[Elecraft] No K3 in the near future

[Wallace, Andy]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rich a. [mailto:rckchp@comcast.net]
>
> As an alternative in the interim, I think a general coverage 
> swl reciever would sell well. I'd like one.

I was just talking about that with someone else. It could be 
done the Elecraft way: narrow bandpass filters for each
SWL band (which helps with rx performance, as you know). 
Should cover all SWL bands from 2.3 MHz up to 26 MHz. 
For SWL, a product detector could be optional but it MUST
have AM detection. To be a real winner, it should have 
synchronous AM detection -- selectable USB/LSB sync is also
a plus here. 

Filtering should be from 6 kHz on down to perhaps 1.8.

For rx, not as many menu items are needed, so this may free
up (in the same PIC space we have in the K2) room for features
like passband tuning, and who knows what else. 

No transmit section, so that gives some cost/space leeway
if the rig is designed to be about the size of a K2.

It may not cover below 2.3 MHz...though I suppose if they
split the MW broadcast band up into 100 or 200 kHz segments with
associated bandpass filters it would be a killer setup for BCB DXing
performance. 

If such a receiver could be had for <$400, it would really knock
people's socks off. Casual SWLing doesn't require as bulletproof
a design, but to do real SWL DX, you need good filters, good audio,
and immunity to images. And a sync detector can really do the job
when it comes to pulling up a weak, fady signal out of the mud.

Alternatively, people might find an Elecraft SW converter fun -- same idea
with switched bandpass coverage and output to 7 MHz to use it with any
receiver (dust off the old 75A-4).

Not that I expect Elecraft to jump on this, but it's sure fun to speculate,
isn't it!?

Alternatively, anyone itching to build an SWL receiver kit can look to
Ten-Tec:

http://www.tentec.com/tk1254.htm

For $195, it's not a bad little receiver. I built one three or four years
back,
and I thought it performed as well or better than any $200 portable. 

Andy