[Continued from previous post]
Now, KX1 first impressions. Mine's going back for a bit of a tune-up,
but I've gotten to really put it through its paces and really get to
know the interface. For a radio with only three push-buttons (well,
counting the tuning knob, that's four), it's surprisingly easy to
operate. The two-button combinations are two-button hold functions,
and you don't accidentally activate a function on only one button
quite so easily as is done on the K2. (More on that in a future note,
where I'll want to discuss the K2, once I get my KRC2 back and all.)
It isn't clear from the description how the radio is laid out, so here
it is. The front panel is really the top panel, as all operating
controls are top-mounted. On the left side of the radio's top cover,
youll find a small window for the LED display, and directly below that
are three push-buttons: from left to right, "Menu", "Band", and
"RIT". Below these, on the front edge of the top panel, are two small
slide switches. The left switch turns the log lamp LED on (this is on
the front panel, left side); the right switch is the power switch. To
the right of the display, sort of in the middle of the top
panel, is the tuning knob, and to the right of that, vertically along
the right edge, are three small knobs. From back to front, they are RF
gain, crystal filter bandwidth, and AF gain. The back panel of the
radio is completely empty; the power jack (standard coaxial power
jack, same as on the K2 and other QRP rigs) is on the left panel
towards the back. The BNC antenna jack is on the right panel towards
the back, and the headphone jack is also on the right panel, in front
of the BNC antenna jack. The key jack is on the front of the radio--aa
1/8" stereo jack. It's set up to accept the accessory keyer paddle
that attaches directly to the radio, but you can use your own, as I'm
doing.
Operation is simple, once you take a brief look at the operation
section of the manual. If you don't, you'll probably be a little
lost. I'll hit the highlights here. If you want the cw output feature
on, hold down one of the three push-buttons while you turn the power
switch on by pushing it away from you (towards the back of the
radio). The three buttons turn the log lamp on its brightest setting
and turn the cw readout on at either 10, 20, or 30 WPM from left to
right. That is; holding down menu turns the cw feedback to 10 WPM; the
band button sets it at 20, and the RIT button sets it at 30. This
setting will persist until changed either in the menu or at the next
powerup/button-press combination. Turning on the radio, you'll hear
the current operating frequency. Spin the tuning knob---it acts about
as you'd expect. If you push down on the tuning knob (just tap it),
you'll change your tuning step size: a low beep is the slow setting
(10 hz, I think) and a high beep is the faster setting (100 hz);
holding the knob in will set it to a very fast 1 KHz step size. (The
fast setting in the USB or LSB receive mode sets the step size to 5
KHz instead of 1 KHz--very handy for shortwave listening!)
Pressing the band button will read the current operating frequency. If
you tap it twice, you'll switch to the next band and that band's
current frequency will be announced. Holding the band button will
allow you to change the keyer speed with the tuning knob. The RIT
button toggles the tuning knob from main tuning to RIT tuning, and of
course the menu button puts you into the configuration menu. You'll
definitely need to keep a cheat sheet of the menu abbreviations handy;
however, within a short amount of time you'll get to know what the
abbreviations mean and should be able to adjust things easily
enough. (Adjustments are generally made with the tuning knob, which is
also used to scroll through the menu itself.)
Literally everything is read back on the cw readout, or can be caused
to read out. Frequency of course is easy to get. When tuning with the
automatic tuner, once it's gone through its range and found a match,
you'll hear your power output; when you press a button to turn the
transmitter off tune and back onto receive, you'll hear your current
SWR. (For instance, when tuning is finished, you may hear "P4R0"
(Power 4.0 watts--the decimal is an R, the 0 is a long dah), then when
a button is pressed to stop the tuning process, you'll hear, say, R1R3
(SWR 1.3:1...of course, the bottom number's always 1, so you don't
need to hear it!)) You can even hear your current power supply
voltage, although I don't recommend leaving this on--it's *very*
talkative. And the signal display mode is very handy--you get a tick
every few steps and a frequency readout every so often, useful in a
fashion not unlike the marker generators found in older receivers. As
I said before, all menu parameters are read and can be adjusted easily
eyes-free as well. The readout speed can be adjusted from 10 to 40 WPM
from the menu. I run mine at about 30, which is comfortable for me,
and the information I get from the readout is concise and
complete. Once you get used to hearing things read out to you in cw
with long dahs for zero and R for the decimal point, it's really quite
nice! I'd love to see a readout this complete built into all of
Elecraft's future offerings.
Of course, there are other features--like the ability to change the
buttons into buttons to send code; shortwave broadcast receiver
coverage; it runs on batteries. But I think I've covered the
accessibility features fairly completely here. One thing I would say
though is that the sidetone on my unit seems loud as compared to the
receiver itself, even at the lowest setting. Still, that's a pretty
minor complaint. Oh yes, be sure to use high-quality sensitive
earphones or ear buds. And don't be alarmed that you have to crank the
volume up pretty high, like all the way or nearly so--remember that
this radio's optomized for low current drain and you're just not going
to get a ton of audio and aren't meant to...which is why you won't
find a built-in speaker.
Let me know if I've missed anything important, or if you have any
questions or need clarification. And...Wayne (N6KR), please feel free
to weigh in on this as the proud papa :)
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV
------------------------------------------------------------
Children can come from the heart, too. Please help us bring the child
of our heart into our home! Visit http://ouradoption.brannan.name or
Email [log in to unmask] to find out how you can help us.
Thanks!
|
