| KA9HJZ |
Rating:  |
2009-04-05 | |
| good litlle rig now |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Ok. After rereading the operating manual several times and working with the K1 for several days and making quite a few contacts. I have changed my mind. I have a good handle on how to use the menue and pretty well figured it out. The receiver sounds great and the tuner is working really great and puts out over 5 watts power useing my full size G5RV inverted Vee antenna.I am using a 12 volt 3.3AH battery and it has held 12.2 volts for 3 days of operating. I tried a battery pack i made with 8 rechargeable 1.2 volt 2100 Mah batteries and charge up to about 10 volts it dropped to 9 volts after one QSL. now i am a happy old ham.
----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by KA9HJZ on 2009-03-20
disregard the low rating. Part of the problem is me.to many bells and whistles for me.I like it but don't use it enough to remember all of the functions. A young person with computer savy will have no trouble. The controls have to many functions. I have to read the manual everytime i use it.I keep going back to my Ten Tec Paragon with QRP capabilities. turn it on, tune it and send.Being 71 years old doesn't help.All in all it works like it should and i have had contacts on it.I also had a Heathkit HW 9 with a matching tuner i built and liked it more. wish i never sold it to buy this one. I had a master builder do this k1 for me. |
|
| EA5BLP |
Rating: |
2009-01-10 | |
| innovative kit design |
Time Owned: N.A. |
I have buit the K1 and it works very well. It´s more than you can expect if you have some experience on electronics or as a ham radio kit builder. At the begining i thought that the cost was expensive, but after working on the circuit I understood why. I have built the heathkit SB-104,the ten tec 1330 (another great kit), some Spanish kits of the 70-80 years, and rebuilt a heathkit HW-9. Apart from this, i have home made lots of artifacts, like antennas couplers, linear amplifiers, cw electronic keyers ... Each one has his personal touch and his feeling. But the K1 is a steep ahead because it has a very inteligent design perfectly integrated on actual technology and an accurate final performance, very closed from you can expect of a comercial designed rig. It drifs? Yes, a litlle bit. As all rigs with VFO´s controled by varactors, homemade coils and condensers. But it does´nt matter for a normal QRP operation on cw. If you center your atention on having fun of the radio-activity, you will not realize any kind of drift... It´s possible to work dx? Yes, it is, if you apply the common sense rules for QRP job. It´s a kit for beginners? I would say not, but it depends what we understand for a "beginner". (There are different kinds of beginners, and those of them who pay atention and want really to learn and study, will have success..)The handbook is very well explained and all compomemts are of a great quality. But the circuit will be really problematic or complex for a beginner if this is his first kit and he knows absolutly nothing about electronics and components. The general idea of this kit is really innovative and very enjoyable when you work on it with the soldering iron. Otherwise, the exterior appearence is very, very nice. Said this, i think it´s not the perfect rig for portable, due to it´s fragile box. But it´s a minor question when you compare it with the surprising results of it´s performance.
|
|
| WB0OEW |
Rating: |
2008-09-19 | |
| I like my K1 a lot |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I built K1 S/N 02594 last month. It took me about 30 hours including tuning. It worked immediately as advertised, no problems at all.
Construction was mostly straight forward -- all parts were included, nicely packaged, most were well marked and instructions mostly clear. Only time of confusion was the LCD backlight which did not seem to quite match the directions and took a little imagination to work out. The actual winding of the toroids was not a problem for me but it was a bit of a struggle sometimes to get all the enamel stripped off correctly. I burned each end with a Bic lighter then finished with sandpaper.
RX tuning was done with on-air signals, including calibrating the frequency to W1AW. TX tuning was done using their DL1 dummy load and RF detector (also recommended if you don't already own something similar). VFO adjustment was the hardest procedure. I ended up having to remove L1 and remove one turn to bring the VFO into range (the instructions do describe this possibility). I chose the wide VFO range and get about 180 kHz coverage. This makes tuning a bit touchy but for me is an acceptable tradeoff to get access to the entire CW band.
Only mods were changing C31 to 1 uF for faster AGC attack (important for headphone use) and the one on their web site improving QSK performance (220 ohm and 22 uF in series from Q11 drain to ground). I also added a layer of felt behind the main tuning knob, otherwise it turns so freely I tended to bump it when clicking the RIT on and off.
I have the two band version and chose 40 and 15m. So far I have worked 20 states on 40m, no contacts yet on 15m. RX seems to be quite sensitive and low noise; often get comments that TX is very clean and "doing a great job". Antenna is Ventenna HFp vertical (which I also like but that's a different review). I do not have the built-in tuner but you'll need some kind of tuner if your antenna does not present SWR of 1.5 or less; anything higher and your power output will drop substantially.
I did buy the tilt stand which I like and the finger dimple which I don't. The main knob is too small for effective use of a dimple.
For power I use a small 12V 84 W-Hr gell cell battery with which I can operate a week of evenings between charges. The K1 includes a battery voltage display so there's no need to guess when your battery is getting low. Your mileage will vary depending on proportion of time spent transmitting. My K1 draws about 70 mA RX, 850 mA TX. The manual says 55 mA RX when no signal is being received and probably with no backlight option and neither LED on.
I use an iamblic keyer. The menu system allows you to swap dit-dah sides, use A or B completion modes, or use a straight key. You can record and play back (transmit) two recorded messages up to 90 seconds each.
The menu system is remarkably flexible. It is easy to use after you catch on to the pattern of how to step through the menus. You can change the output power (clear down to 0 in fact for practicing your keying using the sidetone); adjust volume and pitch of your desired sidetone (although if you change pitch more than 100 Hz or so you should retune TX offset too); change QSK time; set the three RX filter bandwidths (between 200-900 Hz); turn AGC on or off; choose between LED or audible function feedback; and several entries used during the alignment procedures. You can give up the XIT function and make that button be a shortcut to any one menu item; I use it to go to the sidetone pitch entry which effectively gives me a 1-button "spot" method to hear my reference tone against which to beat a prospective station frequency.
I like my K1 a lot. It is effective, efficient and fun to use. |
|
| W7LW |
Rating: |
2007-11-19 | |
| I really enjoyed building it and now, using it. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
A well thought out design, electrically and physically. Lots of quality parts & components, with an intuitive, detailed manual.
I built my first kit (Heathkit DX-40) in 1957 and really enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed this one every bit as much; maybe just a little bit more.
I hope Elecraft keeps at it without compromise. If they do, there market share should grow. It's nice to see another US company producing a quality product and standing behind it.
Go get'em (the big two and a half) Elecraft! |
|
| AB4BC |
Rating: |
2007-08-05 | |
| A beauty to operate and a joy to build! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The K1-2 was the 5th Elecraft kit I assembled. I wouldn't recommend this kit to be your very first construction project but it wasn't overly complicated. I assembled mine in less than 28 hours....and I can honestly say that this was straight time with no stopping. Nearly blind and exhausted after assembly and thorough alignment, I soon was making contacts on 30m. I plan on assembling another one very soon just for the fun of it. My K1-2 consists of the 80m and 30m kit....in hindsight, I would have built the 4 band module first and added 80/15m in a seperate module.
If you are planning on building one, please feel free to contact me at rcave8@msn.com for a few build tips I strongly recommend. Please purchase all internal options that you know you will use before you start building the main unit. It will be so much easier and you will not have to crack open the case again once completed. =) |
|
| former_WA6L_JG |
Rating: |
2007-07-05 | |
| Inspirational |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
You really need to review to two aspects of this radio: the K1 as a kit and the K1 as a transceiver.
For me, the kit can best be described as "inspirational." I hadn't built a kit for over 20 years, but this one was so well designed, so meticulously documented, and so enjoyable to put together that it inspired me to get a K2, and now I have just ordered the KPA100 100-watt upgrade kit. It is an incredible feeling to power up a rig that you built and make that first contact.
As a transceiver, it is a gem. Great receiver sensitivity and excellent signal reports. Four bands, selectable filtering, built-in memory keyer, and a built-in speaker -- all in a package small enough to fit in a lunch-box. With the built-in ATU, all you need is a key and just about any antenna and you are on the air.
I don't think that this could be my only rig, but it has become one of my favorites. I used it during the last Field Day to make over 75 contacts in 8 hours from a remote location on battery power. It shines as a portable rig; drawing only 55 ma on receive and 800 on transmit. You can literally run it all day on a 7ah Gel Cell.
I never knew that QRP and remote operation could be so much fun! The K1, both as a kit and as a transceiver, has been one of my best experiences in Ham Radio.
73,
John, WA6L |
|
| KK6MS |
Rating: |
2007-04-02 | |
| A great experience! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is the first kit I built since Heathkit went out of business. When I looked at all the features and accessories, I was a bit apprehensive. However, building the kit was an absolute joy!
The step-by-step instructions are simple, elegant, and effective. I did not have a single problem putting the kit together and had fun doing it. Tuning and adjustment were a breeze. The total construction time for me was about 30 hours.
The only problem I ran into was a flaky headphone jack. It would cut in and out. I sent an email to Elecraft support and had a new jack in 3 days. It went right in and I've had no problem since.
As much fun as building the K1 was, operating it is even better. I have had an absolute blast! The receiver is hot, and I have had no problem getting out with 5 watts on my vertical. In the first week of operation, I landed a UA0 station, which qualified for the QRP ARCI 1000 miles/watt award.
Although I have two other QRO rigs, I am finding myself using the K1 almost exclusively. It works well, is easy to operate, and is fun. I have plans to take the K1 out into the field this summer, but even if it never leaves the house, it was a great investment. |
|
| G3XBM |
Rating: |
2007-02-19 | |
| G3XBM recommends this superb QRP radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is my second Elecraft kit having built the T1 auto-ATU a year ago.
This is a superb little radio kit. I finished mine last week having taken a few weeks of slow building to complete. I did a few hours each day over about 10 days. Mine was the K1-4 4 band version (40,30,20,15m) with built-in auto-ATU.
Unfortunately I had one (small) problem: the receiver was deaf by about 30dB. By following the recommended signal tracing method described in the manual I tracked this down to a faulty 2N7000 in the RX audio mute circuit. When replaced the receiver sprang into life and receives at an MDS of better than -130dBm. The entire rig can be built and tested with the minimum of test equipment - a dummy load and a digital voltmeter.
Last weekend was the ARRL DX contest, so I fired up the newly built rig into my random 50 foot wire at maximum height of 20 feet. Using 40, 20 and 15m it managed transatlantic QSOs on all three bands with 5W, including 40m.
The NE602 front-end receiver, even here in Europe, has not needed the attenuator switched in once and the selectivity is perfect being switchable from 800Hz wide down to 250Hz narrow. This is no toy radio: it is a class design with some really excellent design features.
If you want a small, fun little CW QRP radio then go out and buy one NOW. You will enjoy the building - but follow the instructions carefully and handle static sensitive devices as recommended - and enjoy using it even more. DXCC is certainly possible with this radio and my imperfect antenna.
Info on my build and on-air performance will be on my website http://www.g3xbm.co.uk shortly.
Roger
G3XBM |
|
| AA7EQ |
Rating: |
2007-02-08 | |
| A-one portable rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I built the K1 about 3 years ago to use campground portable and occasionally mobile. It is a four bander on 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters. It has the auto tuner and noise blanker added. I have a K2 so the K1 doesn't get much use at home but it is great in the campgrounds. I throw up a dipole on an extendable fiberglass mast, hook up a battery/5W solar panel and I'm in business. In qrp contests I have worked both coasts with a shortened vertical (about 10')on 20 meters with good signal reports. I have built other small qrp rigs but the K1 is, by far, the best. I'm 79 years old and if I can build a K1 and K2 you probably can too. If you don't have any kit building experience it's best to build a few simple kits to get the feel of it. Then, if you follow the step by step instructions in the Elecraft manual, the K1 will go together nicely. I don't know about you, but I get a kick out of making contacts with a radio I built myself. |
|
| NB4M |
Rating: |
2007-01-28 | |
| Impressive |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
This is not your average kit.
Very effective features, easy access and control of options. Clean crisp transmit and absolutely the best receiver on the market. Dual VFO's would make it a primary DX QRP rig.
Check their website. Best CW rig available today.
|
|
