[Elecraft] K3 Update: It keeps getting better...

[Rick Tavan N6XI]

Folks keep asking me how the field test is going. I think it's going
very well. Almost all the changes Elecraft has published have been
software. The hardware I have seen is very stable. There were a few
missing pull-up resistors and a ground jumper which we added easily in
the field. The front panel labels are being revised. But the hardware
behind this software-defined radio is proving itself remarkably close
to final detail and quality. So I have been telling those who ask that
the K3 field test is really SMOP, what we call in the software
industry a "simple matter of programming." That big job is proceeding
well, with new features, fixes and tuneups coming through every few
days. They are a snap to download and with each download the K3 keeps
getting better and better.

One of the more recent features added to the K3 software was VOX. It
was worth the wait! This is one of the smoothest I've used and the
anti-VOX is perfect. I've yet to have speaker audio trip it. It's easy
to adjust gain to match various microphones so that relaxed, quiet
speech triggers the VOX instantly but normal breathing and ambient
noise very rarely cause false triggers. Pickup is very fast - no need
to prefix a transmission with "Uhh..." to avoid losing a syllable.
There are no switching transients, either, so I can set the delay very
short. Superb!

73,

/Rick N6XI