[Elecraft] K3 6-meter Performance Question

[Dick Hanson]

Ciao, from CY0X, Sable Island.....

Well, let's see now, is the K3 sensitive enuff for serious weak sig work on
six.
Based on our first week here on Sable, doing mostly weak signal work, I
could not be more pleased.
We were fortunate to have been given one of the prototype preamps to use
ahead of the radio on six, and I can tell you that it has been an excellent
addition.
We have been monitoring many of the EU TV offsets, world-wide beacons and of
course listening for many of the signals from across the pond.

Consider this: we are running approx 800 watts into a 12dbd ant at 70' ASL,
surrounded by salt water; we have zero man-made noise towards EU, AF and
Asia, so we are hearing very well. Many of the stations we are working in EU
do not have as much power or antenna; hence many of them hear us better than
we hear them. Yet, we have logged nearly 2500 contacts thus far in 60 dxcc.
My conclusion is that we are not suffering from a hearing loss.

Since it is so easy to switch out the outboard preamp, we have frequently
done this on some of the weak sigs just to see if we could still hear them.
In many cases we could hear them Q5 with just the internal preamp. Ian,
GM3SEK, et al, have pointed out that the stock radio NF is somewhere in the
8-10db range, which is not stellar as six meter radio specs go. Nonetheless,
you'd be surprised at how many weak sigs we can still hear with only the
internal preamp engaged.

I also have the XV50, and will keep it, but that is because I tend to keep
my radio gadgets a long time.

FWIW: we love the K3 and how it performs on six. Hopefully, we have already
worked a number of you. If you haven't yet made contact, please check our
website at www.cy0x.com and then stop by 50108 and give us a call.

73,
Dick
K5AND/CY0X