[Elecraft] K3 Bad Filters

[David Cutter]

Well, the radio seems ok, but there will be occasions, such as operating 
near to very strong in-band signals when it may perform less than 
satisfactorily and it is hard to identify what is happening.  There may well 
be artefacts that are disturbing and only heard on odd occasions such as 
this and reduce the effectiveness of the radio in a contest for instance, 
and it is difficult to reproduce those conditions on the bench, ie multiple 
very strong signals near a weak one.  I know someone who receives 55-60dB 
over 9 bc signals on 40m and the K3 probably cannot cope with this.

I think the point about making standardised measurements is that they are 
standard, but most of the time you wouldn't notice if you were compliant or 
not.  In days of old when assessing military radios returned for service, it 
was established that >60% failed the spec and were not reported by the 
operator for those failures.  So, I think I would like to know that my radio 
is compliant with its spec then I can look elsewhere when a problem occurs.

David
G3UNA>>
>
> If nothing is obviously wrong with the radio, I can't see the point of
> returning filters to Elecraft for testing, especially all the way from the
> UK (and at whose expense?) and being without a working radio for a couple 
> of
> weeks, in all likelihood to prove that nothing is wrong with them.
>
> Normal component variations will account for slight differences in the
> performance of individual radios in any case. Some of us will have a radio
> that is at the low end of certain specification ranges, and others will 
> have
> one at the high end. Some may have a slightly better performing receiver 
> but
> a slightly worse performing transmitter, or vice versa. But I very much
> doubt if you could tell the difference between them if they were side by
> side, without the aid of a lab full of test equipment. These test results
> just encourage people to obsess over differences in performance that
> probably can not be discerned in actual on-air operation.
>
> As far as I am concerned, if my K3 seems OK to me then it *is* OK.
>
> -----
> Julian, G4ILO  K3 s/n: 222 K2 s/n: 392