The Ultimate HF Station Equipment
Transceiver: Elecraft KX3 with KXPA100 amplifier and KXAT100 autotuner (almost as good as a K3!)----
The KX3 is a direct sampling radio with a hardware front end and 10 watts output. It has most of the features of its big brother, the K3. One feature I really like is the ability to make an RTTY QSO using the CW keyer and reading the QSO on the screen. This radio has the same interface as the K3 for computer control so will work with Ham Radio Deluxe. Another smart feature is one knob on the front panel for changing CW speed and output power! It does have a menu, but with Ham Radio Deluxe for operating in the radio room you don't need to worry about menus. No actual pictures of the KXPA100 or KXAT100 autotuner are yet available. They will raise the output of the KX3 to 100 watts autotuned. A mock-up of the KXP100 is shown below.
Quicksilver QS1R receiver (transceiver soon)------
The QS1R is a great little DSR receiver soon to be transformed into a great little transceiver when the preselector,
transmit board and 10 watt low distortion amplifier are available, hopefully soon. This receiver has no hardware front end and is complete with Windows 7 software which works extremely well. CW latency is not noticeable because there is a separate audio output direct from the radio so you don't have to process audio through a computer sound card. The preselector and transmit board will fit right in the existing enclosure making a very compact 10 Mw output transceiver.In the estimation of many users of this receiver, who have tried others available (such as Perseus), this is the best of them all.
SDRMAX computer display for the QS1R-----
So with the KX3 and its hardware front end and the QS1R transceiver with its computer program you have the best of both worlds! At present there is no hardware knob for tuning the QS1R. This is the only current drawback as far as I'm concerned. Knobs are available for other DSR radios and hopefully someone will write the software to use one with the QS1R (QS1T transceiver) or manufacture one specifially for that purpose.
Amplifier: Alpha 8410------
This is a beautifully built amplifier using a pair of 4CX1000A ceramic tetrodes. It would run cool all day long
at 1 KW input key down with about 30 watts drive. The amplifier is manually tuned and covers all amateur bands. The only thing I don't like about it is the use of HV disk ceramic coupling capacitors in the plate output circuit instead of a pair of doorknobs capacitors. This is a high impedence point in the output circuit so I guess the disk capacitors
do not need to pass a lot of rf current but I prefer doorknobs and always used them in my own home brew amplifiers.
There are high power solid state amps available but every one I've read about has had problems with the expensive solid state devices failing so I will stick with big power tubes. This amplifier and the exciter for it will coast along in the linear range of their operation, run cool and last forever!
Alpha 4040 high power autotuner-------
This autotuner will be available in the second quarter of 2012. It has a heavy duty roller inductor and 2 HV vacuum variables, is controlled by an onboard computer and covers 1.8-30 Mhz. It has both auto and manual modes and coax connectors for 4 antennas. A separate autotuner is ideal because you can use it with a replacement amplifier should your main amplifier require repair and also having a built-in autotuner in an amplifier is putting too much that could go wrong in one box, in my opionion.
At present I am using my trusty old FT-1000D with roofing filter, a Kenwood TS-480SAT for 6 metres and mobile and the Ameritron AL80B amplifier. I will continue to use the FT-1000D as long as it keeps working and the Kenwood is a great little radio for mobile use and on 6. The FT-1000D is old technology now but the best of that era. An excellent feature of the FT-1000D is there are no menus! Hopefully next year (2012) will see some new equipment in the shack.
New Equipment Status-- 2012
