I cashed in some overtime for some extra hobby money and ordered the auto tuner kit and the integrated paddle kit for my KX1. I wanted to get the 80/30 meter module also but instead directed those funds to a water filter, that one will have to wait a while longer. These two additions should make my trail operating even quicker, simpler and easier than it already is by eliminating two separate pieces of gear. It also prevents me from getting all the way out to the middle of nowhere only to realize I left them at home. I'll try to remember to take photos during the build process, my problem is I get so focused on building that I forget all about photos.
Good call. These are useful items. That ATU works VERY well! Also, the more thin wires, connectors and externally connected necessities, the higher will be the system mortality index (har har). As you know - in the woods, simpler is usually more survivable. Add wire binding posts to the KX-1 so that you can connect wire directly to the antenna , just in case you do not have a working BNC and/or adapter. /Voice of experience here. BNC connectors are easily jammed into the nooks and crannies in a vibram sole of a boot then torn OFF of the end of RG-174 coax. moo-ha-ha-ha!/ :o I ALWAYS added wire terminals of SOME kind on my wilderness radios after that little incident!
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Quote from: RadioRay on May 16, 2013, 10:50:18 PM
Good call. These are useful items. That ATU works VERY well! Also, the more thin wires, connectors and externally connected necessities, the higher will be the system mortality index (har har). As you know - in the woods, simpler is usually more survivable. Add wire binding posts to the KX-1 so that you can connect wire directly to the antenna , just in case you do not have a working BNC and/or adapter. /Voice of experience here. BNC connectors are easily jammed into the nooks and crannies in a vibram sole of a boot then torn OFF of the end of RG-174 coax. moo-ha-ha-ha!/ :o I ALWAYS added wire terminals of SOME kind on my wilderness radios after that little incident!
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Good point Ray, thanks for the tip. Smart people learn from their mistakes, really smart people learn from other peoples mistakes ;D I just happen to have a couple of binding posts in my junk box too.
I'll be interested to see how the ATU performs. Not familiar with that circuit but if it performs anything like their little T1 tuner you will be in hog-heaven. That thing would make a mop bucket look like 50 ohms. And agree with you both on binding posts of some kind. 'Course you're integrating it so you can do whatever you want. :)
For a couple antennas that are pre-configured & kept in ziplocs, one of these is in the bag with it, on the "don't leave home without it" list:
Quote from: KC9TNH on May 17, 2013, 07:45:02 AM
I'll be interested to see how the ATU performs. Not familiar with that circuit but if it performs anything like their little T1 tuner you will be in hog-heaven. That thing would make a mop bucket look like 50 ohms. And agree with you both on binding posts of some kind. 'Course you're integrating it so you can do whatever you want. :)
For a couple antennas that are pre-configured & kept in ziplocs, one of these is in the bag with it, on the "don't leave home without it" list:
According to Elecraft it doesn't have near the tuning range that the T1 does due to the obvious need for compactness in order to fit inside the KX1, but it is supposed to be optimized for tuning a 24' end fed wire on 40-20 meter which is exactly what I'm wanting. They recommend a resonant antenna for use on 80 meter.
That BNC - binding post adapter is exactly what Elecraft sells for use with the KX1/ATU combination.
Quote from: KK0G on May 17, 2013, 10:37:10 AMThat BNC - binding post adapter is exactly what Elecraft sells for use with the KX1/ATU combination.
Nice they do that. Their price for that particular item is alot less than DigiKey or Mouser; always a growling moment when ordering some little item and then seemingly "buying it again" with simple shipping charges. Good deal. You're gonna like that on-board tuning.
Now would you please clear up the weather systems so we can move straight to summer? 8)
The tuner -v- 80 m antennas...
I can confirm the for 40, 30 & 20m the ATU works quite well. For 80m, it's more of a 'line flattener' because your antenna needs to be pretty close for it to operate. I had not realized that when I first built mine and thought that I have screwed-up the ATU. However, on a close to 50 Ohm 80m antenna, it works just fine.
> de RadioRay ..._ ._
ATU and paddle kits arrived today. Here's a photo of the first stage of building - taking a photo of the kits 8)
Done with the easy one, that took all of 30 minutes. Now onto the ATU.
Done with the easy one, that took all of 30 minutes. Now onto the ATU.
As lady friends of mine often say:
"Accessories MAKE the outfit"
Elecraft are superb engineers, who have that unique niche' device electronics savy AND boots-on-the-ground knowledge of HF CW-centric, outdoor/adventure transceivers. That KX-1 is a real gem: SUPER light weight, sips very lightly of electrons while supporting an excellent receiver.
As you know from field opns:
Equipment survivability = 1/CLUTTER
Meaning that any accessories not inside of the rig enclosure or bolted to the outside has a MUCH higher than necessary mortality rate. Otherwise you're expending connectors, cables and etc. at a rate rivaling the consumption of 30.06 ammunition during the beachhead operations at Normandy. :o
>Ray
Quote from: RadioRay on May 20, 2013, 10:04:15 PM
As lady friends of mine often say:
[move]"Accessories MAKE the outfit"
[/move]
Elecraft are superb engineers, who have that unique niche' device electronics savy AND boots-on-the-ground knowledge of HF CW-centric, outdoor/adventure transceivers. That KX-1 is a real gem: SUPER light weight, sips very lightly of electrons while supporting an excellent receiver.
As you know from field opns:
Equipment survivability = 1/CLUTTER
Meaning that any accessories not inside of the rig enclosure or bolted to the outside has a MUCH higher than necessary mortality rate. Otherwise you're expending connectors, cables and etc. at a rate rivaling the consumption of 30.06 ammunition during the beachhead operations at Normandy. :o
>Ray
+1! LOL 8)
The ATU kit is moving right along although I just reached the toroid stage so that'll slow me down a little. I still don't see what all the fuss is about over winding toroids, if you can count 1.....2......3......4..... you can wind a toroid, they're dirt simple. ;D
QuoteI still don't see what all the fuss is about over winding toroids, if you can count 1.....2......3......4..... you can wind a toroid, they're dirt simple.
I never understood the stress some people seem to experience when talking about winding toroids either. For me, it seems super-easy and actually relaxing... Weird...
Gil.
Toroids all wound and one left to install, on the home stretch now.
Tuner completed and installed in the KX1, time to align and test.
Ray wasn't kidding, Elecraft has absolutely superb engineers, I am truly impressed with these accessories for my KX1. Everything fit like a glove and practically fell right into place in no time flat, you can tell they put a lot of forethought into the design of this radio. To top it all off there nothing even close to it as a trail rig in my opinion, dare I say the perfect trail rig, at least for the time being until Elecraft designs one even better 8). After building and using this radio I'm seriously considering selling my beloved Kenwood TS-2000 to fund the purchase of an Elecraft K2 kit.
Tomorrows top objective when I get home from work: try out the KX1 with it's new ATU and built in paddle. Time to hit the rack for now.
de KK0G SK
Congratulations! It's easy to become spoiled, having the internal ATU and nice receiver. The ability to use just about any piece of wire as an antenna (though not always at peak efficiency) makes this an excellent add-on, especially for a back country radio person. In an emergency, that 'odd bit of wire' may be all that you have.
>>> I especially was delighted when I learned that they included the ability to listen to shortwave broadcasts. I used to haul along a separate shortwave receiver to keep up on world news and during winter trips, to help pass the looooong dark nights.
>de Radioray ..._ ._
Ps. Maybe we can set-up to work KX1 to KX1?
Quote from: RadioRay on May 21, 2013, 08:09:51 AM
Ps. Maybe we can set-up to work KX1 to KX1?
Yes we'll have to do that soon Ray. I'd set a sked for this evening but I'm not sure what time it'll be by the time I get home and get a new antenna built - not that it takes long to cut a chunk of wire to 24' and add a connector.
I'll do a little propagation study and write-up a quick sked. My barn-yard math says that we'll be on 30m in early evening or 40m from 9 pm (central) onward - whichever fits your schedule.
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Ps. I'll post it here, so that other - unseen forces - might participate .... Moooo-ha-ha-ha!
(https://treeofmamre.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dr-evil-and-minion-laughing.png?w=640)
Quote from: RadioRay on May 21, 2013, 09:56:36 AM
I'll do a little propagation study and write-up a quick sked. My barn-yard math says that we'll be on 30m in early evening or 40m from 9 pm (central) onward - whichever fits your schedule.
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Ps. I'll post it here, so that other - unseen forces - might participate .... Moooo-ha-ha-ha!
(https://treeofmamre.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dr-evil-and-minion-laughing.png?w=640)
Sounds good. I'll probably be available by around 1900 EST for a 20 meter sked or most anytime later in the evening on 40 meters, can't do 30 meters on the KX1............ yet.
They're capturing it anyway...might as well invite them...
...besides, how could evil be wrapped in such furry fun...
I've got a question for you KX1 gurus.
I have a full-up (bought used) KX1 with 80/30M and ATU. I tried my first field deployment this week and the tuner didn't do what I expected. I threw a 25' wire up in a tree and had a 33' counterpoise laying on the ground. On 40, 30 and 20M the tuner would buzz but never find a match below about 6:1.
I know the ATU isn't completely busted because under other circumstances with other antennas it will find good matches. I've also had it match to a 100ohm resistor. It usually finds a good match.
What confuses me is the ATU manual suggests a 25' wire with counterpoise, and it couldn't find a useable match with what the manual suggests. I have thoroughly inspected the ATU and the inductors are all correct and the caps look correct and healthy.
Any ideas?
Quote from: cockpitbob on July 04, 2014, 04:18:39 PM
I've got a question for you KX1 gurus.
I have a full-up (bought used) KX1 with 80/30M and ATU. I tried my first field deployment this week and the tuner didn't do what I expected. I threw a 25' wire up in a tree and had a 33' counterpoise laying on the ground. On 40, 30 and 20M the tuner would buzz but never find a match below about 6:1.
I know the ATU isn't completely busted because under other circumstances with other antennas it will find good matches. I've also had it match to a 100ohm resistor. It usually finds a good match.
What confuses me is the ATU manual suggests a 25' wire with counterpoise, and it couldn't find a useable match with what the manual suggests. I have thoroughly inspected the ATU and the inductors are all correct and the caps look correct and healthy.
Any ideas?
Change wire length. 33' is almost dead perfect 1/2 wavelength on 20 meters, you definitely want to avoid that. Knock about 15 feet off of that and it'll probably work perfect.
I finally got around to checking my KX1's ATU. One relay was dead and another was suspect. I replaced all 7 relays.
to verify it was OK I got three 50ohm resistors and ran some tests with various resistive loads. It did a good job tuning 100 ohm and 150ohm resistive loads. However, going the other way it could only tune a 25ohm load to a 1.4:1 SWR and the best it could do with a 16.7 ohm load was 2.5:1. I know this is a little simplistic, but it seems like it does a poor job of tuning low impedance antennas. Does anyone have any experience/knowledge that agrees with this?
Quote from: RadioRay on May 16, 2013, 10:50:18 PM
Good call. These are useful items. That ATU works VERY well! Also, the more thin wires, connectors and externally connected necessities, the higher will be the system mortality index (har har). As you know - in the woods, simpler is usually more survivable. Add wire binding posts to the KX-1 so that you can connect wire directly to the antenna , just in case you do not have a working BNC and/or adapter. /Voice of experience here. BNC connectors are easily jammed into the nooks and crannies in a vibram sole of a boot then torn OFF of the end of RG-174 coax. moo-ha-ha-ha!/ :o I ALWAYS added wire terminals of SOME kind on my wilderness radios after that little incident!
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
I eliminated the need for feedline for the most part on my portable operations except for a short RG58 jumper and PL259 connectors by building an end fed half wave wire tuner. The jumper is about 6 inches land and the tuner can also be attached to the rig via a double ended PL259 adapter eliminating coax completely. Been thinking of building the rig, and tuner into one enclosure and adding wire terminals. And I will do that as soon as I find the right box with a hinged lid on it. Got that idea from some dude on a Ron Hood video ! 8)
Oh Noooo! Not THAT guy?!?!
(http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/campingsurvival/solovideo8.jpg)
I know him. In fact, I'm wearing his underwear right now. (The man on the LEFT...)
de RadioRay ..._ ._
Quote from: RadioRay on January 26, 2015, 07:17:32 PM
Oh Noooo! Not THAT guy?!?!
(http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/campingsurvival/solovideo8.jpg)
I know him. In fact, I'm wearing his underwear right now. (The man on the LEFT...)
de RadioRay ..._ ._
Who let the moose out ?????? ;D