Episode 011 - Wayne Burdick - N6KR
Elecraft's co-founder and CTO, Wayne Burdick, N6KR, can live his dream of building the ultimate QRP rig for the backpacker, and sharing it with all of his friends. This is the theme of Wayne's ham radio journey from his humble beginnings as a teenager in San Diego, California, where he liked to homebrew his first transmitters using the "cockroach" of transistors, the 2N2222. A stint in the US Coast Guard and a degree in Cognitive Science prepared Wayne to be an out of the box thinker. No doubt, that this, combined with his techncial background from his years in ham radio, helped him create some of the coolest QRP transceivers beginning in 1989, with the Safari-4, a multiband, 1 watt, QRP transceiver, that used plug-in transverter boards for band changes. Of course, this story advances to the present, where Wayne and his business partner, Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ, create the Elecraft line of popular transceivers and the ultimate QRP backpack transceiver, the KX3.
| Electronics background: Love for electronics began around the age of six. Gutted old chassis for parts. Got a Radio Shack Science Fair Electronic Project Kit at an early age. First Licensed: 1971 Elmers: Richard E Leffler, WA6COE (SK) Roger Miller, (call sign unknown) (SK) both teachers at Parkway Junior High School, La Mesa, California, where they supervised the amatuer radio club on campus. First Radio Club: El Cajon Amateur Radio Club Call Signs: WN6HQH, WA6HQH, N6KR First Rig: Heathkit DX-20 transmitter and Hallicrafters S38D receiver into a tri-band beam Favorite Mode: QRP CW in the back country on a battery and a random wire Favorite Ham Radio Activities: DX, Home brew and build equipment, Field Day, and backpacker HF Member #3 of the Norcal QRP Club Wayne is an author of Ham Radio Poetry: click here In 2011, there was talk of resurrecting Heathkit, our favorite boyhood electronic kit company. Wayne's response on the subject as the CTO of Elecraft Wayne's Desoldering Primer Degree from UCSD in Cognitive Science Favorite Drawing Software: SketchUp Creator of these transceivers: Safari-4 Norcal 40A Norcal Sierra Wilderness SST As co-founder and CTO of Elecraft, Wayne was the principal designer of these rigs: K1 - compact 4 band 5 watt CW transceiver K2 - all mode 5 band 15 watt transceiver K3 - 160 - 2 meter high performace 100 watt transceiver KX1 - ultra-portable 4 band QRP CW transceiver KX3 - ultraportable, all band, all mode QRP transceiver with built-in automatic antenna tuner |  Radio Shack Science Fair Electronic Organ Kit  Heathkit DX-20 Transmitter  Norcal 40  Wilderness Sierra  Elecraft KX3 - For many, the ultimate portable QRP rig |
The Elecraft "K Line" that includes the K3 Transceiver, P3 pan adapter, and the KPA 500 amplifier. This is 4Z1UG's dream rig
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