There are several videos of N6KR’s Pacificon presentation of the new Elecraft KH1 ultra-portable CW transceiver making the rounds. In one of those he comments about a new kind of operation enabled by a handheld transceiver that he called “Diet SOTA”. The diminutive new KH1 will no doubt become a favorite among SOTA activators. That also reminded me that I haven’t chased, or even checked into the Summits on the Air program in quite some time. Following up on that, I see I last worked a summit activator in 2018. Yikes! Time flies. I tried to make amends by working three SOTA stations (MI, CA, CO) on 20 and 17 CW during the afternoon hours yesterday and will be looking for more today.
One of those worked yesterday was N4EII who was operating from W8M/UP-001, Mount Arvon in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Hours later I received a really nice email from him describing his location along with many interesting details of the UP road trip he and his XYL were enjoying along with his work for the day:
“This was the first outing/SOTA for my LNR Mountain Topper (80,40,30,20). I first called on 40 then 30 with no response and nothing heard. Thank goodness for 20 it saved my bacon and the activation. A very big thank you to the chasers all 7 of you from OR, PA,KS,CA,NC,IN. I am still amazed at these contacts with a 9 volt battery as my power source.”
He also included several photos from the summit. It was a nice finishing touch to our radio contact and it really made my day!
A Little More on the KH1
Wayne, N6KR dropped a comment here last night adding a few details to a couple things in my previous post. Sounds like shipping will be in 2024 for anyone who didn’t order over the weekend. He also added some details about the robustness of the internal auto-tuner even if its specs don’t say it covers a 10:1 range.
The Elecraft KX Radio (Groups.io) community mailing list changed a little over the weekend to reflect that it’s also the group for discussion of the AX1 and KH1.
On one of the mailing lists a fellow commented that, “the most important feature of the KH1 in my humble opinion is it makes it nearly impossible to forget any parts of my station!”
To which N6KR replied, “One of our primary design goals :)”.