[Elecraft] Major Flaw in the K3

[Fred N. van Kempen]

Bob,

Dang those engineers at Elecraft.  This problem already
existed in my K2... you'd assume they had found and fixed
the problem by now, right?

My shack buddy basically laughs at me, as he doesn't have
this problem.  "Fred, you're hearing things that arent even
there, so please stop yapping at the mike", he then grunts,
whilst going back to his TS-480HX.  And indeed, I dont hear
HIM calling reply to DX, so.... he may be right!

Either my K2's finals are gone, or Im hearing DX ghosts :)

73 de Fred























































Yeah, this was a joke.  It's known that the K2/100 hears
about 10 times more than what it "can work", so Bob's
assumption about the kilowatter is about right, as far
as my experience goes. :P 

--f

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bob Locher
Sent: dinsdag 4 september 2007 18:17
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Major Flaw in the K3

I have found a really major flaw in the K3. It can be fixed with an 
accessory but it will be very expensive. The flaw can be a great 
frustration. Fortunately, I have been able to fully document what causes

it.

Here it is - the receiver hears entirely too well.

I am hearing all sorts of DX, particularly on 40 and 20 meters, where I 
spend most of my time. I am hearing a lot of rare DX stations that no 
one else is calling.

The frustration is that when I call them they can't hear me. Often not 
at all, while at other times they try to get my call but do not manage 
it. Just because they are S0 or S1 in the K3 is not an excuse; they are 
solid Q5 copy. This is not a single isolated incident; this has happened

to me repeatedly. Of course, once these stations have K3's the problem 
will probably go away; then they will be able to hear me. But in the 
mean time this issue must be dealt with.

I see two possible solutions. One is to turn off the receiver preamp and

turn on the attenuator that Elecraft has so thoughtfully provided - this

makes me suspect that Wayne knew all along that this would be a problem 
- the other is to add a 1500 watt solid state linear with built in 
antenna tuner and full QSK. I suspect that this is the fix that Eric has

in mind.

73

Bob W9KNI



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