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Reviews For: Elecraft K1

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Elecraft K1
Reviews: 140MSRP: 279
Description:
4-band QRP CW kit
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.elecraft.com/K1/K1.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151404.9
ZS1AN Rating: 2003-01-08
An Excellent Portable Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I built the K1 for portable operations, especially activating mountain summits for Summits on the Air. With the internal battery and ATU options it provides a complete 4-band portable station in a tiny package with low (55mA) receive current drain.

Construction was simple thanks to the excellent manual and the rig came through its first field test on Table Mountain with flying colours. IF derived AGC would be nice but otherwise it's nearly perfect.

See my full review at www.qsl.net/zs1an/k1_review.html
AC7LC Rating: 2002-11-27
incredible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Egads! What a rig! And a kit, at that!
This little rig gives a clear, readable recieve of signals my TS590 barely even heard!
I built my K1-2 for 30 & 17m. I hadn't ever worked these bands, so I wanted something new. The experience caused me to sell the TS590 without any regret.
The rig is very simple to operate, and aside from the XIT, has nothing I don't want. The recieve performance is excellent!
The construction manual is great, with an excellent lead-in (to kit building), and a very logical flow. Lots of test points, and great support (I never needed to contact anyone, all of my questions were answered in the FAQ and the email reflector archive).
I am a software engineer, not a radio tech, so I am absolutely amazed at the performance of this rig that I built and aligned!
ZS5IAN Rating: 2002-11-10
Worked first time! Great! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am not into electronics in any way, but I had built a TenTec 1320 which was quite easy. The K1-2 took about 4 nights to build and worked first time out. (I did make one mistake and put a 20 pin connector on the wrong side of the board - my own fault! - but the chaps at Elecraft quickly sent me a replacement) I made most of my contacts locally in South Africa on 40m and then had a go on 20m. Have had 3 contacts from Poland and 2 from USA on 20m.
The rig works well after a 3 minute warm up period and the menu is easy for an Irish brain to understand and use.
RST from USA today was 579 using 3 watts output.
This radio puts the fun back into calling CQ - now suffering from withdrawal symptoms and need to use the soldering iron once more - maybe a K2?
WD9IFF Rating: 2002-09-05
Great QRP Rig / Kit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I built a Heathkit HW-8 24 years ago but nothing major since. Elecraft K1 kit / instructions as good or better. Mine was a bare bones two bander (20/40mtrs). I was very slow and deliberate & spent 36 bench hours over three weeks from opening box to first QSO. Building it was loads of fun & I'm rewarded with the best QRP rig I've ever seen. Meets or exceeds every specification. Alignment / adjustment easy without fancy test equipment. Highly recommended.

Woody / WD9F
AG4KU Rating: 2002-09-05
Nice Kit Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This was my first kit ever and all I can say is...WOW! It was very easy to build and the manual was clear and detailed. Follow the instructions exactly and you just can't miss... But if you do, Elecraft support is top notch! You've got multiple choises for support via an active email list of builders or direct to elecraft. This, to me, was worth the price alone!

It's a very fine QRP CW rig for camp, trail, or home. With the ATU and internal battery options installed it is a complete station all in one box.

On the down side, it does drift a bit and is very sensitive to temp changes. As long as you are aware of this, it is no big deal.

All in all, a very fun kit to build and operate.

Scott
N0YGY Rating: 2002-09-05
First Class Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Outstanding little kit. If you have any interest in building your own amatuer radio equipment this is an excellent choice. The kit is very well packaged, the instructions are quite readable and easy to follow. Anyone with even the smallest understanding of electronics and building techniques will have absolutely no problems building this kit. This is also great for first time builders.

The equipment required to assemble this kit is reasonable and most hams will have in their shack. (i.e. soldering iron, pliers, diagonal cutters and screw drivers) No "TEST" equipment is required. (though a DMM is helpful)

Once assembled you are left with a first class radio capable of two- or four-band CW operation. (depending on options purchased) Recieve quality is very good. Weak signals can be heard clearly and filter (800, 400, 250) selection is first rate. It contains most bells and whistles needed (AGC, RIT, XIT, keyer, 2 keyer memories, etc.) On transmit I've heard good reports from every contact, many cannot believe it's a K1 running 5 watts. The ATU (option) seems to tune just about anything.

Build this kit, get a battery (an interal battery option is available) and about a hundered feet of wire; stuff the whole lot into a kids lunch pale (with padding of course) and you've got a radio in a box that you can take to Field Day, hiking, camping or just hanging out at your kids soccer practice! Throw the wire up into a tree, hook up the battery and in less time than it takes for you kid to warm-up, your ready to go on the air.
W2RBA Rating: 2002-09-04
Works wonders! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I built my K1 in December of 2000 and, like my K2, it was a joy to build. I ordered the K1 with the four band filter board and quickly received the kit. All the parts were there, the attention to quality control never ceases to amaze me! And it went together beautifully, easily and quickly. When I marred the face place (or bezel) earlier this summer, a phone call elicited the very reasonably priced replacement. I have acquired all the options for the K1 over the past year and they are easy to install and operate - especially the internal automatic antenna tuner and battery option. The rig is *small*! I wish 80 meters could be included, but I understand the reasoning behind omitting it -- I'll just have to build a 2-band board when 60 meters is finally open to us. At any rate, you cannot go wrong with an Elecraft rig -- and you get to put it together!

72,

Joe, W2RBA

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W2RBA on 2001-12-25

Santa was extremely good to me this year -- s/he got me a K1 radio! The arrival of the package (just three business days after the order was submitted) was my cue to begin pestering my XYL to let me get started "so it would be ready on Christmas day" (!) Well, it was fairly transparent but Laura gave in anyway. I assembled the radio over the last week and just today put the finishing touches (i.e., the battery kit) into it. It works like a charm! My first QSO was on 15 meters and the second was an hour-long rag chew of 40. It's no K2 on receive (I mean, what is?) but it's sure sensitive and selective enough for what it is. Transmit power can be adjusted to more the 6 watts, so for those moments when the rig is at home on ac mains, it has plenty of oomph. I highly recommend it and Elecraft's other offerings -- not only is the radio first rate but the support (both official and unofficial via the Elecraft reflector) is unbelievable! Great radio and great people to help you along. Couldn't ask for anything more.
former_AE6CP_LH Rating: 2002-07-14
just plain rocks Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had so much fun building the little k1-4 and all the trimmings that I almost cried when I finally had to turn my iron off. The thing works great, does everything they promise and when you make a QSO and tell the other op what your using a pileup can be generated by people wanting to know more about it. The thing will practically run on a 9 volt battery and it is by far the best looking qrp cw kit. I bought the k2/100 and all the trimmings as well, not because I really needed it but I just have so much fun putting them together. I hope Elecraft keeps me in kits for the rest of my life.
KE4U Rating: 2002-07-01
First class kit! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The K1 kit was a base model two bands - no options. The instruction manual was very good. All parts were present and accounted for. The PC board was silkscreened and solder masked. The plated thru holes were nicely manufactured and made for an excellent assembly. The parts supplied appeared to be of commercial quality and the mechanical assemblies were all very well made and finished.

Assembly was straightforward and uneventful. This is not a kit that can be hastily assembled by a beginner. A first time builder CAN put this radio together with careful attention to detail and some patience.

Operation is startling as the sensitivity is quite good even with a telescoping whip antenna. I operated the radio from my shack and intrigued with the portability of the rig operated from my deck. I received very good tone signal reports and found the internal keyer to be very useable.

Addiction set in soon after I used the rig; I was irresistably drawn to purchase the stand so I could set up the rig for easy viewing. Very nice accessory! Then - more withdrawal - I ordered the internal automatic antenna tuner. More fun to assemble, calibrate and test. Seems to work OK within its design match range. Then - again withdrawal - I just had to have the internal battery kit. I outfitted it with a field replaceable connectorized 8 cell battery holder and loaded it with 1600ma NiMH AA cells. With my autotransformer tuned whip and a stowable dipole cut for the two bands I ordered (20 & 40M) I was in business.

One modification that I made: the display is not backlit (cost controls?). I added 2 bright white LEDs to wash the side of the LCD. this works OK and does not add excessive current draw (abt 12ma).

The entire station stows away in an old computer bag ready for field day and vacations. This is a very nice rig and I can not wait to operate it "in the wild" away from the home station.
KC0CXI Rating: 2002-05-14
Amazing rig! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
First off -- the K1 is an amazing performer. I get great signal reports and the receiver performance is excellent.

The unit is well-laid out. Functions like RIT work great, the "tune" function is handy, and the option of setting one key to an often used function is a nice touch. It's a fun radio to operate.

As a kit, it's just about as good as you can get. The manual is first-rate, and it's fun to build. Support is also excellent.

And the price is also quite amazing. You get almost full band coverage, and lots of opportunities to expand. I just finished the 4-band module, and have ordered the battery kit, and I'm sure one of these months I'll build the tuner. If you want to have a great time in ham radio without spending a huge amount of money, the K1 is a great choice.