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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
KZ1X Rating: 2004-06-07
the Swiss Army Knife of Ham Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I would no more go out into the "field" without my Swiss Army knife (or, well, I now use a Leatherman ... you get the point) than I would not take along my K1 when I knew I might be getting on the air.

My K1 has several common haunts, too: in a small portable case for working DX on business trips, in a small padded bag for trips to the backyard for antenna experimenting, in the same bag with a mobile whip for trips to the beach (work lots of DX on 20 cw while mobile!) and to club meetings and radio demonstrations for "radio al fresco," and on my workbench, for a handy high-level signal generator and signal tracer.

A great value, easy to build, feature-rich, super durable (did you hear about the guy who dropped his while skydiving? it STILL WORKED!) and a must-have for portable contesting. Available loaded on the used market for just $350.

N6IB Rating: 2004-06-07
Impressive performance and a joy ot build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After a 10+ year hiatus from ham radio and having no equipmant still in my possession it was time to start over again. I have had many years of building kits and home brewing so my search for a new rig to start up with led me to numerous web sites to see what was out there. When I got to this site and discovered over seventy positive reviews of the K1 my mind was made up. I have not been disappointed. This little qrp rig is a real jewel. It was a blast to build (challenging enough to make it interesting) and after a couple of weeks operating under pretty poor band conditions and with marginal antennas (i.e. stealthy!!)I've been rewarded with more qso's than I'd ever previouls made with home brew qrp rigs. The reciever really is outstanding. AND their Customer Service is really outstanding.
IV3EPO Rating: 2004-06-03
Easy to build !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi guys

K1 is my first Elecraft stuff but I think it' ll not be the last.
Easy construction following step by step the manual, great audio and good firmware.
That's a good job !!
Thanks Wayne N6KR and Eric WA6HHQ.
73 de Giorgio IV3EPO
W9AC Rating: 2004-06-02
Excellent Overall Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The K-1 has been one of the most enjoyable QRP radios I've used, although Wayne's SST still ranks tops in terms of the "fun factor."

There are far too many positive attributes of this radio to list each one, but I do feel that one improvement is worth mentioning: The two polystyrene VFO capacitors are mounted on the solder-side of the PC board and couple to the steel case. If the case is flexed slightly, you definately here changes in VFO frequency. A solution is to mount the two VFO caps on the top side of the board, but it takes some real manipulation in order to accomplish this.

Notwithstanding this one area of improvement, the K-1 is an excellent design and is easy to construct.

K2JN Rating: 2004-05-19
Great rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In January 2001, I purchased my 2-band K1 kit (S/N 405) along with the noise blanker option. During my initial parts inventory, I discovered some missing parts and a defective side panel. I naturally requested replacements and the folks at Elecraft responded quickly. I had my components about a week later. At a careful pace, assembling the unit one stage at a time, it took me about 35 hours over a two-month period to build and test the kit. I had mounted around 300 components. I recall working late in the evening to align the K1 receiver section and having a hard time finding signals to hear since 20 meters had shut down. Overall, I had a really pleasant experience. The folks at Elecraft were helpful and the quality of the kit was top notch.
K9IUL Rating: 2004-04-27
Marvelous Little Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this little radio after being off the air for more than 25 years. I hadn't built a kit since I was a teen - more than 40 year ago. Let me tell you, this was fun. And although I sent the rig back to the fine engineers at Elecraft to find a solder whisker my not teen eyes couldn't, I received it back in great operating condition, calibrated and ready to go. In the past four weeks I have worked 12 countries, some in pile-ups, 14 states, and am having the time of my life. This is what I remember as the thrill of radio when I was first licensed in 1956! And talk about a hot little rig! This K1 is it. Do I want to tackle a K2? Not yet. Maybe next year. Right now, I'm having all the fun I can handle with my little K1. Thanks to Elecraft for their fine engineering support and for a GREAT radio! It's fun just to listen to the ATU relays fine tune the rig to a 1:1 SWR to my 40 meter windom up about 30 feet!

K9IUL
Jim
K2TF Rating: 2004-03-27
A Great Rig Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My K1 has the 4 band option, the auto antenna tuner and the AA battery pack.

Last year I was home recovering from a hand injury where I, among other things, severed my ulner nerve loosing some of the funtion of my left hand. Why am I telling you this? Although it probably took me about twice as long as most, I was still successful at building the K1. It was a lot of fun and great therapy.(Yes, the coils took some time to wind and solder). Anyone who can follow instructions and has had some experience with a soldering iron can handle construction of the K1

The only problem that I had was installing a component too high on the board and upon removel I destroyed it. I emailed Elecraft for the price and they sent me a replacment free of charge despite my mistake. Now that's customer service!

Alignment went well and operation is a pleasure. The only negative comment I can make is the ALC is a bit slow reacting to strong signals. Outside of that I can find no other problems with this little gem.

As for contacts I have worked stateside and DX. One evening I worked a 7X4 (Algeria) using a piece of wire lying across the bed down into the hallway and a counterpoise running into the master bathroom using the K1's optional auto antenna tuner.

If you enjoy building kits and love QRP then I would highly recommend the K1 by Elecraft.

SERGEANT Rating: 2004-01-17
EASY to build Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will heartily agree with the earlier reviews, adding only that I think anyone who is competant to handle a soldering iron and pass a General license exam is fully capable of building this fine rig. Alignment is easy, and VFO calibration is also.

I did have a problem - I thought. When aligning the receiver I was afraid I had low/no audio. What in fact happened was it was 2 AM and there were few signals. I was so used to lots of noise on my other rig I was amazed at the quietness of the K1's noise floor.

Highly recommend.
Brad
K0BHC
VE3WMB Rating: 2003-10-06
Simply Amazing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What can I say that hasn't already been said about this little gem? I just finished building my 4 Band K1 and I believe that you would be hard pressed to squeeze out more performance from a NE602-based design.

This little radio is obviously a labour of love for Wayne and Eric the designers as it is clear to anyone that has built and used one of these rigs that there was an amazing amount of careful thought that must have gone into its design and implementation.

I wouldn't rate this as a beginners kit, as it is sometimes a bit tricky installing components on both sides of the board and not searing the components already installed, but that being said I think that the manual is one of the best that I have seen. Because of the manual and the application of design-for-testability/buildability, I do feel that a beginner can be successful with this kit if they take their time and make sure that they are comfortable with proper soldering technique. Little things like pre-sorting the resistors into strings according to the order in which they are to be installed and not using surface mount technology make this kit a pleasure to assemble.

I still have the auto-tuner and internal battery options to complete ... after that who knows how long it will be before I am tempted into purchasing and building a K2.

If you are looking for an ultra compact multi-band HF CW rig look no further, this is the radio. I guarantee you will have a ton of fun in building it and loads more working the world with it. This is the HW-8 for the 21st century!

Michael VE3WMB

W2LJ Rating: 2003-10-04
Only one bad thing ..... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The only bad thing about my K1 is that now I want to buy a K2! I have an OHR Classic 20/40 that I use for portable ops during lunchbreak at work (I operate from my car in the parking lot). The K1 blows the Classic out of the water; and the Classic is no slouch, by any means!

I bought the K1 and my original intentions were to use the Classic from the car; and the K1 as my QRP rig in the shack. That plan got blown out of the water, too! I am SOOOOOO impressed (and spoiled!) with Elecraft products that I now want to use the K1 for portable ops and have a K2 (QRP and CW configuration only) from the shack!

If you want EXCELLENT, homebuilt rigs; then consider buying either a K1 or K2 - you will NOT be disappointed!