[Elecraft] SN# 1037 on the Air

[Ed Gray W0SD]

Ordered January 19, 2008, Shipped USPS June 5th 4pm CA time arrived June 
7th, Saturday afternoon 2 pm in SD, amazing! It was a kit and I got the 
2.7 khz, 1.8 khz 8 pole, 500 hz 5 pole and 200 hz 5 pole. I got the KXV3 
interface, KAT3, KPA3.

It went together in 8.5 hours to the 10 watts level. My XYL Edith W0OE 
helped read the manual so we had two opinions on what something meant 
which helped.  I would say that saved at least an hour. It will take 
less than a hour to build, install and calibrate the 100 watt PA.  I 
have everything but the General Coverage module and 1 ppm Osc. of course 
the KRX3 is back ordered and the DVR is in the future.  I would say 10 
hours with just one person is about as fast as you can do it and not 
cause yourself problems.  Two six hour sessions would be more relaxing. 
If you have eyesight problems, etc. of course it will take longer.

I would definitely say to sort the hardware.  If you are in a hurry like 
I was there really is not much of a need to count the screws, nuts and 
that sort of thing as they send extra anyway.  Use your ruler a lot but 
with things sorted like with like IMHO you are ready to go.  Do check 
off all the modules so you are familiar with them as there are a lot 
more things to put together than I think you would imagine.  Only place 
where I got caught with a mistake was Page 24  mid way down it says 
Coaxial TMP cable fits between the KXV3 and the KIO3 boards.

Later in reality I found out what you really need to do with the cable 
is put it through the notch in the main circuit board along the edge to 
reach the other side of the board as it plugs in on the bottom.  Make a 
note in your manual here.  I had to tear out a couple of modules and 
route the TMP cable correctly and re-install.  That IMHO was the only 
thing that was not clear to me.  A few steps later is became clear but 
it wasted a little time.  My congratulations on a fine manual and 
construction.

I had zero trouble with the mic connector and the front panel so maybe 
they are making the hole bigger.  I cheated and put the front on with 
out tearing things loose.  If you do this be sure you look at all angles 
at least three times and shove it together very slowly, evenly and 
carefully as you have to be sure all the pins are lined up with the 
connectors.  It likely is smarter to do what the manual says but I know 
others have mentioned doing what I did.  If you do what I did "DO NOT 
FORCE".  If in doubt at all take it apart like the manual says.

I had a problem with the Reference Oscillator zero beating with WWV.  I 
though I got it the first night but I later found I did not.  I think 
part of it is that since I don't have the General Coverage Module WWV is 
not real strong and I have lots of good antennas but as advertised 
without the General Coverage modules signals outside the ham bands are 
going to be down.

Here is a tip.  The reference oscillator operates at 49.380 so look 
right around that frequency for the zero beat.  Mine was 49.379900  I 
did not have it correct and my frequency calibration was off on the 
various WWV frequencies and my 200 hz 5 pole filter even with 8 db of 
compensation you could barely hear signals.  Support replied in 30 
minutes via e-mail suggesting going between USB and LSB rather than 
using CW to zero beat as it is confusing as most of the time WWV is 
sending a tone. The best time is at announcement time when the tone is 
gone. I was also told to download the DSP table.  In my case the file 
was called dtbl0008.hex.  Normally it is my understanding you should not 
have to download this but given what I learned I would use the latest 
downloading utility and download all the new files.  Go to advanced mode 
and check download DTBL.  From what I read this table is not changed 
often but on the other hand nothing is hurt be reloading it all each 
time.  If I find out more I will see if I can clarify.  If the DSP table 
  is not correct it will mess things up.

I would not call the zero beat easy and for me with WWV not being real 
strong CW was best.  Once you think you have it I would say to go to 
each WWV frequency and on the voice announcement if they sound tuned in 
and then switch Sidebands and if there is no change and you get them at 
2.5, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 and WWV sounds good on both sidebands I would 
say you have it correct.  When I get my Motorola service monitor back 
which is loaned out I will check it for a second test.  Anyway with the 
DSP table download and getting zero beat with WWV the 200 hz filter has 
plenty of gain now.

One other thing that happened.  With all the messing trying to get the 
Reference Oscillator calibrated I accidentally held the mode button down 
for a half second on "TEST" and did not realize it.  Today I could not 
get any power out of the radio and I had power yesterday.  This was the 
cause and once I discovered it I had power back.  If the TX on the 
display is blinking it means you are in "TEST" mode.  I realize this is 
old hat to those of you that have had the radio awhile but there is a 
lot to absorb in a short time and I missed this at first glance.  I have 
read the manual a couple of times while waiting for the radio which I 
highly advise.

The ALT as part of the mode switch switches from USB to LSB if the 
default for a band is USB or vice versa.  You also can get CW-R with 
holding down the mode switch.

Everything else so far seems real intuitive!

Don't be put off by the kit.  It saves significant money,  you will get 
your radio faster by about 2 weeks it seems to me and you will be a 
whole lot more familiar with it and you will have a lot of confidence 
you can keep it running with help from support because when they tell 
you things you will very, very likely understand what they are 
suggesting you do.

One thing I read today that I missed.  It is suggested by some for dual 
diversity with the sub receiver that you should have the same filters in 
both receivers.

The radio sets on the bench "ROCK SOLID" when pushing the buttons or 
tuning.  The labels I can read without glasses and there is room for my 
fingers and the buttons are very intuitive.

The K3 should be ready to go for our Six Meter DX-Pedition to St. Bart 
for 10 days from June 26 through July 6th.  I think we will have the 
operation of it mastered by then so we can use the power this fine radio 
has.

The radio is so light, what a joy to move around and operate.

Ed W0SD