Today is Good Friday, and I had taken a PTO day so my wife and I could get everything ready for the Easter weekend. When you have 10 grandchildren you have to make sure everything in the goodie basket area is well taken care of. The mailman showed up at about 4PM today and left a box on my front steps...luckily my wife saw it and brought it into the shack almost immediately. I opened it up and my friend Aron NN1F, had already shipped me the K1. MY K1. The K1 I built back in 2002, good old serial number 1205 fresh from the 2002 Dayton Hamfest. I sold it to Aron about 10 or 12 years ago and now it has returned home. Feast your eyes on this little beauty!
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| K1 SN 1205 built by KB9BVN during June of 2002 - Back home! |
This is the original four band model and everything is working great. This was the second transceiver kit I built, the first being my Norcal 40A back in 1998. In this picture it is tuned to 7034.5 and I just had my first QSO.
I heard Alan W4AMV calling CQ from North Carolina, he was running 50w to a wire in the trees down in Raleigh. Alan is a General class ham, and according to QRZ he's quite the boat anchor rebuilder and quite a home brewer. His QRZ page has several 50/100w HF amps he has build, power supplies, and a 3 band HF rig ta boot.
According to my watt meter I was pushing just a hair under 5w out to the attic dipole, which I swear is aimed dead at North Carolina. Alan was a solid 599 here and I got a tasty 459 with a bit of QSB on the side for good measure. We QSO'd about 15 minutes and it was great. So glad to have this relic from my past back in my hands and on the air again. Thank you for the QSO Alan!
UPDATE:
22:10Z 03/30/18 on 10113 Khz, I had a two way QSO with Bruno F5NTV in Cassy-Lanton France. (4192 Miles) I got a 549 and he was 599 here in Central Indiana. I was 4 watts into the attic dipole. I almost stopped breathing. The K1 has MOJO galore even after 16 years.
23:06Z 03/30/18 I worked Len KC9AWL down in Palm Coast Florida. We were also on 30m, which seems to be the only band open right now. He gave me a 569 and I had him at 589 with some QSB here. Freq was 10121 Khz in the 30m band.
01:12Z 03/31/18 - Worked Tim N8ENJ down near Tampa FL. Tim was using FLDGI to copy my fist and he said it was rough sledding from time to time. QSB and my fist make it hard to copy. Tim was using a IC 7000 and a trapped dipole for QSOs tonight.
01:28Z 03/31/18 - Worked Ted NA7C out in Sandy, Utah on the K1 at 4 Watts! A new state on the K1 and this was on 7055 Khz. 40m is OPEN kids. Ted is SKCC 8182T and has a great fist. The band was a little noisy but it is very active right now.
01:56Z 03/31/18 - Worked Lee K5LY on 7041 Khz way down near Dallas Texas, a NEW state for 2018. Lee is 71 and is a retired law enforcement officer for the state of Texas. He was running a K3, got his license in 1976, and loves working CW. Lee even teaches CW classes down there. Conditions were great for about 20 mins, then QRN and QSB squeaked in and we signed off.
18:14Z 03/31/18 - Worked Ernie VE3OU up in Ontario Canada. 40m was open for a bit and we were running on 7025.5 Khz according to my K1 dial . Ernie gave me a 569 and he was 599 here with some QSB. QSO went on for about 20 minutes before the QSB got too bad. Ernie has been a ham since 1956, he was only 16 when he got his license. Great QSO Ernie! Thanks.
20:18Z 03/31/18 - Worked Marc VE2WE up in Quebec, he was running SKCC contacts on 10119 Khz, 30m is open again. Marc gave me a 549, he was 579 here. His SKCC number is 17443C. Marc was using a cool Camelback Straight Key from KC5ILR.
20:24Z 03/31/18 - This time up was Hank K1PUG out in CT also on 10119 Khz ..a new state for 2018! Hank was also running SKCC numbers and he is SKCC 12486S, he's a Senator in SKCC which means he's got about a gazillion SKCC contacts under his belt. Always a pleasure to work Hank.
UPDATE:
22:10Z 03/30/18 on 10113 Khz, I had a two way QSO with Bruno F5NTV in Cassy-Lanton France. (4192 Miles) I got a 549 and he was 599 here in Central Indiana. I was 4 watts into the attic dipole. I almost stopped breathing. The K1 has MOJO galore even after 16 years.
23:06Z 03/30/18 I worked Len KC9AWL down in Palm Coast Florida. We were also on 30m, which seems to be the only band open right now. He gave me a 569 and I had him at 589 with some QSB here. Freq was 10121 Khz in the 30m band.
01:12Z 03/31/18 - Worked Tim N8ENJ down near Tampa FL. Tim was using FLDGI to copy my fist and he said it was rough sledding from time to time. QSB and my fist make it hard to copy. Tim was using a IC 7000 and a trapped dipole for QSOs tonight.
01:28Z 03/31/18 - Worked Ted NA7C out in Sandy, Utah on the K1 at 4 Watts! A new state on the K1 and this was on 7055 Khz. 40m is OPEN kids. Ted is SKCC 8182T and has a great fist. The band was a little noisy but it is very active right now.
01:56Z 03/31/18 - Worked Lee K5LY on 7041 Khz way down near Dallas Texas, a NEW state for 2018. Lee is 71 and is a retired law enforcement officer for the state of Texas. He was running a K3, got his license in 1976, and loves working CW. Lee even teaches CW classes down there. Conditions were great for about 20 mins, then QRN and QSB squeaked in and we signed off.
18:14Z 03/31/18 - Worked Ernie VE3OU up in Ontario Canada. 40m was open for a bit and we were running on 7025.5 Khz according to my K1 dial . Ernie gave me a 569 and he was 599 here with some QSB. QSO went on for about 20 minutes before the QSB got too bad. Ernie has been a ham since 1956, he was only 16 when he got his license. Great QSO Ernie! Thanks.
20:18Z 03/31/18 - Worked Marc VE2WE up in Quebec, he was running SKCC contacts on 10119 Khz, 30m is open again. Marc gave me a 549, he was 579 here. His SKCC number is 17443C. Marc was using a cool Camelback Straight Key from KC5ILR.
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| KC5ILR Camelback Straight key |
Best 73 de KB9BVN
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