[Elecraft] K3 - very brief first impressions...

[Jeff Stai]

Trying to grab a moment to post some first impressions - here goes:

- The kit arrived in perfect condition with a complete inventory, no missing parts! Doing the 
inventory took me about 90 minutes, but I've done a few Elecraft inventories before...

- I didn't keep good notes on time, but after inventory it took about 5 hours to assemble the basic 
K3/10 at a non-hurried rate, and about half an hour to do the alignment and final checks.

- On a windows machine firmware download is easy and quick. You install the downloader and it knows 
how to find the server and check versions. The downloader includes a port test to make sure your 
serial port is speaking with the K3. Worked perfectly on COM6 (which is more than you can say about 
a lot of programs...)

- There were a couple places where the assembly was a little tight and weird. I will say that if you 
are forcing it, you may be doing it wrong - and if something won't go where it is supposed to, try 
other angles until it does. Taking a step back helps too.

- If you have built a K2, you can do this. The mechanical assembly is similar enough.

- The part of the assembly process that is most like the K2 is installing the KPA3 100 watt amp - 
specifically the early K2... For the K3, you assemble and test it as a 10W radio before you install 
the KPA3. Then you disassemble half the rig to put in the KPA3: top and bottom covers, the KNB3, and 
so forth. Parts everywhere and a pile of screws! You end up making a lot of changes to the back of 
the radio. Needless to say, I also found this part to be the most fun! (OK, the Front Panel was also 
a lot of fun to piece together :)

- Be sure to run a complete set of TX Gain calibrations on each band at both 5W and 50W, or it won't 
let you transmit!

Operating:

- I took advantage of the CQWW phone this weekend and operated phone only to start. This week is CW 
if I can stop working long enough. I'll do RTTY once my connector order comes in and I can hook up FSK.

- The K3 swims in a space formerly occupied by an FT1000D!

- During the CQWW I wanted to practice tuning in difficult and closely spaced phone signals. Good 
news: the K3 can do that! I found by just fiddling with the Width and Shift I could pull out a weak 
signal hidden by an adjacent strong signal a few 100HZ away. Many voices were readable down to a 
1.2KHz width! And the auto notch works like a charm.

- The Monitor works well, and once you read the instructions the Mic Gain and Comp are easy to set. 
My hearing has a little trouble figuring out how much Comp is too much, however...

- All my stuff is set up for Yaesu but I had a spare cable for the Goldline which I converted to the 
Elecraft pinout by moving two wires. (I like using the boom mic because it forces me to sit up 
straight...) Works like a champ.

- Also got it working with the ACOM2000A - the power control makes it easy to nail the 15W necessary 
to tune the amp the first time.

- Made a few dozen contacts in the CQWW just for fun. Busting pileups no problem. A cool treat: I 
received tonight a video file from V73RY of him working me! I think he just did some video of some 
contacts and decided to share them with the stations he worked - but now I know what the K3 sounds 
like in Tonga.

That's all for tonight - any questions, fire away! 73 - jeff wk6i


-- 
Jeff Stai               jds at twistedoak.com
Twisted Oak Winery      http://www.twistedoak.com/
Winery Blog             http://www.elbloggotorcido.com/