[Elecraft] K3 SO2R in IARU

[Bob Evans]

I finally had my first run with both K3s in full SO2R mode as a CW only
entry in IARU this past weekend.   Very, very nice!  I had apparently had
previous lightening/surge damage to my KRC2s, which finally fixed before the
contest with the help of W3FPR and K3Support, but they work perfectly now
and did all the automation of the WX0B 6 Pack antenna switch and ICE band
pass filters.

 

The best part of the contest was being able to get in the lower 10 kHz of
the band (especially on 40M) and run stations.  I always wondered how "the
big boys" could do that, but the 500 hz filters in my K3s made it very
pleasant to stay on the low end.  One time, I started to hear a station
crowding me, then I looked up and had accidentally opened up the DSP to 600
hz, thereby moving to my 1.0 kHz filter.  I simply dropped it back to 450 hz
and he was GONE!  

 

I also reworked my beverage antenna connections so both rigs could share the
beverage at the same time.  I was worried that K3 #234 (which does not have
the RX ant overload mod) would get blown out of the water, but it worked
great and I'm probably not going to install the mod any time soon.

 

Unfortunately, I was not up on my sleep for this contest and only got 18
hours of awake time, therefore I only ended up with 1450 Qs and about 610K
points, but I had a ball while I was awake.  Also, had a quick chat with
another K3 owner (I think it was N2WN or KR2Q) and their K3s sounded great
too.  I had loaded the latest beta FW prior to the contest and everything
performed flawlessly.

 

Way to go Elecraft!!!

 

Bob K5WA

K3 #234 and #752

K2 #4687