got a good match in all conditions.

One of my favorite features is the SWL band coverage. The variable-bandwidth crystal filter lets you copy AM, SSB, or CW. That means that when you are backpacking, you can tune into WWV for propagation reports, or tune in your favorite SWL station like the BBC on 5975 KHz.  There are 9 memories, a "high-priority" memory so you can quickly jump to WWV or your favorite QRP watering hole, and you can copy both USB and LSB on all three bands. It's easy to work cross-mode (CW TX, SSB RX), great for emergencies.

Let's look at the weight.  With a set of 6 AA batteries installed, the KX1 weighs just 13 ounces including the 30 meter module and the built in ATU.  Throw in earbud speakers, the built-in paddle and a wire antenna, and you have a complete station that weighs only one pound.

The KX1 is just way too cool. Trust me, you'll be making up excuses to go for day hikes and two-week backpacking trips just to use it. You'll use it late at night, working DX or listning to SWL stations while lying in bed (yes, it has a built-in LED log-book lamp that doubles as an OK flashlight!). You might even get caught trying to do ham radio from the dinner table, or while watching TV, or at work.

My first two days operating the KX1 in my backyard were great fun.  I got into a fair amount of DX, working IT9, CT1, EA6 and a number of stations throughout the US.  I was operating just 1 watt with a simple 25 foot wire tied to a tree limb at 10-feet and dangling down to my radio (along with a couple of radials tossed to the ground.  I literally soldered the center wire and the radials directly to a BNC conductor without a coax feedline, so the antenna weighs just a few ounces. 

During my second outing, four hot-air balloons flew overhead along with a squadron of geese.  Near sunset, I tuned in the BBC on 5975 to listen to the international news, and it sounded great with the wire antenna.  It was a really nice outing.

Elecraft set out to develop the ultimate portable, back-packing rig designed to operate on extremely low current while delivering a robust feature set for serious operation.  They succeeded, and the Elecraft legend continues.  Resistance is futile. This is stealth-HF-to-go in its purest form!

W3DX