[TenTec] Best HF Travel Rig

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

If you are a CW operator, I certainly agree with Jim.
If you work more SSB, one weakness of the Elecraft K2 is that it did not
have passband tuning.
Otherwise it is an outstanding radio.

On the used market, one of my favorite radios is the Yaesu FT-900 AT.
Like the Eagle, it does not have any software menus.
It is my backup radio for my Eagle.

Another good radio in this price class is the Icom IC-735.

The TS-480 is also a nice portable radio.

Of course if you don't mind  spending $2K, the very BEST radio is the Eagle.

Unfortunately built-in power supplies seem to be a thing of the past.
Now that we using switching power supplies, it is probably a good idea to
keep them a bit separated from the radio anyway. 

73
Rick


-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 6:57 PM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Best HF Travel Rig

On 2/13/2012 9:01 AM, Joe wrote:
> I am just wondering if several people might like to suggest a good rig to
take along.

An Elecraft K2 with the 100W amp and tuner would be an excellent choice. 
With the introduction of the K3 several years ago, a lot of K2s have 
been coming on the market used.  The K2 was (and still is) sold as a 
modular kit that the buyer builds. The bare bones K2 is CW only, 15 
watts, 80-10 M. There's a 160M board, an SSB board, an audio filter 
board, a 100 W power amp, and tuners for both the 15w and 100W rig.  It 
runs on 12VDC. There are now lots of low cost, compact DC power supplies 
around (about $100). I run my 12V rigs from a big deep discharge battery 
that I bought at Costco for about $75, and trickle charge it with a 
small regulated 12V supply that regulates to 14.1VDC.

A second great choice would be the newly announced Elecraft KX3, which 
is due to ship in a few months.  10-15 watts barefoot, about the size of 
a VHF talkie, 160M to 6M,  cost about $875. They've also announced a 
100w amp and tuners for both power levels.  I've held a pre-production 
unit in my hand, and it's a REAL cute little rig.

The specs and performance of these two Elecraft rigs are in a class with 
late model Omnis, but not at the level of the Orion.  A HUGE notch down 
are the little Yaesu QRP rigs, and the other low cost 100W rice boxes.

You can, of course, use any of these rigs with an outboard tuner and/or 
amp.

73, Jim K9YC
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