[Elecraft] K3 noise blanker sure does the job.

[Kenneth A. Christiansen]

I ordered my K3 in June of 2007 after a strong local noise level started 
at my Fargo ND QTH. (That was the factor that convinced me I needed a 
K3). The noise went away for a few months about the time I got my K3 so 
while I was pleased with how the K3 took care of the normal noise of the 
city I did not know how it would work if the noise came back. Last night 
I was working the Elecraft net on 20 meters and KD5ONS was coming in 
about S7 and about the best copy I have had on him in months. I turned 
on my IC-746PRO on 2 meters to check into the local 2 meter net and 
noticed the S meter sat at S9. I switched to AM and sure enough the bad 
line noise was back. I turned off the NB on the K3 and sure enough I 
could barely tell KD5ONS was in there as the S meter jumped to S8 and 
Kevin was only S7. I was running the K3 with PRE ON, ATT OFF,  DSP E3-4, 
IF MED3 and the default width  of 400 HZ with the 500 HZ roofing filter. 
With the NB ON the S meter would drop to S1 when there was a break in 
the action and I was copying stations down to S1 with no way to know 
there was any noise in the area. I sure made the right decision to buy 
the K3 as this noise problem was here all last summer and the K2 and 746 
just could not do anything about it. I have an MFJ-852 noise meter and 
thought the noise was from my own house but pulling all the AC fuses to 
the house and and running the rig on a battery showed no change. There 
are 8 of us on the transformer which is in my back yard so it could be 
coming from any one of my neighbors. At least I don't have to deal with 
it this year due to the fact the K3 does such a good job of getting rid 
of the noise. The 746 on 2 meters FM can only pick up the strongest 
stations when the noise is there and they have lots of noise on them 
unless the strength is over S9. This morning the noise is gone but that 
is the way it was last year too. I never figured out a pattern to the 
noise as some times it would come on for a few seconds and other times 
it would come on for hours at a time.

73

Ken W0CZ