[Elecraft] K3 #1037 in IARU contest

[Fred Jensen]

Jim Brown wrote:
> 
> I STRONGLY AGREE!  For at least the past five years, there are guys 
> trying to do serious contesting whose transmit audio, especially on 
> computer playback, is so awful that I can't copy their call, even when 
> they're 30 dB above the noise, and even when I listen to their CQ more 
> than a dozen times!  It's serious distortion, plain and simple, probably 
> caused by badly overdriving the audio input of the radio. This is so bad 
> that there are guys I simply could not work because I couldn't copy their 
> call. In some cases, I called these guys anyway, worked them, then got a 
> fill on their call from his live mic. 

I have a hearing deficiency and SSB contesting for me is pretty much a 
non-starter because of people's incredibly poor DVK audio, noise, hum, 
RF feedback, bad levels, and the like.  And many need to crawl up into 
the mic and get rid of the background noise.  When I first tried the K3 
on SSB, I was stunned by the background noise from the amplifier fan, 
the room fan, and general household noises I could hear in the monitor. 
  I could even hear the TV from the living room weakly behind my voice, 
the shack is several doors away from the living room, and my wife who 
was watching it at that moment can hear just fine and keeps the volume low.

Several years ago, I got a friend maybe 6 or 7 miles away to record my 
transmitter on his computer and send me the MP3 file.  It sounded OK, 
but not great.  Gonna do it again with the K3 ... at least I can do 
something about it with this radio :-)

Slightly different subject, I wouldn't mind at all if the K3 had more 
audio available in the headfones from both the monitor and sidetone. 
Don't know, but maybe that's a firmware thing?  Most everything else is 
these days.  I'm not going to file an ADA suit over it, however :-)

And on the educational front, I finally figured out how to use the 
"I/II" presets during the IARU this weekend.  How very cool!!!

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party  4-5 Oct 08
- www.cqp.org