| DK3QN |
Rating:  |
2003-09-19 | |
| A beauty of a rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Basically, everything is said in the many '5' star ratings of the K1.
Just got a K1-4 w/ the ATU option second hand (due to time constraints for self-building the rig) and had a ball last night when I gave it a run on 40 and 30 m (Europe band conditions, lots of very strong BC stations around, generally giving simple RX design a hard time).
This thing is really great!
If you are dedicated in CW QRP and intend to run your rig from batteries (portable), this is a rig with great functionality and low power consumption at the same time.
Due to the 4 band capability you can run QSOs 24/7, whenever you have the leisure to relax in front of this little beauty.
I've only run some 50 QSOs on this little box so far but I can already say: this is a keeper for me.
Besides that: it's amazing what Elecraft was able to get out of such a design (602 mixers).
I do hope that they will continue with their motivation and efforts in providing their 'gems' to the ham radio community.
A great positive surprise, thanks!
Klaus, DK3QN
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| K0EWS |
Rating: |
2003-08-13 | |
| Good Radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I had some initial trouble putting this together, but I blame the builder, and not the product in my situation (HI). Anyway, the support from Elecraft was terrific. That, and the help of an experienced builder in my area to help me along the way, and even the most novice of builders(like myself) could build this thing. Since I've had it working, it's been a great rig. I cannot believe the receiver on this thing, and I love the 3 filters you can use(I wish my Icom 718 could do that) Also, the built in keyer and memory functions are nice features. I recently took the little rig on it's first camping trip, and it performed like a champ. This is a great kit, and it yields an even greater radio once complete. Hats off to Elecraft. |
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| AB9EI |
Rating: |
2003-08-01 | |
| K1: A Great Beginner's Kit |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Several reviews have discussed the performance aspects of this the K1, so I would like to focus on a different aspect, namely, its appropriateness for the beginning kit builder.
Shortly after the FCC granted my "ticket", I was faced with the question of which HF rig to buy. Since I started this hobby out of a desire to learn more about radio electronics, building a kit seemed like a logical choice. I had never built a transceiver (or anything else electronic for that matter), but after doing quite a bit of online research, I concluded that the K1 would be worth a try. For me, it was the best decision since deciding to go for an amateur license. There are many hams who are hesitant about building their own equipment, but the knowledge and satisfaction gained through this kind of experience are, for me, a large part of what amateur radio is all about. For anyone wondering whether the K1 would be too difficult as a first project, I can only vouch that I had no experience, nor an elmer to guide me when building, yet for the past year and a half I have enjoyed working HF CW with the K1 as my primary rig.
I have built other less expensive QRP kits since assembling the K1, however, the instructions provided with the cheaper kits usually do not come close to the clarity and detail provided with the K1. I have learned that kits with fewer parts can actually be more difficult to build when the instructions contain serious errors and are otherwise poorly written.
While assembling the K1, I did occasionally contact Elecraft with questions. A representative from their customer service team always provided quick and helpful responses, identifying the problem and suggesting a solution in terms appropriate to my level of understanding (thanks Gary!). So, my hat is off to the Elecraft team for producing such an outstanding product and for the excellence of their customer service. Based on my experience, I can heartily recommend the K1 as an appropriate choice for a beginning kit builder. Now that I have gained a little experience, I look forward to building a K2.
-AB9EI |
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| WB0E |
Rating: |
2003-07-20 | |
| One Heck of a Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just built my K1 over the weekend (7/20/2003) and all I can say is WOW! This is one heck of a radio. I've been building Heathkits since the beginning of time it seems, but Elecraft has outdone them. It was a breeze to put together with only a couple of moments of confusion. Fixed/found a couple of problems (shorted pins on a connector from a solder splash and a diode reversed) using the as-you-build testing. I've very impressed with the instructions, the extremely high quality circuit boards, the resisters arranged in the order of installation the build in self-testing and the quality, quality, quality!
It works great and the first CQ I answered came right back to me (on 40 meters). I'm looking forward to a long relationship this little jewel. And I'll very likely add the K2 in the near future -- if not tomorrow!.
KAC
WB0E |
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| KC7MM |
Rating: |
2003-07-15 | |
| It works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This review is totally subjective. So don't read any further if you are looking for a piece by piece review of this wonderful little radio.
I really wanted a K1 for a long time, but because of hand tremors, I no longer can solder. So I did the next best thing and found one prebuilt. Pete KW8S put this four bander together and did a factory quality job on it.
When I got it in the mail, I quickly scanned the operating instructions (very quickly!), plugged it into a 12 v. portable powerstation, connected an old 20 meter dipole and turned it on. The receiver is quiet. The three filters are excellent. It is easy to operate even if you have fuzzy fingers like me. If you have handled the menus on the bigger HF rigs, this thing is a piece of cake to figure out.
With the dipole drooping over the railing of my back deck and hanging 3 feet off the ground, I didn't think I would either hear anything or be able to work someone if I did. Boy, was I wrong! WL7WH was sending 'CQ' with a clean fist on 14.058 Mhz. I ventured a reply, and Bob came back to me immediately. I sent him a 579 and received a 529 in return. That's about 1,550 miles between Anchorage and Spokane, WA. Not bad at all for 5 watts and the proverbial wet noodle antenna.
The radio is so small! It matches nicely with my Palm minipaddle. Along with a couple of dipoles or my old R7, it should make a nice portable rig for the Spartan Sprints. Think I'll try some mountain topping with it.
With four bands to play with, and a very low price tag, the K1 is an excellent radio to get into Qrp with. I'm glad I did.
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| KF6VCI |
Rating: |
2003-06-14 | |
| Fb with ATU |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Mine was built by DJ0DK and with the narrow filter setting, it worked very well despite QRM. FYI, I made my first CW QSOs with this rig and the 40 m dipole almost touched the lawn. Still, with 4 W and no operating skills I worked Turkey, Russia and 20 other countries from Swabia. ** The uncluttered all-in-one-package design appeals to me as I dislike separate battery / keyer / ATU stuff. ** Side by side with commercial gear, this small rig will AMAZE. Chris kf6vci |
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| WA4ILO |
Rating: |
2003-02-08 | |
| The Best |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
All my life I’ve been a reader of manuals. When I get a new toy, I read the manual before taking the toy out of the box. So, you can see, I’m a confirmed nerd and have been comfortable with delayed gratification. Likewise with ham gear, I’ve always waited patiently for the old rig to start giving me trouble before I would think about a new rig. I used an FT-101 as my primary rig for most of my 38 ham radio years. Things changed when I turned 50 a few years ago. I’m not preparing to die or anything like that, but I’m realizing I won’t live forever either. So, I decided to start buying and selling rigs so I could experience them all. I’ve done some buying but, unfortunately, not much selling. I’m too inclined to fall in love with a rig. It’s happened again with the K-1. Now I own two K-1’s. I won’t bother to gush about the rig. I’ve rated the rig with my pocket book. Also, I’m no technical expert. All I want to do here is respond to some of the comments made here by earlier reviewers.
My K-1’s are S/N 8XX and 13XX. I did not build either one of them. After reading so many glowing accounts of the rig, I decided to buy the first one to make sure it was worth my time building it. I’m far from a novice kit builder, but I am stingy with my time. I enjoy too many pursuits to spend 30 hours building a mediocre rig. Comments here and elsewhere detail the ease of assembly. Tinkering inside the rigs convinces me that assembly would be a breeze. One of my K-1’s is build expertly. The other shows a few signs of lack of expertise. Most notable, for example, are soldering burns on the outside of several components. But, not to worry, they both work great.
So why did I buy the second one? The truth is I was so stunned by the performance that I had to see another one. I guess it was an elaborate (but not expensive) way of pinching myself to see if this radio is a dream. I have concluded it is a dream, but it’s real too.
I know there are some circuit board differences between the earlier and later version of the rig. The only difference I can detect is that my later version is little less apt to drift. Both rigs drift a slight bit, as mentioned here in one of the reviews. I have seen 200 hz/hour in my older K-1 as suggested by another reviewer. The newer version seems to be within 100 hz/hour or less. The slight drift is definitely not an operating issue in either rig, but it’s something you notice if you have had any experience with a higher priced commercial rigs.
I have owned a few QRP rigs. My first was a Heathkit HW-7 built when I was practically a child. It nearly ruined me for QRP. The receiver was terrible. My latest QRP rig was the Ten Tec 30 meter kit. It worked well, and receiver was much improved over the HW-7. While it suffered from a lack of selectivity, the rig is a good value for the price. The truth is that contacts with five watts are easy. What’s sometimes hard is to enjoy is mediocre receiver performance. The big rigs will spoil you. However, it now seems Elecraft is raising the bar for the big rigs.
Comments here to the effect that the K-1 will receive as well as the big rigs are TRUE. I’ve given up trying to find a signal on my IC-746 that my K-1 can’t hear. It’s no better than the IC-746, but that fact speaks volumes of praise.
It’s true that the bank modules are not easy to change. It’s not difficult, but it takes a few minutes. It appears that some of the earlier reviews here on eHam were written before Elecraft offered the four-band board. You’d have to be a real creature of habit or hard pressed financially not to order the four-band board.
I agree with the comments that the KBT1 is not ideal. One of my K-1’s has this option. The problem is not the smaller speaker. There’s very little difference between the speakers in my opinion. The problem is the difficulty changing batteries. I suppose there is no other way to have batteries inside the rig, and no easier way to change them, but unless you are a backpacker and need internal batteries, I would pass on that option. I suggest instead one those portable batteries used to jump start cars. They cost about $50 and have an opening for a cigarette lighter style power plug. Leaving the K-1 running for days and making dozens of contacts does not run it down significantly. Of course, when the battery does begin to run down, you can know exactly because the K-1 has a built in voltmeter that will monitor battery voltage. And don’t forget, this handy portable/rechargeable ham radio power supply also starts cars with dead batteries.
As another reviewer noted, the tune function is very servicable. It makes for easy tuning with an outboard tuner. I had to buy a $15 gismo for my IC-706MKIIG to get this feature. Much handier, however, is the internal antenna tuner. Unless money is a problem, the internal tuner is a “must have” feature.
I can’t comment on the noise blanker because I don’t have one. I needed one yesterday when I used the K-1 mobile for the first time. Even though my car is quite noisy, my IC-706MKIIG and Ten Tec Scout handle the noise nicely. Of course noise is only an issue in receiving. If the other guy has a good signal, you’re in business. In the first five minutes using the K-1 mobile with a Hamstick, I had a very pleasant QSO with a VE2. We exchanged 579 reports. The amazement never ceases.
Yes, I hear the squeaky sound in the main tuning knob another reviewer mentions but only if you turn it fast and listen carefully. I predict most users were as surprised as I was to see any mention of it.
Of all the suggestions for improvement, the one I would urge most strongly is the inclusion of a detent in the RIT control. What would be welcomer would be the kind of RIT used in the ICOM radios where the center is reset by software and the RIT frequency could be set to the main frequency. And one more thing Elecraft, do this without a price increase. Don’t blame us users for expecting miracles. We’ve grown accustomed to them.
What’s next for me? This K-1 is so amazing, I’m wondering if my time would be better spent building the K-2. How could it be any better?
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| DL2HRF |
Rating: |
2003-01-31 | |
| Great little radio ! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Nothing much to add, all the words from previous K1 reviewers are very true!!
Building the radio was so enjoyable, what a pity that it has come to an end...after about 30 hours on my side (approximately),counted from unpacking,sorting the stuff,studying the manual,swinging the soldering iron,alignment until the first QSO!
From that time my QRO equipment,which is an ICOM 735, gets more and more dusty as I can have all the nice ragchew QSOs even with low power.The QSK is splendid and the narrow 200 Hz CW filter is good enough in all situations.In need of a wider filter you can increase it up to about 850 Hz.
This kit is worth every CENT.If you want to see some internal pictures of my K1 (#1434) you are welcomed at www.qsl.net/dl2hrf, then follow
the link to "my qrp".
73 de Tom, DL2HRF
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| LA1JFA |
Rating: |
2003-01-18 | |
| VY funn radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I did order an K1 around xmas time, and got it in 1. week of january. I used 4 long evnings to put it togeather and do the alingments, and so it was on the air. The descriptions for building was VY good, and i did not hawe any trubbel that i coud not solve by reading the manual.
The rig is working fb, and i am stunned over the reports i receiv on only 5 watt`s. in 3 short evnings i have worked 20 countryes i europe.
I can srongly recomend this kit. it`s funn to put it togeather, an vy funn to work. 73`s de 1JFA |
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| KK9H |
Rating: |
2003-01-12 | |
| Wonderful fun |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I just completed Elecraft K1 serial no. 1433 and what a joy it has been. I have always loved putting together kits dating back to the heyday of Heathkit and Knightkit. This QRP radio kit was a delight to assemble. Everything went together smoothly and the unit worked perfectly the first time that 12V DC was put to it. Tuning it up was very easy and everything seems to be working as advertised. Hats off to Elecraft, the instruction manual is very well written and easy to follow. I opted for the two band model with 40M and 20M. I also have the antenna tuner option which I will tackle shortly. Tonight was the first time I put it on the air and I had three QSOs ending with the Marconi Special Event station KM1CC. That was fun and I think the KM1CC op got a kick out of learning that I was "QRP from IL." I made a few receiver comparisons with my Icom 756PROII and everything heard on the PROII could be heard on the K1, even quite weak signals sounded the same on both rigs. The Elecraft K1 deserves a 5 because of the well thought out assembly process and the performance of the finished product is simply just great. |
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