Should there be anyone out there considering canceling their K3 order
or buying another radio because of slow delivery....DON'T DO IT, you WANT
this radio!! For a variety of reasons it has been 2 weeks since I took delivery of
S/N 23 and I just got it operational yesterday. I haven't actually worked anyone
yet, I've just been enjoying getting myself familiar with the awesome receiver!
The receiver is quiet...my K2 is quiet but the K3 more-so. The AGC is silky smooth
both on SSB and CW. Filters are the stock 2.7 kHz SSB filter and the 5 pole 500
Hz filter for CW and the data modes. These in conjunction with the almost
artifact free DSP I feel are all I will ever need for my operating style,
though I might eventually spring for the 1.0 kHz filter.
As others have observed, I've yet to find a signal that I can't hear on both the K2
and K3 but I'm sure that will come in due course. It is a real joy to listen to signals
totally disappear as you tune across them. Audio quality and strength are excellent
though the high frequency content is a little high for my liking. I haven't played
with the equalizer yet but I suspect that will solve the problem. Now all I need
is a 10 watt QSO before I install the KPA!
As far as the build went it was pretty much uneventful. As always, the Elecraft
construction manual was beautifully written and illustrated...follow the step-by-step
and you can't go wrong. All of the parts were there and I'm almost to the point
where I just won't bother to inventory an Elecraft kit (tnx Christine, Lindsay and
Mariana!). The problems that did arise:
1. I was having difficulty mating J70 on the KANT3 board with P70 on the rf
board. Looked at the connector and found that one of the holes was
plugged. An email to Eric brought a quick reply that that was supposed to
key the connectors but that the corresponding pin on P70 hadn't been
clipped.
2.) While attaching the front panel to the front panel board it was virtually
impossible to get the mic connector through the corresponding hole
and keep the rest of the board aligned. The instructions make mention of
this possibility and suggest "wiggling" the board and panel until they
mate. In this case there just plain wasn't enough wiggle room so I used
a sharp pocket knife to slightly increase the diameter of the hole with
no harm to the panel.
3.) When I reached the "smoke test" stage all was well except that I
COULDN'T TURN THE POWER OFF with the front panel
switch despite the fact that it turned it on...very strange! A note
to K3 support got a quick response suggesting it was probably
a bent pin on one of the connectors between the FP board and
the rf board...not so! There was some more back and forth and
then Wayne asked if I had down-loaded the latest firmware...I
hadn't but that particular problem was solved by turning the
sub receiver rf and af pots fully CCW (????) don't ask me.
ask Wayne!
4.) Firmware down load...I purchased the KUSB USB to serial port
interface and it didn't work with my one year old Dell Dimension
3000 running XP. A standard RS232 cable direct to the serial
port worked just fine. I plan to play with the USB configuration
some more and either get it to work or figure out why it doesn't.
And I assure you that the usual terrific Elecraft support is there!
Doug
W6JD
K2 #1626, K3 #23