[Elecraft] orion agc vs K3

[Tom Whiteside]

From: Koppendorfer Klaus KK at ccf.net
>i had the chance to do an A/B comparing
>between Orion-I and K3 this evening
[snip]
>I tried all possible settings for agc on orion.. but could not find
>a situation where the raugh noise between cw-signals was fine
>so the only way was to switch off agc and reduce rf-gain - then we found
>a setting where orion sounds near k3 (by the way K2 sounds very fine under
>these conds)
>
>!!! these was seen only on 80meter evening with heavy European qrm !!!

I'd suggest trying a little hang time on the Orion AGC setting and trying
reduced gain also.    Then dialing back the RF gain until things quiet down.

I'm sure the Orion's robust front end and AGC performance has netted me a
number of new ones on 160M - it has been a great radio.

But I placed my K3 order yesterday!    I'm looking forward especially to
being able to do diversity listening with a real subreceiver - you can sure
hear the difference in artifact junk in big signal conditions between the
Orion's main and sub receivers!   Also looking forward to the narrower
Roofing filter capabilities not possible on the Orion I and also the smaller
form factor and other features.    Be on the lookout for a good deal on the
Orion when the K3 arrives!

I've been an Elecraft fan for a long time with K2 serial number 1369.    The
K2 also has a darned good front end - mine handled the 20M operation of the
W1AW/5 contest operation back in 2000 and is a favorite at Field Day - One
year, we moved a big ICOM out of the way on the CW station to make some
natural powered QSOs on my K2 which took lots less juice from a guy peddling
hard on a generator set.   And there were howls of protest when put the ICOM
back in line and they had to listen to all the spurious junk from the other
transmitters they were not hearing from the K2....

The K3 reminds me of my little VW Turbo-diesel Jetta - I bought that little 
car to
be more efficient but found that it was also really fun to drive.    Having 
a radio
with this value and size that is also World class is just too cool....

Tom N5TW