Elecrafts KX3 debut on field day

Wayne N6KR co-owner of Elecraft has posted the results of the KX3's operation during it's Field  day debut on the KX3 Yahoo group site. 

Wayne writes..........

The K6SRA group put on a great show, with excellent antennas, even
better food, awesome views of the surrounding values (from 2400'
elevation), and perfect WX. That along with the beer, acoustic guitar,
and one at-large 6-year-old made it a very memorable Field Day. The
only thing that didn't go according to plan was the half-dozen
astronomy buffs and their vehicles, which colonized the perimeter from
about 9 PM till 3 AM. We had to dim our lights to be good neighbors.
Then they left, waking us all up. But I did get a peek at Saturn,
rings and all.

Alpha Delta setup pictures........

setting up DX-EE in basement

The last couple of days have been unseasonably cool during the evenings so I was up early this morning to make my way into the attic. It was nice for a change to muddle around up there in non-stifling heat. Since the  Alpha Delta DX-EE seems to be working just great it was time to remove the other antennas from the attic. There were  30m and 40m mobile whip dipole antennas that had to come down. I did leave the coax in the attic for possible future use....it's a lot easier to have the coax available than fishing a new run up there. Below are some pictures of the new antenna and the installation configuration.

Julian G4ILO

Last week I read Julian's blog posting and I as many sent him our well wishes. I very much miss his almost daily postings of comments, reviews and his outlook on many subjects. Each day as I do an overview of the blogs that I follow I zip down to Julian's to see if there is any news. The last I read he was awaiting  a CT scan. I hope all is well Julian I know I am a new blogger but I also know I speak for many sending you our well wishes and prayers.
73's Julian de VE3WDM

How are the New's Years resolutions coming along ?????

If you are like me New Year's resolutions are part of your upcoming New Year. Now that we are about 6 months into the New Year I thought I would put the question out there to the readers of the blog "how are the New Year's resolutions coming along??" I guess for some you have to sit back for a moment and remember what they were...if there were any! I have over the past 4 years tried to get 3 goals or "resolutions". They are: a mental goal, physical and a spiritual goal. I have found this to be a nice mix that can all work together. So during the month of November last year I began to ponder the idea. Here is what I came up with

There's a new Elecraft K3 manual in town.....

About a week ago on the Elecraft reflector a post caught my attention. There was rumblings about a new manual that was just released for the Elecraft K3 radio.  This manual is not produced by Elecraft but by Fred Cady KE7X. Fred calls it the Design, Configurations and Operation Manual for the Elecraft K3.  On Fred's website you will find samples from the book, readers feedback  along with purchase options of ether a CD, spiral bound manual or a downloadable PDF file.  I chose the downloadable PDF (instant gratification) file, after payment it was sent to me almost imedataly via email. What I have found with most manuals as you read them you are given an understanding of how the radio works. With Fred's book as you read you are show how to work the radio.  I have not had the time as of yet to read the document from cover to cover. It's 280 pages are packed full with insight. The sections on Filtering and DSP  allowed me to fully understand the K3's filtering capabilities. The book spells out the best time to use certain settings, types of filters and the best combinations. This was done through explanation, hands on exercises and very easy to understand examples.   Fred's manual is a great companion to Elecraft's manual and money well worth spent.

Alpha Delta DX-EE update..........

40m mobile dipole

On Friday night I sat down at the radio and computer and did some comparisons with WSPR on 40 meters between my two attic antennas.The Alpha Delta DX-EE and my  (soon to be taken down) mobile whip dipole setup. (All tests were done at 5 watts output) In the past on 40 meters I have never been able toget into Europe I was

40m with DX-EE

able to receive European signals but that was it. Above is the results of my 40 meter mobile whip dipole antenna on WSPR. I  found the whip antenna has always had good ears with the ability to hear the overseas WSPR signals but never had I been able to get my signal over there. I was very pleased when I switched over the the Alpha Delta DX-EE antenna. I was not only able to receive stations but for the first time ever I was heard in Europe. The results with the Alpha Delta also included a CW op calling CQ while WSPR was both listening and transmitting.

20m with DX-EE

To make room for the new antenna I have to take the old 20 meter dipole antenna down.  I worked the 20 meters with the Alpha delta on WSPR. I was not able to do a direct comparison as one antenna has been removed. I did have some previous WSPR post from my 20m dipole. I am not sure what the conditions were at the time or the time of day the results were taken but both antennas seem to do the same job. I did on Saturday morning try 10 meters and 15 but both bands were dead. Seemed no one on either band was getting any WSPR results so I am going to leave those tests for another day.

15m with DX-EE

The Alpha Delta DX-EE is up..............

20m dipole that was taken down

Well before I left for Europe I was contemplating another antenna for my attic. At this point I have a 20m dipole, a 40m dipole made from two mobile whips as well as the same for 30m. It is getting very crowed up there. It would be nice to replace them all with one antenna. I did try using my High Sierra Sidekick but the results were very poor to say the least. So that came down and on once again on went my thinking cap. I some how stumbled across the Alpha Delta DX-EE. It's only 40 feet in length, covers 10,15,20 and 40 meters with the tuner in my K3 I can also get 12, 17 and 30 meters. With this antenna I could  remove the other antennas to make room for 6m's, put my Discone antenna back up and possibly an active antenna. This past

40m dipole still up for now

Saturday I assembled the antenna, it is made from 12 gauge solid wire which makes it very easy to work with. I had to do the assembly in the basement as the antenna is 40 feet in total length. I got Julie to help me get it up into the attic. From there is was bumping my head, crawling around on all fours and weaving between the rafters. Each leg is in a "Z" configuration as the attic is not 40 feet in length. Most of Saturday was spent assembling the antenna and getting it into the attic. Sunday was spent getting the SWR readings and fine tweaking the antenna. Below are the  SWR readings before adjustments.

40 meters

7.000=5.7                                 7.030 = 6.1                              7.060= 10.7     (lowest SWR @ 6.788 1.5)

20 meters

14.000= 1.97                           14.030= 1.9                              14.060= 1.9     (lowest SWR @ 14.551 1.)

15 meters

21.000= 1.7                             21.030= 2.0                              21.060= 2.3  (lowest SWR @ 20.730 1.1)

10 meters

28.000= 2.2                            28.030= 2.2                               28.060= 2.4  (lowest SWR @ 27.711 1.1)

So now its time to tweak the SWR which was made very easy ( except for the up and down from the attic) with my MFJ antenna analyzer.  Below are the final results I was able to achieve, now having said that I did have a slightly better result but I got greedy and wanted to further improve on what was a very good over all SWR. In doing so I ended up never getting it back to that sweet spot......so lesson learned "when the SWR is what you think to be the best LEAVE IT ALONE"

Final SWR readings

7.000= 2.52                            7.030= 1.60                                 7.060= 1.59

14.000= 1.88                          14.030= 1.98                               14.060= 2.0

21.000= 1.39                          21.030= 1.46                                21.060= 1.54

28.000= 1.4                            28.030= 1.61                                 28.060= 1.76

So over the weekend I am going to do some tests between the new Alpha Delta antenna and the only remaining antenna in the attic my 40 meter mobile whip dipole antenna. I will post them when the results are in.

A photo montage of our U.K trip........................

This was for sure a trip of a life time and one way to keep the memory alive is through pictures. I am very fortunate to have a wife who is a photographer. (she thinks she isn't but she is). She was snapping what seemed to be all the time.....I'm sure she was as her total shots for the whole trip were 6,300. Below are some highlights of our trip courtesy of Julies fantastic camera abilities.

Our first big stop was London for 3 days
(Click images for full size)

Parliament building

Big Ben at twilight

Buckingham Palace

Back home in Canada.........

It was a fantastic trip but as most will agree it is always nice to get back home and get into your own bed again. The weather was sunny for a total of 3 days but that's fine as Julie and planned for that. The castles, Big Ben, Loch's in Scotland, century old homes and  towns, London's tube, the amazing gardens I could go on and on......in a nut shell we had a great time. As I prepared for the trip I had big plans of getting lots of on air time with my KX1. With all the traveling during the day by the time evening rolled around it was time to chill and veg.....I will say when I was in the larger towns and city's in England I did have at times bad QRN. I have read on other blogs and email lists of devices that are plugged into the A.C that cause major QRN to hams. Also there are lots of plasma TV's out there as well. So if you lump all that together along with the sun giving us troubles now and again plus not having the push button filtering of the K3 the odds were not in my favor. I now have a lot more respect for my home setup and the QRN I was upset about in the past is nothing compared to the mess some hams have to put up with in Europe. Having said that here is the log of the contacts that I did have.

Elecraft KX3 links.....

Thought it may be a bit handy to have  links for the new Elecraft KX3 in one spot....yes I know you can get this from google but I would be stuck watching reality TV with my XYL if I did not spend the time to get the links....:))

The first link is from Elecraft itself bragging of their new rig......and rightfully so!!
http://www.elecraft.com/KX3/kx3.htm 


Now it's time for a video from none other than Wayne Burdick N6KR of Elecraft 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbtyRyEEADo 


Now a video from Dayton showing off the KX3.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_qx8995CI 


For all you Facebook fans you can join the KX3 Facebook.....
http://www.facebook.com/Elecraft.KX3.Fans


If you want to keep up with info and ask questions about the KX3 here is the Yahoo KX3 group....
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KX3/?tab=s