I’ve been looking for something more portable for taking with me when I travel and settled on the Elecraft KX2. I looked at the KX3 as well but its a little bigger and not much more powerful, and I already have the FT-891 at 100 watts so I went with the smaller one. KX2 is a 10W QRP radio. I tested it out today on the porch with some FT8 and the Wolf River Coil.
Here it is next to my mac, it has a built in battery. I added a BNC to SMA connector and use RG-316 coax to the antenna in an attempt to keep the weight down for travel. The antenna was out near the driveway and I only used 1 radial. The reception was really good on FT8 for this non-optimal setup. I heard into eastern Europe and 5T5PA Johan in Mauritania. I talked with him in Dayton.
Predictably the transmit wasn’t great with only 10 watts. I tried a few stations and wasn’t hearing back. Then I saw one of the guys from the SPARC club KC4SXO and tried him and we made my first contact on the new radio. Here’s the map of stations that heard me.
I’m going to get the CW key that plugs into the front of the radio and I’m also going to look into alpha loop antennas to compliment the light weight of the radio. I like this radio and I’m looking forward to using it in all sorts of places, all over the world.