[Elecraft] K3 & KRX3 Fantastic in ARRL 160 M!

[Ed Gray W0SD]

How the K3 and KRX3 did in the 160M ARRL Contest:

W0DB operated W0SD in the ARRL 160M contest.  To make the top 10 last 
year and this year we just live to far west so we just can't work the DX 
multipliers like they can to the east of us.  We are a long ways from JA 
as well and the activity out of the PAC was terrible so we got no help 
there!!!

Anyway the totals were 1638 Q's and 104M of which 79 were ARRL Sections. 
  We just got the K3 with the KRX3 and bi-directional beverages, rcv. 
loop and low rcv dipole put together just before the contest.  For 
transmit we had 1/4 wave vertical with 135 radials and a drooping dipole 
at 195 feet.

We used the K3 with the Rcv antennas with a switch between RX ANT and 
AUX RF.  We could switch the rcv antenna's to the Aux RF for diversity. 
  We also used the sub unlinked to hunt for multipliers using the main 
antenna.

For next year we are going to put up another high dipole cross ways to 
the present one as one of the rec antenna's so it can be used in 
diversity reception with the vertical. That was the one combination we 
were missing.

To give you an idea of how good the K3 & KRX3 are the 1638 Q's is 3rd 
high in the single op high power listings showing the ability of the K3 
with the KRX3 to hear.  Actually only two multi-op stations have more 
Q'S as well.  Considering many of the east coast station had 300+ EU 
qsos and we only had a handful shows the ability of the K3 & KRX3 and 
Joe's ability to pull them out. The other bad thing was Joe was only 
able to work 4 JA's rather than the hoped for 100. Yes the antenna's are 
a significant factor BUT you have to have a the radio that can take 
advantage of the antennas to survive!!!  I don't know of anything more 
"BRUTAL" than the QRM on 160M with nearly everyone packed in 40 khz. 
There were times Joe had the DSP to 50 hz with the 200 hz roofing filter 
and could still hear 3 signals. The other amazing things is that at 
times we have a little power line noise on the SE beverage and the K3 NB 
is just awesome.  Every radio I have ever used when you get strong 
signals you have problems with the NB.  We did not notice any problem at 
all!!!

I was not going to but now there is no question I am going to get 
another KRX3 for the other K3 as it just adds so much to the radio!!!

One thing Joe told me was to "NOT" use functions on the K3 and KRX3 when 
transmitting.  The radio does not like that and did strange things.  You 
might say why would you do that?  When you are working that many q's an 
hour and have things going on in both ears and have 9 antenna switches 
to deal with plus knobs on the radio to work with you only have free 
time while transmitting so you think I need to make this change so I 
will do it now but it does not work!  Thankfully you can make rcv 
antenna changes while transmitting.

The K3 and KRX3 are amazing radio's and don't let anybody tell you they 
are not.  I read a lot of stuff on here that is based on opinion.  This 
report is based on actually on the air results in the "REAL WORLD"! 
IMHO you can place a lot of confidence in reports such as these in 
making a decision about buying a K3 and KRX3!!!

Ed W0SD