[Elecraft] K3 audio output v headphone sensitiviy

[R March]

I've been using a Heil headset for many years with my FT 1000D, and now 
also the K3.  I have never felt there is inadequate volume from either 
rig through the headphones.  Using narrow filters on CW, the volume 
settings are about 60 per cent of full volume. And often I have to back 
off from that. Bob  N7UA

Bill W4ZV wrote:
> 
> 
> K7TV wrote:
>> What is adequate headphone sensitivity may be highly dependent on
>> operating mode and rig selectivity.
>> Case in point: Many years ago I ordered an FT-1000 and a Heil headset
>> (forget which model). Headset volume was fine for voice, and for CW using
>> a wide filter. But the FT-1000, like the K3, can be set to very narrow CW
>> filtering. This brings down the noise to far below what you have at more
>> "normal" bandwidth. On a quiet band one can then work CW stations that are
>> extremely weak. In my case, that is where the Heil headset became
>> unuseable, because of inadequate volume. In my opinion, when trying to
>> copy the weakest possible CW signal for a given bandwidth, the gain needs
>> to be high enough that the noise level is quite loud. I sent the Heil
>> headset back to the store. This episode begs the question: The K3 being
>> famous for its "quiet" receiver, does it have enough rx audio gain to
>> provide a loud background noise level in CW mode using the 50 Hz
>> bandwidth, for an average speaker or for a reasonable headset (not Heil!)?
>>
> 
> I don't agree that's the best way to copy weak signals...but that's another
> issue in itself.
> 
> http://www.eham.net/articles/9982  (A few days I broke that record at 26
> uW).
> 
> The sticker on my BM-10 states "IMP 32 OHM", which is what I measure for
> each side.  Using it:
> 
> 50 Hz BW, max RF Gain, AGC-Fast and CONFIG: AF GAIN HI (default setting). 
> AF GAIN is set to 12 o'clock for a comfortable level listening to a dummy
> load (i.e. strictly RX background noise).  With any sort of band noise I
> would need even less AF GAIN.  The 1 uV output (-107 dBm) from an XG1 is
> uncomfortably high and I backed off AF GAIN to ~10 o'clock for that.  Both
> of my Heil ProSet headsets measure >200 ohms per side and they also have
> plenty of output with the K3.  BTW I normally have CONFIG: AF GAIN set to LO
> for all my headphones.
> 
> I can't explain others' problems but all 3 of my Heil headsets have plenty
> of AF gain with the K3...even for very weak signals buried in noise.
> 
> 73,  Bill
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