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UK ham radio dealer Waters and Stanton plc has announced that they will be exclusive resellers of Elecraft products in the UK. This will be a great benefit to those who like to try before they buy or are just nervous about buying from abroad via the internet.

I have been buying direct from Elecraft for 12 years and have never had a problem apart from the high cost of shipping and the courier’s tax collection fee, both of which make buying some of the smaller Elecraft kits and modules rather expensive. But then, I have been lucky so far never to have had a faulty radio that had to be shipped back to California. Touch wood.

Elecraft has said that UK hams will still be able to buy direct if they want to.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Dayton Hamvention this year.  It was on my list of things to try to accomplish for 2012, but since I’m heading out west to Pacificon in October, I needed to save my pennies for that adventure.  The Dayton Hamvention will be moved to my “things to accomplish list” for 2013.

As you may know from my recent blogging, I do own the brand new Elecraft KX3.  I described this little rig in a recent podcast as “ultra-lite, ultra-portable, ultra-awesome” and the KX3 certainly lives up to all of these fine attributes.  While I’ve owned my Yaesu FT-817 for about 4 years, I really love the larger display of the KX3 and of course all the updated features certainly don’t hurt either.

The Yaesu FT-817 was first released in 2001 and an updated FT-817ND model was made available in 2004.  The 817 is based on the main circuit board design of its bigger and more powerful brothers, the FT-857 and FT-897. 

As I stated, I purchased my 817 back in the 2008 timeframe and used it for portable operations and carried it along with me on hiking and backpacking trips.  I became hooked on SOTA or Summits On The Air in the fall of 2011 and this became my main radio for that purpose.

While I’m perfectly happy with my KX3 and have already used it on one SOTA adventure, I was (like many) thinking, hoping, expecting, anticipating Yaesu to unveil it’s new QRP portable offering at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention.  However, the Dayton Hamvention is over and there was no announcement or news of any kind from Yaesu regarding their future QRP/Portable offering.  I’m wondering if the boat has sailed and left Yaesu high and dry? 

With Elecraft announcing the KX3 at the 2011 Dayton Hamvention and opening the KX3 up for orders in late December 2011 and beginning to ship orders in the Spring of 2012, the 2012 Dayton Hamvention would be the perfect place to announce a new QRP offering from Yaesu.  Well…that is if a new offering was planned.

Of course, Yaesu is big enough and perhaps powerful enough not to necessarily need to leverage an event like the Dayton Hamvention to announce a new QRP rig.  Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the FT-817.  While it may be over 10 years old, the old dinosaur is still kicking and screaming and loved in the QRP community.  As I stated I do own one and I plan to keep it….for now!  

So why do I even bring this up?  Well I do have an interest in QRP operations and an updated offering from Yaesu would be great news for the hobby.  However, I don’t view this as doom and gloom.  I figure Yaesu will update their aging line of 817’s, 857’s and 897’s when they feel the time is right.  However, I just wonder if that time is NOW!

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK   

A couple of weeks ago I received an email to inform me that a 5lb package was on its way to me by UPS from Elecraft. As I had not ordered a KX3 or indeed anything else from Elecraft recently I wondered if I was the winner of a competition I had forgotten about or whether it was just my lucky day. I accepted the explanation from Elecraft Sales that it was just finger trouble at their end – those drop-down auto-complete lists can sometimes be a bit too helpful – and thought no more about it.

This morning the postman knocked on the door and handed over a package that looked as if it weighed about 5 pounds…

KX3 S/N 110

Actually it was not a complete surprise as by then I had been let into the secret. A fellow Elecraft reflector subscriber, blog follower and someone with whom I have often corresponded about Elecraft and other matters (who wishes to remain anonymous) suggested to Elecraft that, in his words, “in appreciation for all of your constructive criticisms and suggestions over the years of how to improve Elecraft (and other) ham radio products that a fully accessorized KX-3 arriving on your doorstep would be a pleasant surprise.” It was, you better believe it!

Wayne and Eric were in on the conspiracy, as was a friend of my benefactor who was passing through the UK on his way home from the US and carried the radio across the Atlantic in his hand luggage before consigning it to the Royal Mail for the final leg of its journey.

I can hardly find the words to describe how delighted I am at this wonderful surprise. As I have written before, I didn’t want to even think about ordering a KX3 until orders were being fulfilled off-the-shelf because my health situation makes it impossible to plan very far ahead. My wish is to “beat the bugger” and survive as long as possible, but having a brain tumour is like having a time-bomb in your head with no idea what the fuse is set to.

A trio of Elecrafts

For the time being, Elecraft KX3 serial number 110 joins its two older siblings: K3 s/n 222 and K2 s/n 392 in my shack. But it will be a constant reminder and incentive to get fit and well enough for some QRPTTF operation. Thanks to everyone involved in sending me this wonderful little radio.

I opened my mailbox this morning to discover the email that hundreds if not thousands of hams worldwide have been waiting for – a shipping notification from UPS to say that a 5lb package from Elecraft is on its way!

A 5lb package from Elecraft? What could that be? Ah. it must be the KX3 I didn’t order.

That’s right. Didn’t order. I haven’t ordered a KX3! I’m not saying I’m never going to, but I am not even going to think about it until such time as orders are fulfilled off the shelf. At the moment I believe that the lead time for an Elecraft KX3 ordered today is about 4 months. These days I just don’t plan that far ahead.

I forwarded the email to Elecraft Sales in the hope that they can figure out who this notification should really have gone to and why it came to me. But for a brief moment this morning I thought this was going to be my lucky day!

Since it’s Friday, it must be date night.  20, 30 and 40 Meters are spectacular!  Not a bit of local neighborhood QRN – the local Plasma TV watchers must be out to dinner or a movie.

The FOC is all over lower 40 Meters with their contest, so I switch over to 30 Meters and while quickly scanning, I hear a pileup.  I have no idea who it is, but by listening carefully, I can tell that they are listening up 2 kHz.  Abiding by the rule, “Work first, worry later”, I nabbed them on my third try.

They eventually gave their call and it turns out to be the HU2DX DXpedition down in El Salvador.  The fact that they were able to dig me out of the pileup is no wonder.  Here’s what they’re using:

For SSB and CW, two K3s and a K2.  Digimodes will be done through a Yaesu FT-840. The antenna on 30 Meters is a Spiderbeam.

Not only did I snag a DXpedition, but I score another country for DDXCC!

Sweet!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

I don’t see things getting much better for the next 4 months when the chemotherapy will be over as although I do detect an improvement in how I feel as I get towards the end of a cycle I am quickly back to square one after starting the next one. There is not enough change in how I feel from day to day to warrant more frequent postings to One Foot in the Grave. My days seem to merge together so that most of the time I couldn’t even tell you what day of the week it is!

Despite what I have just written I will not actually be one of the people feverishly refreshing the Elecraft order page in order to secure a place near the top of the list for KX3 orders. Though I don’t doubt that the KX3 is a seriously cool piece of radio equipment that will be a big success for Elecraft, I have come to the decision that my FT-817ND meets all my current needs of a portable ham radio. I also can still remember my frustration at the length of time I had to wait to receive my K3 (and the even longer wait until the firmware actually worked and it all performed as expected.) I don’t wish to cause myself the stress of wondering whether I will live long enough to receive my KX3!

That’s not to say I don’t see an Elecraft KX3 in my life (and my shack) at any point. I can envisage a situation where a new toy to play with could make life seem a lot more cheerful. One day it will be possible to order a KX3 and get instant gratification. But until then I’ll content myself with reading the experiences of the early adopters and watching their YouTube videos.

So after oversleeping this morning, I managed to find a nice video that I can share with all of you. It’s nothing groundbreaking. It’s just a time lapse video of a gentleman putting together an Elecraft K3 from unboxing to finish. Pretty interesting to see the process. I have yet to build from a kit, but this is pretty cool. So watch it and enjoy. In the mean time, I’m going to go have a snooze or something. But here ya go.