I slowly came back into the hobby using an IC706 with a Signalink USB interface. This setup allows me to do pretty much any mode (SSB, CW, or most digital) I want. It does a great job, but is not too portable.
A friend in QRP sent an email to a mail list I am on letting us know he had a Elecraft K2 he was selling from an estate. While he and I chatted I mentioned this to Peggy and she commented... 'want that for your birthday?'... Heck Yea!!!
Long story short I now have an Elecraft K2. It is a great radio and best of all it is much more portable than the IC706. I've been taking it to the back yard and setting up on a picnic table to operate. I used to do that with the IC706 but it required an extension cord and outlet strip to get it on the air. Not the K2!
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| The setup on the picnic table |
This picture shows the K2 on the picnic table. Replete with the Microphone (operating SSB this day) notepad, battery and water. Yes battery. That is an 8AH 12 volt gel cell. I've operated 4 hours on that battery and was having no troubles at all since the radio is designed to operate to below 10.5 VDC.
The IPhone in the picture is running a free telnet program. It is logged into the Texas DX Society cluster watching for spots. This setup got me contacts with the Dominican Republic, the Czech Republic and Italy. Plus a bunch of stateside Special Event stations on SSB and CW.
In the past month I've logged nearly 30 contacts. That is more than I have logged in 10+ years. This is great!
Am I having fun? Oh yea!
Mike
N5BGZ