[Elecraft] K3 NB

[VR2BrettGraham]

AE6WA said:

>OTHR is a big problem in NA, at least on the west coast. On 40M in the early
>AM it can prevent operation over the entire CW segment using my current
>equipment (no noise blanker). This is a primary focus of my wanting NB
>capability.
>
>I have yet to hear a report of any tester on the efficacy of the K3 NB on
>OTHR. Perhaps this is because the NB is late-arrival functionality and the
>summer QRN has just about shut the band down here during the early dark
>hours.  For example this morning; I can't hear one CW signal through the
>noise at 5:00am local. During winter up through late July this was prime DX
>time except when the OTHR was present. When it was I just turn the radio
>off.

It's odd, depending on who you are talking to, on the east coast
of NA the ZC4 woodpecker is/isn't a problem; likewise on the west
coast BY7.  Maybe this is a sign of how active one is, as these
things are hard to miss (ZC4 can be 20-40 over S9 here by itself
on a band with no other signals; BY7 taking out the entirety [for
much of the rest of the world, at least] of 40m should also be hard
not to notice).

With the K3 hardware NB having just been finished, I guess we'll
have to wait a while to see how well it works, at least from NA.

With a synchronous string of pulses, it should be easy to
generate & synchronize same to drive an upstream noise gate &
not have to detect when to blank in the presence of numerous
signals pushing the better part of -10 dBm.  Otherwise, not much
use for that ID timer if we're switching the rig off & giving it all a
miss. ;^)

73, VR10BrettGraham/p.