[Elecraft] K3 6-meter Performance Question

[S Sacco]

Dick -

I'm running a 7/7 stack, at 160'/140'.  Separately, I have a Hy-Gain
66DX fixed NNE at 90'.

Switching beteen either of the above antennas and no antenna, I
generally hear no increase in background noise level on my K3.  Not a
good sign.   When I had an ICOM IC-756ProII, and, before that, a Yaesu
FT-920, that was not the case.

I'm looking forward to receiving the K3 6M pre-amp.

73,
Steve NN4X


On 7/1/08, Dick Hanson <dick at dkhanson.com> wrote:
> 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
>
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