[Elecraft] K3 Performance

[Vic K2VCO]

David Yarnes wrote:

> One fellow I worked early on with my K3 said it sounded very good, but 
> he thought the keying was a little "soft".  Now, I tend to respect this 
> guy's opinion, as he is what I consider to be a first class CW op and 
> homebrewer, but I'm not sure I agree with him on this.  He is pretty 
> "finicky", and may have been overly critical, but I've worked 8 or 10 
> other K3's so far, and I rather like how they sound.

The K3's keying is a bit softer than most commercial rigs these days, 
the rise/fall times being about 5 ms. It is easy to copy at any speed 
that I am capable of sending, which is about 45 wpm. I don't think 
harder keying would be helpful until above 60 wpm.

The shape of the K3's keying is excellent from the point of view of 
transmitted bandwidth (that is, key clicks), something which can NOT be 
said of many other radios. The ARRL test reports now include a "worst 
case spectral display" of CW emission which shows the results of key 
clicks, phase noise, etc., and I imagine that the K3's graph will be 
superior to almost anything else out there.

To my ear the CW keying is absolutely perfect, the way I would adjust it 
if I could adjust it. I believe that Wayne intends to make it possible 
to change the rise/fall times, so the 65+ wpm operators may want to do that!
-- 
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco