I am now the proud owner of an Elecraft KX1, serial #577 or #575. (The serial number kit envelope is stamped “00577,” but the label inside says “00575.”)
From a kit point of view, it’s pretty impressive. The components appear to be quality components, and the instructions are clearly written and well illustrated. What I really like, though, is that the parts lists has photos of all the components. Several times, I looked up the photo of a part before installing it just to make sure that I had the right part.
I’m just two hours into building the thing and have just completed the Part I assembly, alignment and test. So far, so good. It passed all of the initial tests without letting any of the smoke out. At this rate, it’s should take me less than ten hours total to build the thing, including the 30m board and the antenna tuner, as I’d estimate that I’m about 30% done with the base unit.
I will really be interested to see how well the antenna tuner works. From all reports–from guys on the mailling list and from a guy I actually worked on the air–it works really well. I once worked a guy who said he was operating a KX1 sitting on his dining room table with a wire stretched out on his deck for an antenna.
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