[Elecraft] Newbie Question re: SSB

[Matt Zilmer]

Hey Steve,

I didn't really baptise the K3 with SS.  It was just the first serious
contest opportunity I've had time for.

And you're right - weird conditions prevailed.

matt

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:38:16 -0800, you wrote:

>    Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one.  So here is mine.  I have been licensed since 1965, and have been a contester, both phone and cw, almost from the begining.  My first contest was the 1966 Novice Roundup.
>
>    Matt has some good points here.  However, you may not wish to baptise a new rig  or contest logging program in a major contest.  Sweepstakes is probably one of the biggest of the year.  Perhaps a state qso party, sprint or the North America QSO Party might be a good place to start.  You might also wish to try starting out at the high end of the appropriate band, and work your way down as you become more comfortable.
>
>    Band conditions for this just completed sweepstakes were some of the strangest that I have ever seen.  Especially on 80 and 40 meters. Contacts between 50 and 200 miles were often difficult because of long skip.  I am surprised that more people didn't try 160 meters.  It is a legal band.  Just my zwei  pfennings worth.
>
>    73,
>
>    Steve Brandt N7VS ex: WN6QYP and WB6VVS
>
>    Portland, Oregon
>This may or may not answer the question, and is certainly only one ham's opinion.
>
>I operated both Sweepstakes - CW and Phone.  Did this on purpose, to
>compare the K3's operation in both regimes.  Contests like this can be
>intense, and Q's are difficult in the best of conditions because of
>band crowding.  BCI on 40m doesn't help much either.
>
>Picking a contest to get one's feet wet with a new rig isn't a
>half-bad way to go.  You are faced with all the normal problems,
>greatly intensified and magnified in a way that's hard to describe -
>but it's sort of like a time-compression effect.  It's the best way to
>get yourself acclimated to a new transceiver and make the most of its
>best features, because you have to make adjustments quickly and have
>it come out right the first time.
>
>I found the K3 easy to use in both CW and Phone contests.  After a few
>miscues, I was quickly dialing in the DSP filter, notches (needed a
>lot in CW), etc.  The AFX set to Delay 3 or 4 helped a lot, both on CW
>and SSB.  Now ease of use is one thing, but what did I accomplish?  
>
>CW:  Operated 2.5 hours - 48 Q's.
>SSB:  Operated 4 hours - 109 Q's.
>
>Of the two, I enjoyed the CW contest more.  My CW skills need
>sharpening, that's for sure.  But I can tell you that the K3 makes it
>easy to bring them up to par.  
>
>I have the plain-Jane K3/10 with only the 2.7 KHz roofing filter.  The
>antenna is a 195 foot long wire, end-fed with an MFJ tuner.  It's only
>up about 30 feet.  No amplifier except what's in the exciter.
>
>Yeah - we're near the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but so what?  If 12
>Watts on a Wet Noodle antenna works, the bottom is not as bad as I
>remember from 1976 or so.  I can say now with certainty that he K3
>makes even the bottom of the cycle a joy to operate in - and in any
>mode you care to choose.
>
>73,
>matt - WA6EGJ
>K3 #24
>
>
>
>
>On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:11 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>>with CW?
>>
>>Thanks
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